The Problem:

When I start my computer the display has discolored pixels everywhere, then things get bad.  If I try to run the computer in normal mode sometimes I can get everything loaded but after about a minute or so the display will suddenly become completely covered in discolored lines to the point that you cant really make anything out on the screen.  Shortly after the screen will go black indefinatly or I will get a blue screen (of death) saying that the file nv4_disp.dll caused a problem.  I can run my computer in safe mode without it dieing but it still has discolored pixels all over the screen.  I tried running in VGA mode but that seemed to be a bigger problem.  Everything started good but after about 30 seconds I witnessed the horror of half a blue screen mixed with a million or so lines of varying color all surrounded by what looked like a white flame consuming my display from all sides.

What I have already tried:

I have installed current video drivers, video BIOS, and system BIOS all from the dell website.  I have done a repair install of XP and after that didnt work I formated the hard drive and did a clean install of XP (also didnt work).  If anything things have gotten worse.   Another somewhat strange thing is that I can run my computer in normal mode (with discolored pixels on the screen) without having the computer die on me but as soon as I try to install the video driver my computer dies in one of the ways described above.

 

I have no idea what to do at this point.  Thanks for any help.