I currently own a fujitsu siemens amilo xi 2428 with an nvidia geforce 8600M GS graphics card. Recently my computer has started bluescreening either during startup or just after I log in. Basically I get loads of random lines across my screen and it then all goes black and I get a bluescreen message citing a problem with nvlddmkm.sys. I've tried downloading the latest drivers and even rolling back my driver but I still get the same problem.

 

I'm thinking that if I get a new graphics card then this problem should hopefully go away, am I correct to assume this? If so, what graphics card should I get? I don't play games (not even runescape anymore) so all I want it to be capable of doing is playing videos and music so the cheaper the card the better.

 

Finally, how hard is it to replace the graphics card? I've never changed any hardware around on a computer before so should I leave it to a professional?

 

Thanks in advance :)

If you only want to play videos and music then take the GPU out and use the onboard GPU.

 

Personally I don't think it is the GPU causing the BSOD (Blue screen of death) it could be RAM or another thing that has been plugged in etc.

 

Replacing a GPU isn't hard, open the case, unscrew the GPU, take it out, screw the new one in.

It's a laptop, so most of the chances are you can't change the GPU in there. If it's still under warranty, I'd say send it for repairs.

On my device manager there's options to either disable the device or uninstall the driver. If it is a problem with the graphics card then will either of these allow my computer start outside of safe mode without bluescreening or would i have to manually remove the graphics card?

 

Also, my laptop is out of it's warranty so sadly that's not an option :(

Ok, basically I've disabled my graphics card and now my laptop is apparently fully functioning again, i.e. it doesn't bluescreen on startup and is running outside of safe mode and playing videos and music fine. I'm fairly happy with this situation, however, what will happen if I try to do something that my onboard GPU doesn't support (like accidentally try and play a game) will it just say I need a better graphics card or will it cause any damage to my laptop.

 

Finally, thanks alot to PSY145, not being able to listen to music/watch videos for the past few weeks has been so frustrating!

If you get something that is too graphics intensive it will just run really slow, there shouldn't be any lasting problems with it. I suppose it's possible it could lock up requiring a hard reboot that might cause problems but I wouldn't worry.