Computer problems everywhere

[MrBigCow]

So I built my own PC a few years back and it was running perfectly when I had my GTX 760 and old parts from a pre built I bought years before that. I've since upgraded everything except for the original hard drive. Since I upgraded my GPU from the GTX 760 to the GTX 970 i've had nothing but problems. I'm not sure how much information you'll need, but before upgrading the GPU I bought my new motherboard (specs below) and had saw other people have bios chip issues so I swapped that out and it had fixed the problem it was having which I can't recall what it was. I also sent back the motherboard before changing the bios chip. Now, back to the 970 which I bought. I had a problem with the computer infinitely booting into windows. It would spin on the launch screen, but would never fully boot into windows. It would take me to the page where you can reset the PC and such. I reinstalled windows at least 5 times with nothing be resolved. I decided to send back my GPU hoping it was just a faulty GPU. Sadly that wasn't the case. My friend told me his friend was having a similar problem to mine which was whenever I just use the computer it would freeze with pink and green, sometimes blue, pixels everywhere. It would either fix itself and happen again within the next 5 minutes or it would automatically restart. After the restart it would either remove my video driver and go to the lowest resolution whilst only utilizing one of my two monitors or it would restart and do the above until the video driver gets removed. I will provide images of both of my screens when one of these crashes occur. Hopefully someone can help me out because I've spent a lot of time looking through forums with similar problems just to have none of the help me.

Thank you,
Joe

Specs:

Processor: Intel Core i7-4820k
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Gene
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970
RAM: x4 8GB Corsair Vengeance


Freeze Images:

 

[GreyCatz]

So I built my own PC a few years back and it was running perfectly when I had my GTX 760 and old parts from a pre built I bought years before that. I've since upgraded everything except for the original hard drive. Since I upgraded my GPU from the GTX 760 to the GTX 970 i've had nothing but problems. I'm not sure how much information you'll need, but before upgrading the GPU I bought my new motherboard (specs below) and had saw other people have bios chip issues so I swapped that out and it had fixed the problem it was having which I can't recall what it was. I also sent back the motherboard before changing the bios chip. Now, back to the 970 which I bought. I had a problem with the computer infinitely booting into windows. It would spin on the launch screen, but would never fully boot into windows. It would take me to the page where you can reset the PC and such. I reinstalled windows at least 5 times with nothing be resolved. I decided to send back my GPU hoping it was just a faulty GPU. Sadly that wasn't the case. My friend told me his friend was having a similar problem to mine which was whenever I just use the computer it would freeze with pink and green, sometimes blue, pixels everywhere. It would either fix itself and happen again within the next 5 minutes or it would automatically restart. After the restart it would either remove my video driver and go to the lowest resolution whilst only utilizing one of my two monitors or it would restart and do the above until the video driver gets removed. I will provide images of both of my screens when one of these crashes occur. Hopefully someone can help me out because I've spent a lot of time looking through forums with similar problems just to have none of the help me.

Thank you,
Joe

Specs:

Processor: Intel Core i7-4820k
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Gene
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970
RAM: x4 8GB Corsair Vengeance


Freeze Images:

Holy cow, Joe! Whatever that is I sincerely hope that you'll find a solution - that looks like digital dengue fever. I can't promise anything, but here are a few things to consider:

The ASUS Rampage IV Gene was launched in early 2012, based on an Intel X79 chipset from late 2011, and designed and optimized for Windows 8. On ASUS's Rampage webpage they talk endlessly about Windows 8 testing and optimization and indicate that it is "Windows 8.1 Ready". There is also a table of motherboards that "offer Windows 8 drivers for OS upgrade and compatible installation", but the Rampage IV Gene is not one of them. I'm no motherboard expert, but maybe you should try and connect a Windows 8/8.1 HDD and see how the Rampage reacts. It could be that your problem is caused by Windows 10.

a) Exactly when did your problems begin? The moment you installed Windows 10 or the moment you plugged in the GTX 970 (with Win10)?
b) Do you still have the GTX 760? If so, plug it in and see if it works better with Windows 10.
c) What do you mean by "swapping out the BIOS chip"?
d) Have you tried a re-install of Windows 8/8.1?

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[MrBigCow]

Thank you for the reply, I have downgraded to windows 8 and the problem still occurs sadly.

As for your questions,

a) I cannot remember to be honest because it's been quite a while, but if I had to guess probably a week after installing my 970 which was also close to the time I installed windows 10
b) I do still have my 760 and i'm using it on another computer with Windows 10 and it works perfectly fine.
c) I swapped the Bios chip on the motherboard

d) Just tried, the crash happened when I went to run a scan from Windows Defender.

I also noticed every driver missing from the other devices area, most of them are named "Base System Device", others are named "PCI Simple Communications Controller", "Performance Counter", and "System Interrupt Controller"

 

[GreyCatz]

Hey Joe:

Sorry to hear that your problems persist. If you haven't already done so, try this web page (ASUS Rampage motherboard drivers):

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_IV_GENE/HelpDesk_Download/

As I said earlier, I'm no motherboard expert so I'm surprised you can physically remove any chip from a board, let alone a BIOS chip (or that you're apparently supposed to be able to). My advice is to take one problem at a time:

1) Install all relevant Rampage drivers available. Use the 760 card that originally worked.
2) Do a clean install of Win8 (not a downgrade from Win10). Do you have any kind of Win8 recovery discs or USB? If so, use them/it. If not, go to Microsoft's download center and download the Media Creation Tool to download a fresh Win8 ISO - if Win8 was pre-installed on your system the Microsoft activation server should recognize your original Win8 PK, even if it takes some time.
3) Test the new Win8 installation with both graphics cards. Make a system back-up! If it works, you might consider staying with Win8.
4) If you want to add some drama to your life, upgrade to Win10 and test the 970.

I think that most of your problems are to do with the Rampage board. If your system says it's missing something with the words "Base" and "System" in it, that can't be good! But I'm not letting Win10 entirely off the hook, either. I still suspect some incompatibility between the Rampage board and Win10.

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.