[SOLVED] GTX 970 won't work with nVidia's drivers

[Ring_C]

I got a GTX 970 GPU which was said not to work.
Final conclusion: It's not working with nVidia's drivers. It works perfectly fine (except for software and games which needs the nVidia's drivers of course). It even runs 4K videos on youtube with no issue. GPU-Z says it's about 42c.

What have I done so far:

• Opened it, cleaned it thoroughly, replaced thermal paste.
• Flashed 2 other bioses.
• Used it in 2 different PCs. Same results.
• Installed "standard" (non DCH) nVidia drivers.

What I haven't done yet:
- I've run it on linux with basic drivers which worked perfectly. Maybe I should try and install nVidia's drivers for linux and see if this works.

Bottom line: If the PC it's on is attached to the internet, windows will automatically install its drivers and it'll crash. At first I thought it's just heating too much, and that's why it crashes. But I can leave it running for hours with the basic Windows drivers (as long as it's off the web) and it'll run perfectly.

Any idea if this is fixable?!

 

[cdrkf]

I got a GTX 970 GPU which was said not to work.
Final conclusion: It's not working with nVidia's drivers. It works perfectly fine (except for software and games which needs the nVidia's drivers of course). It even runs 4K videos on youtube with no issue. GPU-Z says it's about 42c.

What have I done so far:

• Opened it, cleaned it thoroughly, replaced thermal paste.
• Flashed 2 other bioses.
• Used it in 2 different PCs. Same results.
• Installed "standard" (non DCH) nVidia drivers.

What I haven't done yet:
- I've run it on linux with basic drivers which worked perfectly. Maybe I should try and install nVidia's drivers for linux and see if this works.

Bottom line: If the PC it's on is attached to the internet, windows will automatically install its drivers and it'll crash. At first I thought it's just heating too much, and that's why it crashes. But I can leave it running for hours with the basic Windows drivers (as long as it's off the web) and it'll run perfectly.

Any idea if this is fixable?!

It sounds like part of the GPU is faulty - remember that very little of the gpu is required to run basic drivers - it's essentially running with all hardware acceleration disabled. Once you install the drivers then it turns everything on and crashes.... this is usually how GPU's fail, chances are it will completely die even on basic driver eventually.

Often these types of failures are down to the GPU contacts failing between the GPU and the pcb - which results from the heating a cooling cycle of using the card in gaming and such.

There is a short term fix you can try which may bring the card back to life (at least for a while) which is the 'oven' method. I would suggest doing a google search for 'GPU Over Fix' - quite a lot of vids on youtube that cover this. The theory is that backing the card in the oven reflows the solder between the gpu and contacts on the card. Typically cards treated like this might start to work again, although it generally doesn't last very long.

The full fix for this issue is to have the gpu fully removed and re-soldered to the card, however that requires specialist equipment.

 

[gamenadez]

Disabled Windows Update?
Disabled Automatic Driver?

 

[Ring_C]

Disabled Windows Update?

Funny enough, even when windows update is disabled - if you're connected to the internet, somehow Windows download the driver in the background and install it. I had to unplug the PC from the router for it not to download the drivers.

Disabled Automatic Driver?

What do you mean with that exactly?

 

[Ring_C]

The full fix for this issue is to have the gpu fully removed and re-soldered to the card, however that requires specialist equipment.

I thought so myself. Unfortunately I assume it'll not be cheap, and I'm not sure it's worth the cost.

 

[gamenadez]

Funny enough, even when windows update is disabled - if you're connected to the internet, somehow Windows download the driver in the background and install it. I had to unplug the PC from the router for it not to download the drivers.


What do you mean with that exactly?

That exactly what I mean. Disabled the Windows Driver so it wont download the driver and install it.
here guide

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eiaskh1If0


watch the video first.

When U install fresh Windows 10. do not plug ethernet. disabled windows update and the driver update. after that u can connect to internet

OR maybe you dont have full pc driver updated? try to download Driver Booster.

 

[John Chesterfield]

try to download Driver Booster.

Terrible advice.

 

[John Chesterfield]

OP, what actually happens when you run the NVidia installer and it is detecting hardware?

 

[Ring_C]

OP, what actually happens when you run the NVidia installer and it is detecting hardware?

When the progress bar arrives around its 25%-30% where I assume it actually installs the drivers - the display goes black. The PC continues running. Every once in a while I see the mouse pointer blinking but that's it.

 

[John Chesterfield]

So it doesn't say that it can't find any NVidia hardware?

 

[Ring_C]

No. Not at all. I can even flash different versions of BIOS within windows's command line and it detects it with no issues.

 

[hang-the-9]

It's pretty much certain to be a failing card, crashing when on full drivers especially on several systems is a sign of that. Good news is that a used working 970 is about $100 now, and you can actually sell yours for a bit online as-is, there are plenty of people that buy cheap cards with the hope of fixing them. I am actually about to put my 290X card on eBay that has some screen flicker issues, just make sure you list anything wrong with it if you sell it. It's one thing to sell a product with issues when you disclose those issues, but it's fraud and lying if you don't mention it.