Windows 10 Boot Loop Because Of Graphics Driver Program

[Marsh-Andi]

Long Story Short: My Nvidia drivers have been causing the Windows 10 boot loop on my desktop and I can't fix it no matter what unless I uninstall the drivers. What can I do to stop the boot loop so I can use my graphics card?

DETAILS:

Specifications:

OS: Windows 10 Pro (Not Activated Right Now)
Motheboard: Asrock AA68-10b AMD
CPU: AMD A4-6300 4.0 GHz (3.7 GHz)
Onboard Graphics: Radeon HD 8370D
Dedicated Graphics: Nvidia GTX 260
RAM: 4 GB

So, I've been trying to install my GTX 260 and after successfully making it my primary graphics in my BIOS, I let the GTX 260 install its drivers and I restarted my computer.

After the restart, the Windows 10 boot loop started to happen and no matter how many times I've simply restarted, it wouldn't work.

I've tried disabling the Auto Reboot in the Registry so I can get the blue screen of death to see if it can tell me something else is wrong but no matter how many times I set AutoBoot to 0, my desktop won't stop the auto reboot and it goes right back to the Startup Repair screen.

Eventually, I went into Safe Mode and removed the drivers and Windows 10 worked perfectly fine after that, which is not what I want. I want to use my GTX 260 and have my Windows boot up perfectly fine too.

I will also say that at random times when I boot up my computer, I get a screen full of blue dots but they eventually go away when the Windows fail to load.

Are there any suggestions or advice? I really don't know how to prevent this boot from happening (which is kinda sad since I'm the one that wants to be a Computer Tech in the near future, bleh)

If more details are needed, just let me know!

 

[thejackal85]

This is the fourth time I've seen something like this, what a strange problem. Sounds like NVIDIA needs to get their shit together.

To use the card (for now) go to NVIDIA's website and try an older version of the driver for your graphics card. If one does not work, go back a couple more and try again, one of them will work for your system. Then, when NVIDIA comes out with a new release for the card, you can try that one.

Have you submitted a ticket with NVIDIA?

 

[Marsh-Andi]

I actually didn't think about making a ticket with Nvidia, I assumed it was Windows 10 since I've had doubts and problems with it in the past.

I may do the ticket soon depending on what I may find.
And thank you for the advice, I'll try looking up some old drivers and try them out in a few hours. Who knows, it might actually be Nvidia's fault this time!

 

[Marsh-Andi]

This is the fourth time I've seen something like this, what a strange problem. Sounds like NVIDIA needs to get their shit together.

To use the card (for now) go to NVIDIA's website and try an older version of the driver for your graphics card. If one does not work, go back a couple more and try again, one of them will work for your system. Then, when NVIDIA comes out with a new release for the card, you can try that one.

Have you submitted a ticket with NVIDIA?

Okay, so when I tried a driver back in June 2015, it did the boot loop again. Now the GTX 260 only shows up as Video Controller but I just may have glitched it out in some way. So it may not be the updated driver that's causing the problem (but I'm going to keep testing them)

Edit: Here's some pictures of what Windows Update tells me about the drivers

It shows there are two but it only installs one of them and asks me to restart.

 

[thejackal85]

If installing an older driver did not help, but Windows keeps finding updates, there is definitely a software issue somewhere. Your graphics did work fine at one time, yes?

 

[Marsh-Andi]

If installing an older driver did not help, but Windows keeps finding updates, there is definitely a software issue somewhere. Your graphics did work fine at one time, yes?

No, there wasn't a time it was working fine. I just hooked it up, fished for the settings to enable it and now the drivers are messing up the Windows.
But I've recently seen that Windows Update installs the most recent driver update (1/4/2016) and the one below it is from (11/19/2015). I'm currently trying to figure out how to get rid of the newest one and get the November update instead.

And you're pretty much right! It's like Windows completely ignores the updates I install and continues to do the ones it finds.

 

[thejackal85]

It sounds like there might be a compatibility issue somewhere. Windows 10 is still very new as far as the rest of the techie world is concerned, so a lot has not caught up yet. That's why I recommend to everyone to wait a while for everything else to catch up.

With that, does it say for your system requirements for the GPU that Windows 10 is supported?

 

[Marsh-Andi]

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-260/specifications

As far as I know, yes, but these are the only specifications I've seen regarding the GTX 260 and it's hardware to my system.

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3710/~/which-nvidia-gpus-are-supported-in-windows-10%3F

This website has a list of Nvidia GPUs compatible with Windows 10 and the GTX 260 is on the list (but sadly it's from last year in the fall, so there's a chance it might not be compatible anymore.)

 

[Marsh-Andi]

http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/system-requirements
I just found this as well--

 

[thejackal85]

That second link you supplied is for the GeForce experience program, that's the software you would use to control your GPU. That doesn't really matter much with GPU drivers.

There is a possibility that Windows 10 has released updates that have voided their previous claim of it being supported with Windows 10 (it happens constantly). So I think from here, you have a couple options. You can use onboard graphics for a while (if your board has it), or you can get a new GPU. I know it sucks, but there's really no other way around it.