blue screen on laptop

[cho]

a few weeks ago my laptop(which i've had for over a year) suddenly blue screened. One of the codes had 'nvdl' at the beginning of it. It is an Alienware with mobile gtx 7950 graphics cards in Sli. I called up tech support who thought it was the daughter graphics card so sent a new one out which i fitted and still no change.

While i was waiting for the new card i changed the driver back to an older version so it was not running Sli and everything went back to normal. I can install the driver which enables Sli without any problems but when i try to link the cards up via the Nvidia control panel it bluescreens when trying to restart.

The tech guy told me to format and reintall everything (which i had done before contacting them) but i am not sure that is the problem and don't want to spend another two days putting everything back on again just to find the problem is still there!

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Cho

[RobCrezz]

Have you looked if there are newer drivers direct from NVidia rather than dells drivers?

Windows 7 I assume, x64 or x86?

[eps]

Take a look here : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

There is an application linked in there which you can download and it allows you to look at the dumps that Windows creates.

There is another thread on here as well which is for driver software and updating.. I think Drivermax looks like the best product - after trying a couple. It allows you to see what you're downloading, download two drivers free per day (as many as you like if you pay for it) and create restore points before installing etc..

Make sure that RAM and anything that can be removed is securely in place, my laptop doesn't like it if the DVD drive is not quite "home".. Obviously take anti-static precautions.

[cho]

tried NVidia drivers as well and the same thing happened. I have never opened the laptop up before this. It's Vista x86.

will try your suggestions after which i'll just buy a new laptop as i usually do!!!

Cheers

Cho