[SOLVED] PC freezes and blackscreen after Nvidia driver installation

[rootCBR]

Hello there,
I'm hoping someone here could prevent me from going crazy over this problem I'm having right now.

• Sudden freezes with following blackscreen have been happening ever since the PC was built, some times more often than other times, but always still managable.
• It now reached a point where the screen would go black systematically after the GPU driver has been installed or as soon as Windows is loaded and the login screen should appear.
• There have been a few bluescreens recently as well, which had never occured before.
• None of these problems seemed to occur while in safe mode or after removing the Nvidia drivers - until just now.
• It is possible that this problem is related to this specific CPU/RAM/mainboard combination.
• All of the temperatures (CPU, GPU) seem just fine.
• I am not able to test these components seperately or experiment with older components, which is why I can not identify the cause of this problem.
• The GPU is being recognized and displayed correctly after driver installation and GPU-Z reported values look just fine until the system freezes again. From that point on I can't boot the PC again either since the screen goes black right when the Windows login screen should appear.
• Most of the time, I get a Windows notification saying "Access to graphics hardware has been blocked for application XYZ", with XYZ being programs like Firefox, the Nvidia control panel or the Windows start menu.
• The event viewer reports an error from the source "nvlddmkm" saying "The description for Event ID 13 has not been found", which hints at a Nvidia driver problem.
• The PC stays turned on the whole time after the system freezes and the screen goes black.

Things I have done:

• update BIOS to latest stable version
• reset CMOS
• revert to original BIOS version
• update BIOS again
• experiment with CPU and RAM settings in BIOS
• switch up the PCI slots
• switch up the RAM slots
• use only 1 RAM slot
• attempt to install older display drivers
• check GPU power cable
• use a different GPU power cable and PSU port
• remove Nvidia drivers using DDU in safe mode and reinstalling the drivers countless times
• get frustrated

My setup:

• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super
• 2 x 16 GB DDR4-3000MHz RAM
• MSI B450 Tomahawk
• beQuiet! Pure Power 11 600W
• Windows 10 Pro 64bit

How do I find out what causes this? Which component?
It's absolutely infuriating and I need someone who can help me through this.
Thanks very much in advance.

 

[Manzonnie]

Unfortunately they're isn't a easy fix for these kinds of problems. The best way is to start with your psu ( That's always my starting point) and work your way through the pc till you find the problem. Try connecting another psu if that isn't the problem go on to another part. Next would be the memory. Try 1 stick in every slot if that doesn't work try another stick moving tru your slots till you have tried all your sticks. Do this till you have tested all your components. Then if you can load into Windows safe mode reinstall your drivers one by one do a sfc/scannow check your system files and if none of that works you may have to do a clean install of Windows. Take your time and make sure to log all of your test and changes so you can go back and reference everything you've done. Hopefully the problem will show it's self and you can get the problem fixed. Hope this helps.

 

[rootCBR]

I'd do that, but sadly I don't have old parts lying around anymore. At this point I'm ready to send the GPU back for replacement, Nvidia support said that this looks like its actually broken. But what if that's not it?
Now add to that my bad internet connection (I got a bluescreen in the middle of downloading Windows 10 again, so guess what I ended up not doing at all) and the fact that I don't have a electronics shop nearby...