I recently installed a e-GeForce 8800 GT. However, after physically installing it and then the drivers, whenever I run a game I get a BSOD. Here is a link to a crash dump. My Crash Dump crappy OEM comptuers...

What video, if any, were you using before the 8800GT? Did you follow the proper installation directions for the card? ATX PSs are always powering ATX mboards in some places, including some contacts in the video slot, even when the computer is not running, as long as the PS is receiving live AC power. Did you unplug the computer, or switch off the AC power to the computer, while you were installing the card? If you didn't you can easily damage something, especially an AGP video card because of the way the two level contacts on the card and in the slot are arranged. Does your computer meet or exceed all the minimum system requirements for the game that crashed? Has anything else crashed lately? Your Crash Dump file is useless. You are supposed to process it with a program if you want to make any sense of some of the characters in it, and even then there's often nothing significant you can make out in it. Lots of things can cause a BSOD. Was it a BLUE Screen Of Death, or did the computer BLACK screen? Did you get a message on that screen? If so what was it? Stop: 0X0....... ? (usually you just quote the stop error number, and/or it's label - e.g. IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL). Was there a Details.... to click on? If so, did you click on it, and if so, what did it say? You can get the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, and other STOP errors, from many causes, but sometimes it can be just because the ram module contacts are not getting a good connection - in that case a MiniDump is often produced, and there's often nothing significant to see in it - this worked for me when I got that IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error: A common thing that can happen with ram, even ram that worked fine previously, is the ram has, or has developed, a poor connection in it's slot(s). This usually happens a long time after the ram was installed, but it can happen with new ram, or after moving the computer case from one place to another, and I've had even new modules that needed to have their contacts cleaned. See response 2 in this - try cleaning the contacts on the ram modules, and making sure the modules are properly seated: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w... You could also make sure that the video card is fully seated, and/or clean the contacts on it too, with the AC power to the PS removed.

Actually, my power supply isn't powerful enough -_- Requires 400w, mines only 350w. crappy OEM comptuers...

"Actually, my power supply isn't powerful enough Requires 400w, mines only 350w." Yes, that's right - 400 watts minimum, in order to be able to handle it's max current draw, when it's a PCI-E card (350 watts if it's AGP). I looked that up just the other day for an 8800. The current draw varies a lot depending on how intensely the card is being used. You would probably be okay until you get a 400 watt or greater one if you don't use programs or games that are likely to cause it to draw more current. However, that may not be directly related to that game crashing. It would still probably be to your benefit for you to supply more info about your crash. ...... It is not wise to buy the cheapest PS you can find of all the many ones that have the capacity you want - there are a lot of iffy PSs out there on the bottom end that are a lot more likely to cause you problems. It should have at least a 1 year warranty, better still 3 years, or lifetime - that info may not be in an ad - look at the model's specs on the manufacturer's web site. The manufacturer's web site should be decent - if it isn't, or if it's hard to determine if it actually has a web site, look elsewhere. I've been looking at the specs of video cards lately for a couple of friends. A decent minimum 500 watt PS will handle any current video card with a single video chipset no matter which one it is in your single PCI-E X 16 slot. If you want to be able to install a card with two video chipsets on it in the future, a decent one 750 watts or greater will handle any current card.

OK, I just got a 600w power supply. However, when I proceed to do anything graphically, it still gets a BLUE screen of death. There is an error message but it disappears too quickly to read it. I was using onboard graphics (ATI x1200) before this card, and the computer ran fine (albeit slower, FPS wise). I installed the card properly, as far as I know. I first uninstalled the ATI drivers via Device Manager. I then ran Driver Cleaner Pro (for ATI drivers). I then shut off the PC, turned the switch to OFF, and unplugged it. I then put the 8800 into the PCI-E 16x slot. I connected the PCI-E power cord. I then turned the computer back on. I then installed the driver 180.48 from NVidia's website. I made sure to get the 64 bit version, as I run Win XP 64-bit. I don't think it has to do with my RAM as I have tried using this card before, and when I took it out I could watch video and play games fine. crappy OEM comptuers...

"...when I proceed to do anything graphically, it still gets a BLUE screen of death. There is an error message but it disappears too quickly to read it." ""...when I proceed to do anything graphically,..." What do mean by that? Does it work fine except in the games(s)? If it's only (the) game(s) you get the BSOD in, games are often leading edge software and they often utilize your video chipset, cpu, and ram more intensely than almost all other programs - they tend to have more bugs in them than most programs - they are well known to NOT work properly on every system that meets the minimum requrements for the game. If it IS only (the) game(s) you get the BSOD in, I have more t-shooting stuff I can suggest, but sometimes you have no option other than NOT using the game(s). "I don't think it has to do with my RAM as I have tried using this card before, and when I took it out I could watch video and play games fine." As I said above sometimes ram that worked fine before can develop poor connections in the ram slot(s). Since games tend to use the ram more intensely, you are more likely to have a problem even if you don't with less intense stuff. It does no harm and costs you nothing to clean the ram contacts and make sure the modules are seated properly. You could also do that with the video card at the same time. The AC to the computer must be removed when you do either. In my experience, I have frequently gotten minidumps after a BSOD when I DID have a problem reading the ram - that hasn't happened often otherwise. ...... Have you changed which ram you have installed since the video last worked fine all the time? If so, it may NOT be 100% compatible with your main chipset, or with some recent cpus, compatible with the memory controller built into the cpu. Ram that works in another mboard , or any ram you buy or have lying around, may not work properly, or sometimes, not at all - even if it physically fits and is the right overall type (e.g. SDram, DDR, DDR2, etc.; PCxxxx, xxx mhz) for your mboard. In the worst cases of incompatibilty your mboard WILL NOT BOOT with it installed, and the mboard may not even beep - the ram has to be compatible with the mboard and it's chipset. See response 5 in this for some info about ram compatibilty, and some places where you can find out what will work in your mboard for sure: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w... Correction to that: Mushkin www.mushkin.com Once you know which module ID strings work in your mboard, you can get them from anywhere you like that has ram with those ID strings. If you have brand name ram, it is usually easy to look up whether it's ID string is in a list of compatible modules found by using your mboard or brand name system model number. If the ram is generic, that may be difficult or impossible. If you do a ram test, do that AFTER having tried cleaning the contacts and making sure the ram is seated properly - otherwise any errors found may be FALSE. If the ram is incompatible with the chipset, it will likely FAIL a ram test - that is NOT a true indication of the ram being faulty - there is probably nothing wrong with it, and it will pass the test if installed in a mboard it is compatible with. If a ram test DOES find errors, if you have more than one module installed, try the test with one module at a time - sometimes they won't work properly when more than one is installed, but it will pass when by itself. If you want to try a memory diagnostic utility that takes a lot less time to run a full pass than memtest86 does, this one is pretty good - Microsoft's Windows Memory Diagnostic: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag... It can be toggled to do a standard or a more comprehensive set of tests - use the default 6 test one first - if it passes one pass of that, use the latter one. A few of the tests in the latter set are intentionally slower. ...... Sometimes you will be able to read the error message(s) if you do this, because the computer will not then reboot.... Win XP is set by default to automatically reboot when it encounters an unrecoverable error. To have XP possibly display an error message you can investigate instead of the computer rebooting: 1. Click Start, and then right-click My Computer. 2. Click Properties. 3. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Settings under Startup and Recovery. 4. Under System failure, click on the small box beside Automatically restart to remove the checkmark. 5. Click OK, and then click OK. If you then get an error message, look at all of it's details. ...... If you get the BSOD with MORE programs than the game(s) or randomly, try this.... Boot your computer, pressing F8 repeatedly, don't hold down the key, starting just after the mboard beeps - from the boot choices menu, choose Enable VGA mode. That loads everything normal mode does, except it forces Windows to use a default VGA mode that all video chipsets and mboards support, and the specific NVidia drivers will not be loaded. Your video will be relatively coarse, lower resolution, and primitive, and the card will not be able to use the enhanced PCI-E features of the chipset, but try programs for a while, except for the ones that require high end graphics - if you get no BSOD when you do that, there's a good likelyhood there is something in the NVidia video drivers that are causing your problem. If you DO get the BSOD in Enable VGA mode, something else may be causing the problem. You could try the same thing except choose Safe mode - the video will be in VGA mode there too, but FSafe mode also loads less stuff than normal does. If you then get no BSOD, it's probably something other than the NVidia video drivers that Safe mode does not load that's causing the problem. ....... NVidia has a reputation of often NOT fixing problems with it's main chipset, and/or video drivers, at least, they certainly do NOT do that as often as ATI does. "I then installed the driver 180.48 from NVidia's website. I made sure to get the 64 bit version, as I run Win XP 64-bit." Are you SURE your XP is 64 bit? Most versions ARE NOT. As far as I know only XP Pro can be 64bit. If you ARE sure, you could try another video drivers version other than "driver 180.48" , such as drivers on the CD that came with the card. ....... "I first uninstalled the ATI drivers via Device Manager. I then ran Driver Cleaner Pro (for ATI drivers)" The best way to do that is to ... - Un-install everything in Add/Remove software listed for the ATI video chipset and assocaited software. If something is listed like "Uninstall ATI video software" or similar - if you see that, run it - it will probably remove anything that might interfere with the NVidia video drivers. If you are asked to reboot, do that, but when Windows finds the video adapter, Cancel installing drivers for it if prompted to do that while booting. - then look in Device Manager to see what display adapter is listed - if it says something other than VGA adapter or similar, before you install the NVidia card, un-install it there, then shut down the computer and install the card. - THEN you can run somthing such as Driver Cleaner Pro if you like, but you probably don't need to do that unless you install an ATI video chipset. Stuff leftover from un-installing ATI video related software usually causes no problem if you then install another video brand's software, BUT ... if you installed "drivers" from a CD that came with the mboard, it probably installed a lot of software other than just the drivers. Does Drive Cleaner Pro remove that other associated software too? Did you un-install everything in Add/Remove software listed for the card - e.g. Catalyst?? If you have not done that there may still be something listed like "Uninstall ATI video software" or similar - if you see that, run it - it will probably remove anything left behind that might interfere with the NVidia video drivers, if Drive Cleaner Pro didn't mess that up. ...... Are you SURE Drive Cleaner Pro ONLY removes stuff related to ATI video drivers?? It's possible Drive Cleaner Pro has made a mess of things if it also un-installed the ATI/AMD main chipset software and or drivers - some such programs may un-install the software for and/or remove the registry entries for ALL ATI software - that you DO NOT want to do - amongst other things, Windows will then not have the proper info about the mboards PCI-Video support. If you're not sure, go to the AMD website and get the main chipset drivers for your mboard main chipset and load them - usually you do not have to un-install anything to do With AMD/ATI msain chiopset drivers before you re-install them, and installing them again does no harm, but look at any ReadMe or Release Notes for them before you install them. The CD that came with the mboard may have a separate main chipset drivers installation, but it may be an older version, or a combo one that installs all ATI/AMD chipset and ATI video software - don't use the latter.