Blue Screen on Startup with Nvidia Graphics Card

You may experience a "blue screen of death" crash when starting a machine when the 3GB switch is enabled on a Windows XP 32 bit operating system using the NVidia graphics card driver version 197.85

The following graphics cards may be affected:

Quadro FX series:
FX 570, FX 5800, FX 580, FX 370, FX 3500, FX 1800, FX 3800, FX 550, FX 350, FX 560, FX 5500, FX 380, FX 4500 X2, CX, FX 540, FX 4700 X2, FX 4600, FX 4000, FX 1500, FX 3400/4400, FX 370 Low Profile, FX 3450, FX 4500, FX 5600, FX 1400, FX 3700, FX 4800, FX 1700

Quadro NVS series:
NVS 295, NVS 450, NVS 440, NVS 420, NVS 290, NVS 285

Quadro Blade/Embedded Graphics Board series:
Quadro FX 770M, Quadro FX 560M, Quadro FX 370M, Quadro FX 1600M, Quadro FX 3600M, Quadro NVS 120M.

Solution

Disabling the 3GB switch on a Windows XP 32 bit operating system using one of the graphic cards listed above and the NVidia graphics card driver version 197.85 will prevent the crash from occurring. 

NVidia are aware of the problem and are working on a fix in their next driver update.

Comments

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[Ethan Mudgett]

I think the problem here is the compatibility of the OS and the video card. I'm using Nvidia GeForce 7200 series at home, and it works perfectly for Windows XP 32-bit resolution.