After installing video drivers, windows won't boot

[berlin88]

I just upgraded from an EVGA GTX 660 OC to a EVGA 970 GTX SSC.

After putting in the new card, I installed the latest Nvidia drivers and was prompted to reboot the computer. During the reboot process, it would get to the "starting windows" screen, and then just sit on that screen forever and do nothing.

Is this a driver issue, or is my brand new video card defective?

I tried going into safe mode and removing the video drivers, and that allowed me to start windows normally. However, the moment I reloaded the drivers, the same problem would occur again.

I am using Windows 7, so which version of the GTX 970 drivers should I try using? The latest version of the drivers, obviously isn't working.


Systems Specs:

Windows 7
Antec 1200 v2
Corasir 650W TX
Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
AMD FX-8320
G SKill Ripjaws X 16 GB 1866 Memory (2x 8GB)
Samsun 850 EVO 250fg Solid State Drive
Western Digital 1GB Caviar Black x2
LG Blue Ray Drive

Asus Monitor
Vizio Sound Bar

 

[MeanMachine41]

Assuming the card is OK, More than likely there are remnants of your old driver leaving registry issues.

Go here for driver sweeper: http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/guru3d-driver-sweeper-2-5-released.html

If you can, try do a system restore, prior to your update when windows was working properly with the GTX-660.
Then uninstall the GPU driver. Then install your new driver and GPU.

When in safe mode, What does it say in Event Viewer, any errors or logs.?

Many have had the same issue as you have when installing the GTX-970 for some reason.

I use GeForce Experience in W7 for driver update. but have to use driver down load from Nvidia site and manually install with W10.

W10 free upgrade ends on 29th this month btw.

 

[berlin88]

Assuming the card is OK, More than likely there are remnants of your old driver leaving registry issues.

Go here for driver sweeper: http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/guru3d-driver-sweeper-2-5-released.html

If you can, try do a system restore, prior to your update when windows was working properly with the GTX-660.
Then uninstall the GPU driver. Then install your new driver and GPU.

When in safe mode, What does it say in Event Viewer, any errors or logs.?

Many have had the same issue as you have when installing the GTX-970 for some reason.

I use GeForce Experience in W7 for driver update. but have to use driver down load from Nvidia site and manually install with W10.

W10 free upgrade ends on 29th this month btw.

For the other people who have had this issue, what solutions if any, did they find successful? Is the Video card itself defective? Should I consider contacting Newegg and doing an RMA? Or is it a driver / software issue?

I didn't uninstall my old GTX 660 drivers before swapping video cards, since I assumed the Nvidia drive software, would automatically remove the old drivers when loading new ones.

I didn't check event viewer when I was in safe mode, but I will try that next time, to see what messages it brings up. I eventually loaded the drivers that were on the CD, and that allowed me to get into Windows, but I still have issues.

With the CD drivers (version 355.82 I believe), I can now get past the "loading Windows" screen, but there is a considerable delay in doing so. It seemingly takes forever to get to the Windows login screen.

Once into windows, there is a fair amount of lag, when I try to do something. For instance, if I try to opens iTunes, it takes several minutes to launch the application. When I tried loading a simple game like Diablo 2, there was also a noticeable lag time, something I had not previously experienced with the GTX 660.

The audio also has issues, as occasionally I get a crackling or buzzing noise, something I never got with my previous card.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Go to Control Panel and select Device Manager.
Here you can look at the drivers for your GPU and gather info.
Are there any Yellow triangles in any categories.?

Latest driver is 368.81

It may well be the Card but other tests and options before RMA. That can be a pain.

Also run "SFC /SCANNOW" in an elevated command prompt (without the quotation marks) to test for any corrupted files in Windows.

 

[berlin88]

Go to Control Panel and select Device Manager.
Here you can look at the drivers for your GPU and gather info.
Are there any Yellow triangles in any categories.?

Latest driver is 368.81

It may well be the Card but other tests and options before RMA. That can be a pain.

Also run "SFC /SCANNOW" in an elevated command prompt (without the quotation marks) to test for any corrupted files in Windows.

Driver version is 10.18.13.5582 8/25/2015

Its the driver version that came on the EVGA installation cd.

I tried using the newest version of the driver from the Nvidia website, but after installing that driver, the computer would always get stuck on the "loading Windows" screen and just sit there and do nothing. I could leave it running for an hour or more, and it would still just sit there on the "Loading Windows" splash screen.

I went into device manager and under display adapters, it lists Nvidia Geforce GTX 970, but doesn't show any yellow triangles. There is a yellow triangle under network adapters section, for the Microsoft ISATAP adapter, but nothing I could see under the video adapter section.

EDIT: I found that one of my SATA cables was lose, and pushing that back in, solved my lag issues for the moment. I was also able to load the latest Nvidia drivers without issue, so maybe things are headed in the right direction, as far as getting my system to work.

 

[MeanMachine41]

When you tried to install the latest driver, did you run as Administrator.? MS Security can prevent you from installing .exe files without admin privilege.

You should also address the network adapter driver as the yellow triangle means its either not installed or wrong driver.

Ah, I see you managed to update the GPU driver, Any better now.?

 

[berlin88]

When you tried to install the latest driver, did you run as Administrator.? MS Security can prevent you from installing .exe files without admin privilege.

You should also address the network adapter driver as the yellow triangle means its either not installed or wrong driver.

Ah, I see you managed to update the GPU driver, Any better now.?

My computer has both the standard etherner connection on my motherboard and a separate USB wireless device. I use the wireless, so its probably the motherboard Ethernet connection, that is not functional at the moment.

In regards to my overall system, I have not had any troubles, since I discovered the SATA cable for my 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black drive was lose. That could have been the source of my troubles, but I will wait to make sure. I discovered the problem, when I went to access some of the music files stored on my D drive, and noticed iTunes couldn't access the files amd Windows couldn't detect the drive. The Sata cable must have come lose, when I was installing the GTX 970, and I Just didn't notice it.

The only game I have installed right now, is Diablo 2, which is not exactly going to tax the GTX 970 all that much. I will need to reinstall one of my other games, like Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Civilization V, Star Craft 2 etc. to properly test my new Graphics card.

From reading other online sites, I Know a lot of people have had the issue I had, where after installing a new Nvidia card and loading the drivers, it would then hang up on the "loading Windows" splash screen or give audio issues or loss of signal issues.