Fresh windows install, Inserting gfx card cause freeze at login

CountryBumkin said:

Well at least your making progress. I think this confirms that the Graphics card is not bad (or the cause of the problem).
Personally, I only use the motherboard manufacturer's drivers if I see something in device manager that needs fix'in. The Intel MEI and Chipset are drivers I would install from Gigabytes' website. But most of the others will/should come from Windows installation process.
Perhaps you should run MemTest 86+ now. Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool (not the MemTest86 without the "+", which is a different company).
And set BIOS pages to "safe" rather than "optimum" then reinstall again. Leave everything out (graphics card, etc.) and try to get a good install. If you can't get a good Windows install to start with, then everything after that is going to be mucked up.

i just did a fresh reinstall again and the machine now runs with the onboard gpu. it still doesnt work without the graphics card inserted. i havent tried the BIOS setting you've suggested but i did run memtest 86+. i did 3 passes and there were no errors. im going to test my card on my housemates machine tomorrow and will see if there is an issue with the card. im wondering if my motherboard or some sort of driver with the motherboard is causing these issues.

Sorry this problem is so tough to solve. You said a few posts back that you are seeing the same problem with the GTX card removed - so that leads me to believe there is something else wrong with the setup (maybe the power supply is going bad and the extra load of the GTX is too much for it. I don't know).
I'm out of ideas.
Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon. Good luck.

Tried loading defaults in BIOS yet? Sometimes it helps

Again, and at least five times this week alone, we see another case where RAID is involved in problems with WIn7. Never one single report in six years of RAID working well, but often daily reports of problems? Why would anyone use such outdated tech that isn't even redundant (the first letter of its name!) because everyone who ever reported here lost all data when they lost one hard drive. Could anything we've seen here over the entire run of Win7 be clearer? Get rid of RAID nonsense, plug in only one target HD and do a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Otherwise, what happens when you boot into Safe Mode with networking and Check for Update with card installed? This will allow you to see what driver Win7 wants for the card as the first driver-complete OS, in addition to patches that may be needed to make hardware or software run correctly. Be sure to first enable Hardware Auto-Updating in case its off: Device Installation Settings

Some Updates: i plugged my card into my housemates PC, and his machine boots up fine.

My PC is still having issues even with the harddisks not running on RAID. I am starting to suspect that its my PSU. im going to swap out my housemates PSU with mine next.

some additional updates,

i swapped my 650W PSU with my housemates 800W PSU, problem still persisted. is it safe to rule out that my Graphics Card and PSU are not causing these problems? Im about to try the suggestions made by gregrocker and update with the results

I will ask again since you haven't responded: Did you try to load defaults in BIOS? (either first screen or the exit menu) :)

Hi GokAy,

sorry i didnt mean to miss your comment, yes the BIOS is running on default settings. someone mentioned in an earlier post to run it in safe rather than default, how do i do this?

It can be default but still execute the command in BIOS.

Go into BIOS as usual, and the option is either in the first screen or the exit menu. If it fails to boot after resetting, then re-configure boot order and SATA Operation Mode.