Blue screen cycling again after not having it for a long time?

[KagomeKagome]

OK, I'm one of the poor souls who had the blue screen cycling/freezing crap right after OFB came out (though it got nasty for me when I installed Pets). I used to have the old drivers fix for it, but when Seasons came out, I updated my drivers (well, that's because this isn't the only game I play on this PC). I had the last driver Nvidia put out (before the newest one from a week or so ago), but I uninstalled them to update to the newest driver, and well, the newest one wouldn't install, so I had to just grab a driver to put on this PC to fix my display. So for that reason, I have the 91.31 drivers for my FX 5500 256MB (yeah, I know...I could use a newer card, but I'm not made of money).

So...things were going OK for a while, but now I'm dealing with the blue screen cycling again. It cycles a few times, I can go back into the game, but after that, it starts cycling rapidly, and then finally, my screen turns black, and I get the same image you see when your monitor cable is disconnected (obviously, my monitor is connected).

Is it the drivers causing this mess? Or is it memory -- would I be OK if I gave my machine a band-aid by increasing the memory to 2GB (I should mention that my specs go beyond the minimum requirements for the game and EPs...except for my stupid card being at the bottom). Or is it my crappy card? Is it time to break down and buy a new one?

Any help is appreciated, really. I'm sick of researching this and finding nothing that fixes my problem.

All I've learned from this mess is that I really hate Nvidia and EA.

[Canoodle]

Frankly, you can buy a new card for about the same price as 2 Gigs of RAM. 2G ram is currently $136 at Newegg.com. You can buy a decent card for that price. I would suggest an ATI (or Sapphire clone), but NVidia is fine too. It's just that all those problems with NVidia and this game are driving us bonkers. LOL I have an ATI Sapphire clone and it works flawlessly. Check out the prices at newegg for ATI Sapphire cards and NVidia. :)

[KagomeKagome]

So is it the card that's causing my problems, then? Because I'm going to have to wait a while before I can buy one.

I was hoping it was the drivers, heh.

(Memory is cheaper for me. People sell the kind I use on Craigslist all the time. I'd only have to get a Gig because I'm sitting on a Gig right now.)

[Canoodle]

There is a lot of info on the stickied Nvidia thread at the top of this forum. I am not sure if you've read it. The last 4 or 5 pages are quite good.

Also, try running through this article. Lots of linkies to troubleshooting-
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:System_Checkup

[KagomeKagome]

Heh, I've been posting in that thread for a while, actually. :)

I've done the system check-ups which is why I mentioned that I'm close to needing a new graphics card. Every test I've done shows me as passing.

I guess the random cycling is better than having yellow/red/blue flashing objects. I still wish I could get this figured out. Or get the new drivers working. I've never had a Nvidia driver that wouldn't install.

[KagomeKagome]

Well, after some research, the newest drivers don't work for the FX series, so no wonder I couldn't get them to install. In any case, I think I've figured out what drivers I used to have and am in the process of installing them. Here's hoping the random cycling gets fixed.