Windows 7 crashes on startup, "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed"

Anonymous

Right, so I'm using an HP laptop, and it seems to be consistently crashing on startup, with a bunch of strange coloured lines and pixels before the login screen appears. I usually dont even get a BSOD, but I did just once, with the error code 0x000000001E and the error message "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed".

I'd had this problem using Windows Vista as well, and thought an upgrade to 7 might fix it, but apparently not. Listing my computer specs below in case they're of any use.

HP Pavilion dv9830us

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit edition, formerly Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit edition

RAM: 4GB

Processor: Dual Core Intel T5550, its a 64 bit processor, I believe.

Video Card: Nvidia Geforce 8600GS (mobile), 512MB VRAM.

What I've tried so far:

Every edition of Nvidia drivers that I can find for my card, using 3dguru's driver sweeper each time I install a new one. I've used the new 195.39 beta drivers as well, and those did work for a few hours. However, when I shut my pc down it wouldnt start up again, reverting back to the same crashes.

Flashed my BIOS to the latest version as per HP's driver page for my laptop.

Checked that my chipset drivers are up to date.

Disabled all Aero effects (just in case that was the problem)

Basically, if my PC has an Nvidia driver installed on it, it crashes. If I go to safe mode, uninstall the video driver, it boots up fine in normal mode with the regular VGA driver. When I then install an Nvidia driver again, back to the crashes.

Since I do tend to use my PC quite a bit, any assistance is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

57 answers

Anonymous

2009-11-06T17:07:00+00:00

sorry

if you had vista as oingal os that was given to you by hp restore to that.

if it was xp restore to xp!
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2009-11-06T18:11:01+00:00

hi windowsfanny

if you could help out our friend please do!

i will not post anything for a while
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2009-11-06T18:17:50+00:00

Can you try a "clean boot" and see if there is any improvement? - follow Step 1 to clean boot:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2009-11-06T18:22:32+00:00

Rain77, sorry but i am out of suggestions at this time

auggy suggests something i would try though, as it runs fine in safe-mode

Help others, let us know what fixes your issue. Click Vote Helpful for those whom help.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2009-11-06T20:39:52+00:00

Auggy:

I've done a clean boot and it works, because the Nvidia display driver service is disabled along with all the other ones. However, the moment I enable the Nvidia service, Windows will crash on startup.

Rain77:

My original OS was Vista Home Premium 64-bit, and I can try restoring that, I suppose, and see if it works. The reason I switched to Win7 though, was because of the problems that I had with Vista, so the only reason I'd get back to Vista is to diagnose the problem at hand.

Windowsfanny:

Appreciate all the help, and I am indeed running my pc fine with the standard VGA drivers; it lets me use MSOffice, check my e-mail and all that kind of stuff with no problem, which is far better than not having an accessible pc at all.

Thanks for the help, I'll keep trying stuff and updating this thread; if anyone else has a suggestion not previously mentioned here, I'm open to it.

Thanks!

Rohan
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments