After installing new Radeon GPU and drivers, Windows stuck at starting

I just received my new ASUS HD7850-DC-2GD5 video card. I installed it, booted up Windows, and installed the drivers from the included CD. Then I rebooted Windows. However, my system hangs at the 'Starting Windows' screen. Actually, it seems that only the video hangs--because if I type in my password and hit enter, as if I could see the welcome screen, I hear the 'correct' sound that normally plays when I log in. I just can't *see* what's going on.

I reset the system and booted into safe mode, where I entered Device Manager and uninstalled the HD7850 display adapter. Then I rebooted Windows, and again I'm able to operate normally -- but without the AMD Radeon drivers. I've tried downloading the latest drivers from the AMD website, but installing those leads to the same problem. I get stuck at the 'Starting Windows' screen.

This has me totally perplexed... I bought an ASUS-branded card specifically to try and avoid drama, as I also have an ASUS mobo (the P8Z68-VPRO/GEN3). My CPU is an i7 2700k, not currently overclocked at all. My PSU is an XFX PRO850W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 88Plus 850 Watt PSU, which should be up to the task, right?

Anyone have any clue why this is happening?

Solarstarshines said:

go to amd.com get the drivers from there the disc drivers offers alot of issues which you will see the 12.3 will fix all that

Hi, thanks for replying. I've already tried the latest drivers, but have the same problem.

If you have updated drivers and still the problem exists, then perform the following tasks::

Install and run antispyware software
Free up wasted space with Disk Cleanup tool
Defragment your hard disk drive


Click Start - Run, type in %temp% and then click OK.

Once that temp folder is open and you can view its contents, select and delete EVERYTHING that's inside it.

It's all junk and is a good place for "nasties" to hide.

If a few files resist being deleted, that's normal. Leave them alone and delete EVERYTHING else.

Repeat the steps with c:\windows\temp

After you're done with both temp folders, restart the computer.

OK, I tried these tasks. Still no change. I'm back in safe mode atm so I can disable the Radeon drivers again.

Does anyone know a way I can test the video card itself? I don't have a second desktop to swap it into, unfortunately.

Well, I'm getting video output from the card as long as I don't enable the Radeon drivers. My monitors are plugged into the video card, not the onboard graphics. And the fans are spinning. Does that count for something? I'd rather avoid the hassle and expense of sending this thing back if there are other troubleshooting steps to take first.

Alright I'm sending it back. $13 and another week wasted... if the replacement doesn't work, I'm going with NVidia :P