Only one type of graphics card works on my computer

[johnsmithy283]

Hello, this is my first post on this website, so I apologize if I leave out any important information.

My computer has an Nvidia GTX 660. It was working for about 3 or 4 years until relatively recently, the screen flickered and said that the display driver was successfully recovered. It did that 3 times in about 15 seconds. Then it stopped. I think a week later it flickered and the driver recovered once more. I did not update or change my video drivers during the time, so I thought it was just some quirk that might statistically happen once in a long while, and so I thought it was no big deal.

Later on, between a couple weeks to a month later (I don't exactly remember, sorry), my display suddenly freezes, and I usually have to force reboot (hold the power button for 5 seconds). It usually does that when I play a graphically intensive game. Rarely, it restarts on its own. It got to the point that each time it started up, it sometimes shows the BIOS, it sometimes shows the loading screen of Windows, and it sometimes works on Windows for like 7 seconds before I get a black screen. And sometimes I just get a blank screen to begin with. All result in the monitor going to sleep. I think it's important to note that when I got the driver recovery notifications, that was when I had no games running, and the computer was displaying my desktop.

So I decided to get a replacement graphics card, because I forgot that I could just plug into the motherboard itself to get a display. It was an Nvidia GT something, I don't remember. It was a GT series for sure. Maybe a GT 770. It was a new card, by the way. Anyway, it wasn't a PCI-e x16 card. I think it fits in a x4 slot, but I've read that cards that are smaller than x16 can still work on a x16 slot, so I tried it. What happened was that I saw the BIOS boot up, but nothing beyond that. Then I heard the motherboard beep twice in a 20-second interval, or something like that. On the third beep, the display changed to a black screen, where it had the graphics card's information on it, with a cursor at the end. Nothing else happened. No more beeps. I waited for a couple of minutes to see if something else happened, but nothing else happened. So I forcibly shut it down. I have an AMI BIOS. It's an IP-MMB Fermosa motherboard. It was a new motherboard, as I accidentally made scratches and dents on my old one.

Next, someone told me to plug into the motherboard directly. That worked. However, it only works if the graphics card is taken out.

So I spent about a week without a graphics card, until I decided to try the graphics card again, because why not. To my surprise, it worked. I don't know how, but the graphics card decided to behave itself. It worked for about 2 months, and then it failed. So I decided to wait for about 5 days before putting it back in again, and the same thing happened: it went back to life.

Now, I've read that it could be my power supply unit beginning to fail. However, I don't see how even a weak PSU could be unable to power a weak graphics card that only needs a PCI-express slot to power it.

Anyway, later on, when my GTX 660 was displaying things, I decided to upgrade my PC by replacing it with a brand new MSI GTX 980, while at the same time isolating the problem. That didn't work. It created the same exact result as I did with the GT graphics card that fits on a x4 slot. The only difference is that it didn't display the graphics card information at all. There was just a blank screen with a blinking cursor at the top right of the screen. I got frustrated, and so I just took the graphics card out of the computer, and plugged the monitor in to the motherboard to look up on how to troubleshoot this problem. My GTX 660 is the only graphics card that my computer likes to run, for some reason.

And that is when I smelled something burning. It was coming from my power supply unit. So I quickly turned off my computer. Maybe the PSU was the problem after all, but I have a gut feeling that it was simply an isolated issue from my graphics card issues.

After that, I decided to come on here to ask for help, as I feel that my problem is very unique.

Why was only one of three graphics cards that I have bought been able to work? Could the PSU be the reason for the the other two cards to fail?

I've been trying to delete my GTX 660 video drivers, but for some reason, they don't want to stay deleted. Each time I restart, the drivers come back in Programs and Features. I've read online that since I still have remnants of the graphics driver for the GTX 660, it would conflict with other graphics cards. Would that cause the symptoms I have described? Does the computer check the video drivers before starting Windows? I have a Windows 8, by the way.

So, since I have no PSU to start my computer with, I'm going to list the specs manually. I'm typing this from my laptop.

It's an HP Envy h8-1430
Motherboard: IP-MMB Fermosa
BIOS: AMI
Graphics card: GTX 660, tried to use a GT series, tried to use GTX 980
PSU: Unknown make and model, puts out 700 watts
OS: Windows 8

I'm sorry if this was tl;dr, but I felt that it was best to put out the whole story to diagnose the problem as accurately as possible.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[notlim981]

HP's site states that this PC comes with a 460W crappy PSU, that is your problem. You must upgrade it to a good PSU (500W 80+ Bronze or Gold) to hold a decent GPU.

Also install CCleaner on your PC to get rid of the stuck driver.

 

[johnsmithy283]

Oh yeah. I forgot to say that I replaced the 460W PSU, hence me mentioning having a 700W PSU. 700 watts is enough to deal with an i7-3770k processor and a GTX 980, right?

 

[johnsmithy283]

So, I have replaced the burnt PSU with a 600W PSU. It's not Bronze or Gold, but it will have to do for now. I have also used CCleaner, but even then, it failed to get rid of the drivers. So I used Display Driver Uninstaller in order to remove it.

And so I turned off the computer and installed the GTX 980, but it still didn't work. It displays the BIOS, but never farther than that. After 3 beeps, it goes to a black screen with a blinking underscore cursor on the top left. So I installed the GTX 660 instead, and it works.

So, the GTX 660 and the on-board motherboard display both work, but the GTX 980 doesn't. I'm pretty sure that a 600-watt power supply is sufficient to power the GTX 980, even if it isn't on a Bronze or Gold standard. The drivers have been completely removed, as well. So what else would keep me from using the GTX 980?

Would my BIOS be out of date? The BIOS says that its version is of 2012, which isn't too old for a GTX 980, or I think, anyway. Should I need to update my BIOS?

Other than that, I don't know what would prevent my new graphics card from working. Any thoughts?

 

[DSzymborski]

So, I have replaced the burnt PSU with a 600W PSU. It's not Bronze or Gold, but it will have to do for now. I have also used CCleaner, but even then, it failed to get rid of the drivers. So I used Display Driver Uninstaller in order to remove it.

And so I turned off the computer and installed the GTX 980, but it still didn't work. It displays the BIOS, but never farther than that. After 3 beeps, it goes to a black screen with a blinking underscore cursor on the top left. So I installed the GTX 660 instead, and it works.

So, the GTX 660 and the on-board motherboard display both work, but the GTX 980 doesn't. I'm pretty sure that a 600-watt power supply is sufficient to power the GTX 980, even if it isn't on a Bronze or Gold standard. The drivers have been completely removed, as well. So what else would keep me from using the GTX 980?

Would my BIOS be out of date? The BIOS says that its version is of 2012, which isn't too old for a GTX 980, or I think, anyway. Should I need to update my BIOS?

Other than that, I don't know what would prevent my new graphics card from working. Any thoughts?

What *is* the 600W PSU? If it's a junky low-end one, the 600W output may be a lie.

 

[johnsmithy283]

It is the Thermaltake brand. It's the cheapest "good" one I can get for right now, though. Would an EVGA 650W with an 80 Plus Gold standard be good enough to power the 980 GTX?

Is the PSU really the culprit behind all of my problems? If so, why would it cause so many different symptoms instead of just one symptom? I would expect it to be more complicated...

 

[johnsmithy283]

Okay, now all of a sudden, my GTX 660 has stopped working like before. At first, the computer tells me that the driver has been successfully recovered, and then the display freezes. I had to force restart, but after that the monitor doesn't get any signal, even though it is connected to the graphics card. I tried using a DVI cable instead, but that didn't work, either. When I unplug the video cables, the monitor says to check the cable. So it knows when it is plugged into something, but that's it as far as I can tell.

 

[hang-the-9]

You are changing around a lot of things, no way to know exactly where the issue is, maybe your cards, maybe the power supply, maybe the motherboard, maybe even Windows.

Test the cards in another system with a good power supply, see if they work there.

If the system works with onboard video, check for an updated BIOS and chipset driver for the computer. After those are installed, reset the BIOS by unplugging it from power and removing the CMOS battery for 10 seconds, push in the power button for about 10 seconds, plug it back in, set time/date, make sure system runs well on onboard power. Then try the lowest power video card you have to test with first, see if that works.

 

[johnsmithy283]

I forgot to check back on this...

Anyway, I figured out the problem. I had to update my BIOS. I guess my new graphics card was too new for the older BIOS version. Thanks for the help, though!