Member Avatar for spach

Hi,

I have windows Vista Home premium (I keep it updated)

I have bought a new laptop (1month back) HP Pavillion DV6701au
AMD turion 64 x2 1.9 GHZ

My problem is that Vista restarts itself abruptly and randomly. I cant seem to find any pattern in the restarting. So I have been unable to pin point the reason behind it.

I also keep speedfan running, so I don't think that heat is the reason.

After restarting when the problem reporting center contacts internet it tells me that windows restarted coz of "NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller" and advises me to update the drivers.

But I have tried doing it and the microsoft site and the update utility tells me that the drivers are latest.

Any idea whats wrong here??

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Laser

Dani AI

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Brief expert notes tied to the thread: reported random Vista restarts with Problem Reporting blaming the "NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller." has already suggested vendor drivers and rollback. Below are targeted, practical diagnostics and NIC-specific fixes that go beyond simply updating the driver.

First, capture what actually happens. Disable automatic reboot on system failure (System -> Advanced system settings -> Startup and Recovery -> uncheck "Automatically restart") and enable kernel memory dumps. Look for minidumps in C:\Windows\Minidump (and C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP for larger dumps). Check Event Viewer (Windows Logs -> System) for errors within a minute of each restart. Use a simple dump reader (or WinDbg for deeper analysis) to confirm whether the network driver is the true culprit or if it’s surfacing a different root cause.

Next, try NIC-specific settings that commonly trigger driver crashes: open Device Manager -> Network adapters -> [adapter] -> Properties. On the Power Management tab, clear "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." On the Advanced tab, disable offload features (Large Send Offload, TCP/UDP/IPv4 checksum offload), interrupt moderation or any "Green Ethernet" options. If rollback is disabled, perform a clean driver reinstall: uninstall the adapter, check "Delete the driver software for this device," reboot and let Windows load a generic driver, then test. Temporarily disabling the other network interface (wireless vs wired) can show whether a conflict exists.

If the problem persists, use verifier.exe to stress-test the network driver (select the suspected driver only). This will force a BSOD if the driver misbehaves; run verifier /reset from Safe Mode to turn it off if needed. Also check for BIOS/chipset firmware updates and gather the minidumps + Event Viewer timestamps before contacting HP support—those artifacts are what support will ask for and they speed diagnosis or an RMA decision.

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Member Avatar for Laser

I would recommend using the drivers from rather than using Windows Update.

Try 'rolling back' the driver from Device Manager.

Member Avatar for spach

But I also use the HP auto update feature and it also says that all the drivers are updated.

Rolling back? but wont it install an old driver? I just checked it, that feature/option is disabled

Member Avatar for Laser

Yes it would have installed an older driver, sometimes newer is not better.(i.e. if it ain't broke, don't fix it)

Are you able to install Service Pack 1 for Vista? Maybe that'll fix it up.

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