Strangest issue I've EVER seen?! - 1080 Ti / 7700k

[xDoiz]

Randomly, my system was running terribly for quite some time. I figured out that strangely, Nvidia Control Panel goes missing from my system which yields horrible framerate in games, like 1/10th of what it should be. Anyway, I was able to fix this issue a few weeks ago with a complete reinstall of GPU drivers using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU).

Strangely enough, the issue came back when I tried connecting a third monitor to my system. The monitor has worked previously, but when I connected it today, it said "No signal" so I figured I'd fix it later, lemme play some games in the mean time. When I started my game, I was getting the same issue as above, where I get 1/10th of my max framerate. I right-clicked the desktop and of course, Nvidia Control Panel is missing and in the Control Panel, when I click Nvidia Control Panel it says "this program has stopped working".

I'm wondering, why did me connecting a third monitor to my system magically corrupt Nvidia Control Panel? Why does my third monitor say "No signal"? Weirdly enough, my desktop wallpaper stretched 3x (as if the monitor was connected), but the monitor was all black and had no signal. Input is correct. I can confirm that every part in my system, including all monitors, has worked 100% in the past. I know how to remedy this issue (use DDU to reinstall all drivers) but I don't know how to completely fix it. Anyone have this issue?!

 

[gaborbarla]

I have had similar issues in the past. In my opinion you very rarely need to use the DDU. When you install the new driver, make absolutely sure you have to correct driver for the correct OS and the correct card. Latest drivers also help.
Also, tick clean install in the wizard. This should resolve the driver issue. As to why this happens is hard to say, perhaps the monitor plugging in is not the only factor that caused the disappearance of the control panel. Seems like the drivers crash when you plug in that monitor and hence the missing control panel.

 

[xDoiz]

I have had similar issues in the past. In my opinion you very rarely need to use the DDU. When you install the new driver, make absolutely sure you have to correct driver for the correct OS and the correct card. Latest drivers also help.
Also, tick clean install in the wizard. This should resolve the driver issue. As to why this happens is hard to say, perhaps the monitor plugging in is not the only factor that caused the disappearance of the control panel. Seems like the drivers crash when you plug in that monitor and hence the missing control panel.

Most likely. Only reason why I used DDU was because a normal reinstall of drivers + checking "perform a clean installation" didn't seem to fix the issue, I think DDU may clean up files in the registry and other folders that Nvidia doesn't access but I may be wrong.

I still don't know why this is happening but I fixed it (again) by using DDU. Really strange. I wonder if it has anything to do with me having 3 monitors, two are 60hz and one is 144hz..all 1440p. Or, I'm using extremely old HDMI cables for my secondary monitors, I wonder if I need an HDMI 1.4 or 2.0. Or, if NZXT CAM software is the culprit in some way because that program is known to be terrible. Or, my Strix just needs to be RMA'd. I wonder.