Question NVIDIA problem I've been having for a few months now ?

[cyanidezig]

I found this website while browsing, and I saw a lot of tech-savvy guys on here, so I thought maybe someone could help me out or suggest any fixes to some problems I've been having in my PC for the past 8-9 months, because I'm not too smart with PCs myself

3 years ago, I got a new PC. I'll leave the specs at the end, but this PC has been working really well for most of it's lifetime so far, excepting some small issues. Last year, however, I started to notice some really weird problems with my NVIDIA card. I suddenly couldn't ShadowPlay anymore. I tried checking what was wrong with it through the Geforce app, and it said that my Geforce app needs to be updated, and so I tried to do that. However, the app just didn't update. I tried over and over, restarted the PC, I closed all NVIDIA apps in the background(because that was what the website for NVIDIA said), and eventually I even tried uninstalling the drivers and restarting my PC. None of these worked.

I then saw on a forum that you should install an update for your NVIDIA driver through the website. So I tried doing that, but the same thing happened, the update just wouldn't happen. It kept stopping at the end, saying that it failed.

This doesn't affect me TOO much, but whenever I try to fix it, I just seem to run into a dead end. I read in another forum about a guy who was having similar problems as me, and that they uninstalled and re-installed Geforce and that fixed their problem, but when I tried to do that, the installation wouldn't happen. So I just kind of lost Geforce on my PC too.

If I try to run emulators, they just don't run well, because I cannot connect to my Graphics card on the settings. My NVIDIA control panel just kept crashing for a week, but that just suddenly stopped happening one day. A lot of places I checked just said to update Windows, but a similar problem to the NVIDIA apps keeps happening to me for Windows too. When the update is almost over, it suddenly just stops, restarts the PC and says that the update failed. Troubleshooters don't work, I don't know how to fix the "Update Windows" issue, and the NVIDIA problem just becomes more and more annoying every month.

What's weird is that for Steam games, my Graphics Card seems to work just fine. I can run most games on a high quality setting without drops below 100 FPS, but there's still all the problems that I mentioned above.
So that is my situation. Hope someone can help me out, or at least give a suggestion that would help me in the right direction, because I honestly just gave up after a few months. The only thing left that I can do is just completely wipe my PC and install Windows anew, and I would like to hold off on that in case there's anything else I can do.

My PC Specifications:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3300X 4-core Processor
CPU cooler: (I do not know..)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Processor - B450M DS3H WIFI-CF
Ram: 16.0 GB
SSD/HDD: SSD, Storage - 1TB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
PSU:
Chassis: Gigabye C301 Glass
OS: Microsoft Windows 10
Monitor: BenQ Mobiuz EX2510

 

[cyanidezig]

No idea. When windows starts, I click the 'Sign in' button and I have admin rights. The watermark has diplomatic immunity. We make it work. So you log into like 'me@ilovewindows' by photographing a pin code that gets texted to your thumbprint reader?

I just log in like usual. Everything goes on fine, as if I'd actually have a normal installation of Windows, except the problems that we've talked about. I honestly don't really mind deactivating or removing my Windows key at this point, but I just don't want it to mess with the PC anymore than I already have.

 

[cyanidezig]

Just doing clean install on exactly same components as before should not deactivate Windows. Was it properly activated before with legit key?

In any case there are two main reasons driver installer won't work: Windows is somehow corrupted or physical problem with device. After what you described both options are equally possible. You mentioned brother - can you let him check your GPU in his PC if it is still working correctly? That would probably fastest way of finding what's going on here.

With the original installation I had 3 years ago, I will have to check. I don't fully remember everything he did, and I called him a few hours ago too, even he doesn't properly remember what he did, but he knows he used the Windows Insider Key because he assumed that the Windows setup we had at the time might have gotten corrupted. Everything seemed to be fixed after he did that, so I just assumed that was indeed the case.
My brother isn't in my country anymore, he left abroad for college a few months ago :/

 

[cyanidezig]

As DRagor said, no idea why another product key was used unless this was another os previous to win10. Since win10, the key was digitalised and tied to the motherboard id so reinstalling windows would activate soon as you logged in to your Microsoft account as the sign in.

Regarding drivers, just get it from here. I seen other links but didn't see this. [Edit] im seeing caption in a different language from Geforce, not sure if it's this forum since update or something else lol, anyways the link does take you to American site.

Lade dir die neuesten offiziellen GeForce-Treiber herunter

Lade dir die neuesten offiziellen GeForce-Treiber herunter, um das Gaming-Erlebnis auf deinem PC zu verbessern und Apps schneller auszuführen.

www.nvidia.com

Do manual search, input fields and run the installer (don't need to extract) as administrator by right clicking mouse, you'll see the option there. In the installer can choose express or custom. That's up to you, either should be fine.

Yes, I've used this website multiple times. Tried using every website NVIDIA has for driver installs, the installation fails every time. It gets stuck on the actual downloading step, and just says "not installed" and "failed" under every category

 

[boju]

Yes, I've used this website multiple times. Tried using every website NVIDIA has for driver installs, the installation fails every time. It gets stuck on the actual downloading step, and just says "not installed" and "failed" under every category

Try turn off user account control, set bar to lowest setting. Try again with running Nvidia installer. Can locate uac setting in taskbar search. Let me know what level it was on to begin with.

 

[cyanidezig]

Signing in to ms account (if they have one) should stop all of this.

Same as my response to DRagor's message, I'll have to check if we had a proper key before, because if we did then if I install the actual key then we should be fine (?), my only question is if just deactivating Windows will allow me to install my NVIDIA drivers. I'll hold off for now because like I said, I'm already kind of afraid of screwing around with this PC anymore, but if that's my only option then I don't mind

 

[boju]

Same as my response to DRagor's message, I'll have to check if we had a proper key before, because if we did then if I install the actual key then we should be fine (?), my only question is if just deactivating Windows will allow me to install my NVIDIA drivers. I'll hold off for now because like I said, I'm already kind of afraid of screwing around with this PC anymore, but if that's my only option then I don't mind

Shouldn't prevent graphics drivers installation at all.

 

[cyanidezig]

Try turn off user account control, set bar to lowest setting. Try again with running Nvidia installer. Can locate uac setting in taskbar search. Let me know what level it was on to begin with.

Still failed..
My UAC was originally in "Notify me when apps try to make a change", the third bar from the bottom. I changed it to lowest bar, no change in the installation

 

[cyanidezig]

Shouldn't prevent graphics drivers installation at all.

Yes, I think I'll just deactivate my windows or just factory reset it if all else fails. I've already gotten all my info saved away on USBs and all. My only issue is that if the problem doesn't get fixed even if I factory reset this PC, then I quite literally have no other option left on hand lol

 

[cyanidezig]

Give yourself the gift of administration.

I'm checking windows, and I am an admin...

 

[HeerZakdoeK]

I'm checking windows, and I am an

can you add your account to folders/files under permissions, check the full access boxes and create some links or notepad files there?

 

[boju]

Yes, I think I'll just deactivate my windows or just factory reset it if all else fails. I've already gotten all my info saved away on USBs and all. My only issue is that if the problem doesn't get fixed even if I factory reset this PC, then I quite literally have no other option left on hand lol

Yeah try reset+ keep files.

If that fails, do you have a spare drive of any sort to test fresh install on? If do, put aside your current drive. If fresh install is successful, reconnect your original drive, copy wanted files over to test drive. Once done, disconnect test drive and reinstall windows again on your original drive.

 

[cyanidezig]

can you add your account to folders/files under permissions, check the full access boxes and create some links or notepad files there?

you mean if I can access folders and files which require admin access or permissions? Yeah, and yes, I can make new notepad files and all in those files

 

[cyanidezig]

Yeah try reset+ keep files.

If that fails, do you have a spare drive of any sort to test fresh install on? If do, put aside your current drive. If fresh install is successful, reconnect your original drive, copy wanted files over to test drive. Once done, disconnect test drive and reinstall windows again on your original drive.

Yes, going to try factory resetting in a while, this is basically my last resort lol
By drive do you mean USB or actual PC Drive? My pc has two C and D drives, both with a good amount of apps and files in them, and I have all my personal data backed up on a USB I'm using

 

[boju]

Main drive i meant, if you happened to have a spare or know someone who does

 

[HeerZakdoeK]

you mean if I can access folders and files which require admin access or permissions? Yeah, and yes, I can make new notepad files and all in those files

you can delete and rename files in the windows folder? program files folder too?

 

[cyanidezig]

you can delete and rename files in the windows folder? program files folder too?

Yeah

 

[cyanidezig]

Main drive i meant, if you happened to have a spare or know someone who does

Unfortunately no

 

[boju]

Unfortunately no

Maybe easy answer to that. Get a 2tb ext drive, backup your stuff and install win/ shuffle data as you see fit

 

[DSzymborski]

Frankly, I'd do a full wipe of the drive and Windows install. Fact is, we have no way of knowing *exactly* what was done with this install or what your brother did. Not a "factory reset" which means something different, typically the pre-installed software a prebuilt comes with (a hard drive from the factory has nothing on it). Instead of tinkering with a Windows install nobody knows the condition of, even the user, let's just eliminate this as the issue completely but making sure it's installed correctly.

Wiping and reinstalling an OS isn't "messing with the computer" it's a basic level of PC maintenance. You may not want to tinker with the transmission of your car or the inner workings of your air conditioning system, but anyone should be able to check the tire pressure or change the air filter on the latter.

Get Windows squared away and *then* worry about the problems, if they persist. Because then, we'll have Windows issues out of the mix.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

The activation is a twist I didn’t consider. As people above said, if you’ve got a Microsoft account try signing into that. I had to replace my motherboard(went from a fried b350 board to a cheap b450 just to get running) last night and my pc actually booted but windows deactivated. Yes I was lazy and didn’t feel like reformatting, but I was able to log into my Microsoft account and tell it I was using the same device even though the hardware had changed and it activated. I was then able to update the chipset and gpu driver and it’s happy again.

You might try going and creating a new user profile that is an administrator and log in as that user and see if it lets you make the needed changes. If not you may need reformat to get it right. Where did the key come from that was used? May want to validate that the windows key in your build is legit as well.

 

[cyanidezig]

So I deactivated Windows and the PC has not changed at all, except for Windows Settings now telling me to "Activate Windows". Windows Updates are still failing, and I'm still having the NVIDIA installs failing and my PC is still not allowing me to copy and paste the files as Heer had suggested.
All of the problems are leading me to Windows telling me certain actions are being controlled by my "Organization". On checking what Organization, it just shows Windows Insider.
I think I'm just gonna do a clean install. If my Windows is having issues like this even after deactivating, I think a complete cleanse is my only viable option

 

[cyanidezig]

Frankly, I'd do a full wipe of the drive and Windows install. Fact is, we have no way of knowing *exactly* what was done with this install or what your brother did. Not a "factory reset" which means something different, typically the pre-installed software a prebuilt comes with (a hard drive from the factory has nothing on it). Instead of tinkering with a Windows install nobody knows the condition of, even the user, let's just eliminate this as the issue completely but making sure it's installed correctly.

Wiping and reinstalling an OS isn't "messing with the computer" it's a basic level of PC maintenance. You may not want to tinker with the transmission of your car or the inner workings of your air conditioning system, but anyone should be able to check the tire pressure or change the air filter on the latter.

Get Windows squared away and *then* worry about the problems, if they persist. Because then, we'll have Windows issues out of the mix.

Fair enough. I'll check out the process and completely reinstall my Windows. That was technically what my brother did last time as well lol

 

[cyanidezig]

The activation is a twist I didn’t consider. As people above said, if you’ve got a Microsoft account try signing into that. I had to replace my motherboard(went from a fried b350 board to a cheap b450 just to get running) last night and my pc actually booted but windows deactivated. Yes I was lazy and didn’t feel like reformatting, but I was able to log into my Microsoft account and tell it I was using the same device even though the hardware had changed and it activated. I was then able to update the chipset and gpu driver and it’s happy again.

You might try going and creating a new user profile that is an administrator and log in as that user and see if it lets you make the needed changes. If not you may need reformat to get it right. Where did the key come from that was used? May want to validate that the windows key in your build is legit as well.

Trying to log in just fails for me. On settings, it shows my account, but if I want to leave Insider (on the Update option) or try to log in on any other Windows app through Microsoft, logins fail every time, whether I use the PC password or the actual email password. What makes it weird for me is that my brother is using the same Microsoft account on his laptop, and everything just works fine on that device. It's just like this on my PC, which is kind of deepening my suspicions about this PC's windows setup. Either way, I'm probably gonna look up on how to properly do it and just follow on DSzymborski's advice, because this pretty much just looks like the only option left to do

 

[cyanidezig]

Frankly, I'd do a full wipe of the drive and Windows install. Fact is, we have no way of knowing *exactly* what was done with this install or what your brother did. Not a "factory reset" which means something different, typically the pre-installed software a prebuilt comes with (a hard drive from the factory has nothing on it). Instead of tinkering with a Windows install nobody knows the condition of, even the user, let's just eliminate this as the issue completely but making sure it's installed correctly.

Wiping and reinstalling an OS isn't "messing with the computer" it's a basic level of PC maintenance. You may not want to tinker with the transmission of your car or the inner workings of your air conditioning system, but anyone should be able to check the tire pressure or change the air filter on the latter.

Get Windows squared away and *then* worry about the problems, if they persist. Because then, we'll have Windows issues out of the mix.

Couple questions,
A. Do you have any videos or links for instructions/guides to properly wipe and reinstall Windows? I'm finding a bunch of youtube videos but they're all mostly talking about just factory resetting, and I 100% want to be careful and have an exact knowledge of what to do when I'm doing this myself
B. Would restoring PC to last stable condition work for my situation?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Good call. Probably your best option here is to reformat then see where you land.