GeForce FX5500 crashing

[seeker]

I have been having this problem for awhile, randomly, without any pattern, or error messages, my system crashes to a black screen and the monitor power starts blinking, indicating that it isn't getting any signal. The only way to get the system running again is with a cold boot, restarting doesn't do it.

I don't really know that it is the video card at fault, but it is the only thing that comes to mind. The connections are tight, and the card is well seated in it's slot. I installed the latest Nvidia drivers for my system (71.89). Although the problem has worsened with these drivers, I'm not certain that they are the cause. If anyone has any ideas, I could sure use them.

Specs:

Windows XP Pro SP2
MSI K8T Neo 2F 939 Mobo
AMD64 CPU
PNY Verto GeForce FX5500
KDS XF7s monitor

PS I run a dual boot with Linux, and so far this hasn't happened, so a hardware problem seems unlikely.

[saturnotaku]

If the card is working fine in Linux, it probably is a driver related problem. Have you tried any other sets? The leaked 77.13 betas are producing some excellent results across a variety of users/cards.

Otherwise, is there another video card you can test in your system, or can you test the 5500 in a friend's machine to see if it exhibits the same problems?

[seeker]

I'm curious, the 71.89 was the highest driver recommended at the Nvidia site for XP, and I think it was 71.22 that MSI had on their website for this motherboard. Is there any risk to using higher numbers (other than they may not work)?

[saturnotaku]

Is there any risk to using higher numbers (other than they may not work)?

The fact that drivers are not "official" shouldn't prevent you from using them. Higher version numbers often are newer builds that contain important bug fixes as well as minor to significant game performance improvements. All recent leaked versions can be downloaded from a number of sites including:

www.laptopvideo2go.com
www.guru3d.com
www.tweaksrus.com

[seeker]

I think what bothered me is that some of the drivers were for one operating system, and others for different systems. But, considering the problem that I'm having now, I guess there's not much to lose by trying. Thanks