Question Graphics Card Driver Bricks Computer

[Clueless02]

Hello All,

So I have a weird issue. A week back my GPU suddenly started crashing. I didn't think much of it since it was a 970 and it had survived long enough. In its dying acts, it would only work after a few reboots (at which point it worked fine actually) or if Windows automatically disabled the driver and used "Windows generic driver". I have a mini ITX case so I decided to go for the best card that would fit which was a 7900 XTX (reference).

Here is where the weirdness starts. Once I installed the new GPU, Windows boots up fine, however, if I install any driver besides the generic Windows one the moment it switches over the entire computer crashes and is unable to load Windows at all. The only way to fix it is to literally reinstall Windows. I still have yet to find a way around this.

Things I've tried:

Checking the ram health (came back fine)
Installing Windows on a new SSD - Same issue.
Trying the different ports
Updating the BIOS to the newest version
Completely erasing both drives and clean installing windows.
Turning PBO and all extra CPU boosts off.

I suspect maybe the Mobo is bad but the hardware manager does recognize the PCIE port and has a yellow "!" next to it. So at least it's being recognized. I don't know enough to definitely say it's not a mobo issue. The PSU should be fine. I have a 750 platinum from Corsair (best one that could fit in my case) and my mini ITX has 4 fans and minimal RGB. The CPU is a 3700x with no overclocking.

There is also a remote possibility that the old card failed and the new one needs to be RMA'ed but that seems a little crazy.

Thoughts?

My specs are (no overclocking):
AMD 3700x CPU
Arous x570i pro wifi
AMD 7900 xtx stock
corsair 3200 ram (16gbs)
Corsair platinum 750w PSU

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Where are you getting the non-generic drivers? Source(s)?

Manually download drivers directly from the applicable manufacturer's website. Install and configure as applicable. No 3rd party tools or installers.

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer. Either one or both tools may provide some relevant error codes, warnings, or even informational events. However, those codes etc., will be relevant only to the most recent Windows reinstall.

 

[Clueless02]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Where are you getting the non-generic drivers? Source(s)?

Manually download drivers directly from the applicable manufacturer's website. Install and configure as applicable. No 3rd party tools or installers.

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer. Either one or both tools may provide some relevant error codes, warnings, or even informational events. However, those codes etc., will be relevant only to the most recent Windows reinstall.

Okay so update; I did as you suggested. By downloading just the driver and disabling the generic graphics driver, I was able to get Windows to recognize the 7900 xtx and install the driver. However, as soon as I click "enable" in the hardware manager it crashes the computer however, I no longer need to reinstall or system restore windows.

My specs are (no overclockng):
AMD 3700x CPU
Arous x570i pro wifi
AMD rtx 7900 xtx stock
corsair 3200 ram (16gbs)
Corsair platinum 750w PSU
Windows 11 home

 

[Ralston18]

Boot into safe mode if you can and look in Reliability History/Monitor. Or, if necessary, roll back to the Windows generic driver.

Any error codes, warnings, or informational events just before or at the time of the crash?

Objective being to discover what Windows is reacting/responding to.

How old is that Corsair 750w PSU? History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit mining?

And if you can get into Reliability History also take a look in Event Viewer.

Reliability History is much more user friendly and the timeline format may reveal some pattern.

Event Viewer requires more time and effort.

To help:

How To - How to use Windows 10 Event Viewer | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com)

 

[Clueless02]

Boot into safe mode if you can and look in Reliability History/Monitor. Or, if necessary, roll back to the Windows generic driver.

Any error codes, warnings, or informational events just before or at the time of the crash?

Objective being to discover what Windows is reacting/responding to.

How old is that Corsair 750w PSU? History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit mining?

And if you can get into Reliability History also take a look in Event Viewer.

Reliability History is much more user friendly and the timeline format may reveal some pattern.

Event Viewer requires more time and effort.

To help:

How To - How to use Windows 10 Event Viewer | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com)

That's the weird thing, the reliability monitor just says windows unexpectedly shut down. The PSU is pretty new, less than a year, and not much heavy gaming on it. The gaming I did do was on a 970 so we're talking minor stuff (Age of Empires, Homeworld Remasted etc)

I'm going to keep plugging away and will report back. It's so strange