Drivers causing windows not to load

[Dahak]

I have to agree that most of the driver issues I have had with video cards do stem from ATI based gpu's.I havbe had a couple issues with NVIDIA,but they were explained to me and taken care of right away.And although I had to use a slightly older driver,The new one has worked perfectly since I installed it.Goodluck.

Dahak

AMD X2-4400+@2.533 S-939
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2X EVGA 7800GT IN SLI
2X1GIG DDR IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR 1280X1024
ACE 520WATT PSU
COOLERMASTER MINI R120

 

[Aegaeonos]

Was big fan of ati until recently but still havent given up hope...The problem keeps occuring even when i change between drivers. Im giving it one last chance by checking my bios updates. i have gigabyte 965 ds3 rev 1.0 motherboard and currently have F7 but im going to try F9 bios see if that doesnt work or try to go below F7 updates

 

[Aegaeonos]

heh well WTF... updated bios to F9 only to find my F'ing computer not posting at all and not giving me any beep errors. Ive got school next Monday and i seriously need to get this fixed. Please! please some one help. I've spent a good 2 weeks trying to fix this comp only to have 2-3 days of good time with computer. I can not afford to buy another one as being a college student i have no money. I can only use what i have atm.

 

[SolitoN79]

Hey, I'm just drawing conclusions from the experiences I've had with ATI cards; if you've had better experiences, then that's great. I just found it disturbing that a card could be so dysfunctional right out of the box, which never happened to me with nvidia cards, that's all I'm saying.

 

[ProHandyman]

heh well WTF... updated bios to F9 only to find my F'ing computer not posting at all and not giving me any beep errors. Ive got school next Monday and i seriously need to get this fixed. Please! please some one help. I've spent a good 2 weeks trying to fix this comp only to have 2-3 days of good time with computer. I can not afford to buy another one as being a college student i have no money. I can only use what i have atm.

If you find yourself in such a position, the best suggestion would be to find a motherboard that will except you memory and cpu with integrated graphics. Then when you have the money, purchase a dedicated gpu vid-card.

By the sounds of things, you have more problems then you can handle, and don't have known working parts to test off of. Good luck, but the above mentioned scenario is the best I can offer for you.

 

[bumster]

I have used ATI video cards for years now without issues with the drivers with the exception of the All-In-Wonder cards, and even with those cards it was only a problem with the Rage Theater chip.

Anyway, you have to consider that it is possible that it is not a problem with your video card. It could very well be a problem with your motherboard, AGP/PCIe slot, RAM or even your hard drive. And as mentioned earlier it could even be a problem with your power supply, power supplies do degrade over time. If possible you want to take your system down to the bare minimum when troubleshooting. Such as down to one stick of RAM and only the video card plugged into the motherboard. Also you may try a full format of your system drive instead of the quick format. When troubleshooting a problem with a PC you have to consider many possible reasons for the failure.

If possible you may be able to ask a friend to borrow a video card in order to test to see if it is a video card problem.

Hope this helps.

 

[Aegaeonos]

Alright so right now my computer has been able to work fine for couple of hours until it crashes and restarts. But on those times i have it working i sometimes have problems with video card drivers not working leading me to just use windows drivers. When Im able to get in I check log to see what is causing errors. I found out that the problem is stemmed from infinite loops with the description of ati being the source. This whole issue started when i updated my bios to F7 couple of weeks ago leading me to not being able to get my computer to post.
So I removed battery to reset cmos and allowed me to use computer again but once i shut it down i would not post again when i started it up. So I would take battery out again and then it would allow me to post. I thought i could a problem with the battery so I bought a new one but that wasn't the issue. I kept getting a video card error telling me to insert card into slot well. So I did so and that didn't work but what did work is forcing the back end of the card into the slot.
This seemed to solve the problem up to now where drivers are not working and allowing me to load windows up. Computer would only go the welcome screen then restart. Seeing another forum about 1900xt drivers having that issue im having I decided to try different drivers with some luck some work but days later they would fail again. I'm thinking it is hardware issue so I bought nvidia card which should be here tomorrow afternoon.
What has me thinking is why is the video card now failing all of a sudden when just last week it was working well. So is it my motherboard that is failing because when I updated bios from f4 to f7 my computer wouldn't post. Now that ive updated to f9 it doesn't give my any errors that it used to get but still wont post. Ive had to reset cmos several times before I even get anything. Could it be my bios that is screwed? Im stuck in a rut. If i can not figure this out soon i might have to go to some local computer shop and see what they think because I really need this to be working.
I don't want to make this topic a nvidia vs ati argument so please help me.

 

[ProHandyman]

How about a complete hardware rundown of your system. power supply and all?

Also, please remove all your hardware from the system, and put the mobo on the non-static bag it came with, or something similar. remove and reseat FULLY (you should not be able to push the full length of the pcb in anymore threwout it's length) your memory, cpu, and video card. only hook up your hard drive, and your optical disk drive (also tell us what ports, and if IDE, drives setting{master, slave, cable select}).

Try booting your computer now outside of the case. What are your results? Beep codes, behavior.

If your BIOS was corrupted, many new motherboards have a "rescue" process to recover your BIOS. BIOS BIN file must be on a full formatted floppy, or CD-ROM.

When you get your new vid-card, let us know what happens.

 

[Aegaeonos]

Well tonight i backtracked the problems of my computer to the first day. I flashed bios to F4 which i had originally before the problems popped up. With this version the computer was fine. I did not need to force card into mb to have it post and no issues with drivers anymore.

Could this be a bios and video card issue. I'm going to run this computer a little more to see if problem is solved but seems really weird.

Thanks for all the help though.

 

[ProHandyman]

Could be a BIOS issue. My guess would be a corrupt BIOS bin file (either on their server or your download) or a bad flash.

Proper BIOS Flashing procedure:

From DOS

Download the BIOS bin file and BIOS flash program from manufacturer's web-site to a newly full-formatted floppy disk.

1) If OCing, reset to default
2) Clear CMOS (some say do it after flashing only, others insist on both)
3) Flash BIOS, *If fails: REFLASH, do not REBOOT until successful!*
4) Clear CMOS
5) Boot, enter CMOS Setup, load "optimized defaults"
6) Save and reboot
7) Enter CMOS Setup and re-enter your custom settings
8 ) Save settings and reboot

From Windows:

Install your manufacturer's "Winflash" program and either download the proper BIOS bin file, or have "Winflash" download the proper file.

1) From a reboot, Reset OCing parameters to "default"
2) From "winflash", flash BIOS
3) Verify successful flash
4) Shutdown computer
5) Clear CMOS
6) Boot, enter CMOS Setup and load "optimized defaults"
7) Save and reboot
8 ) Enter CMOS Setup and re-enter your custom settings
9) Save settings and reboot

Never, ever power down during a Flashing Proceedure!

Good luck with your trouble shooting! If you believe that it is BIOS conflict with your vid-card... notify the manufacturer! Unfortunately, I would suggest redownloading the BIOS update onto a New FULL-Formatted floppy disk (Best on a known stable machine) and reflashing your machine, make sure you either "save" your exhisting BIOS, or keep your successful "F4" on the same floppy disk.

This incident shows why you shouldn't flash your BIOS unless it corrects a problem that you are having, or supports performance parameters, or "base micro-code" (CPU parameters). These changes are almost always listed in the BIOS bin "change log".

*edited for clarity

 

[Aegaeonos]

I did try that in your format up to F9 but still having issues where computer wont post at all. I get the new video card and still i am having problems getting it to post. On F4 im still getting bluescreen after playing games for awhile. Some weird things that happen is that it would start turning off and on on its own for a long time untill i have to turn the switch on power supply off. Could it be that i need to buy a new motherboard.

 

[ProHandyman]

At this time, two parts have become suspect (just as I thought in the beginning): 1) Your motherboard (best bet), or 2) your power supply.

Since you haven't listed your hardware, and what power supply (wattage especially), can't go much from here. If the air coming out of the power supply while gaming is real hot... your power supply just isn't up to the task.

 

[Aegaeonos]

After resetting cmos and setting bios setting to optimal im able to get in now haven't installed drivers yet for video card yet. My PSU is MUSKIN 550

MB is Gigabyte 965p Ds3 rev 1.0

IF you need more info ill supply it. My thought at the moment is whether or not im flashing bios correctly but ive read arcticles on it and have followed them well. I am using @bios to flash my bios.

 

[diplomat696]

lol, just to add my 2 cents, i have had a radeon 9800 pro 256 for about 2-3 years now, never had a single issue with it other than the fact its old now!! has been a sturdy companion to my system.

In my opinion its probably user error or overclocking or something which made the card go bad rather than just bad drivers

 

[Aegaeonos]

I have not overclocked anything on my computer at any time. This problem only started occuring when i flashed bios from f4 to f7. Im running out of time before i head back to school. Im pulling my hair out trying to figure out what is going on.

 

[Valtiel]

ATI is retarded; I've been using Nvidia cards for who knows how long, and I've never had a driver problem. My brother wanted to express his individuality and, ignoring my advice, bought an ATI card for his new system: it crashes not stop, even when just using the word processor. He's tried everything, even the Omega drivers (which, to ATI's shame, were made by some guy who was tired of ATI's foot dragging on graphics issues), but nothing works.

ATI sucks, they don't offer good drivers, nor do they offer support for when these inferior drivers fail. Nvidia drivers NEVER mess up (I have yet to see it) and yet they have good customer support. My conclusion: buy nvidia.

What concerns me is that he's been using nVidia for "the longest time" and he is attesting to ATI's reliability.

 

[4745454b]

What concerned me were all the general statements. For the record, my last three video cards have all been ATIs. The only reason my 9600pro died was because I forget to check for clearance when I added the SB fan. (snapped a cap off of the video card.) My 9700pro and x1800xt have worked fine ever since I got them.

I also laughed a bit because I built my computer about the same time as a coworker did. I went with my x1800xt, he picked the new 7900GT. Care to guess whos card lasted longer? When his 7900GT died, he upgraded to the 7950GT. (which doesn't have the overcooked, I mean overclocked memory.) That lasted him for a couple of months, until the fan died on it. He wasn't to sad, he said it was a little loud for his taste. He bought an aftermarket cooler for it, and his computer is now trouble free. Everyone makes a bad card every now and then, the difference is what they do about when you tell them.