Windows freeze and crash at log in if Nvidia drivers are present!

It could be due to any of the differences between them, but I imagine it is the power. Here is a comparison of the two: GeForce GTX 260 vs GeForce GTX 570 – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare

Tried another 570, and it didn't work once the drivers were installed! What do you think writhziden, safe bet it's the power supply?

It is worth checking out. If it doesn't work, you can always return it to the store.

I found out that putting the 570 in the 2nd pci slot (x4 compared to the x16 previous slot) solved the problem. I can log in normally.
Does that mean it's not the psu but a faulty pci slot? and if so, how can it suddenly go wrong mid-game, and why does a 260 work on that slot?
Or can it still be the psu?

Any help appreciated.

CrashingNvidia said:

I found out that putting the 570 in the 2nd pci slot (x4 compared to the x16 previous slot) solved the problem. I can log in normally.
Does that mean it's not the psu but a faulty pci slot? and if so, how can it suddenly go wrong mid-game, and why does a 260 work on that slot?
Or can it still be the psu?

Any help appreciated.

Looking at the pin layout PCI Express 1x, 4x, 8x, 16x bus pinout and wiring @ pinouts.ru, I would say that the 4X probably uses less current. Both use the same voltage, and P=I*V, so I would say it is still possible that it is the power supply. I imagine you are taking a big hit in performance from the 16x to the 4x.

I see. i bought a psu tester or whatever they're called and will check how it's outputting voltages. Thanks for that.
To my surprise, performance hit was noticable, but nowhere as large as i thought it would be. Playing skyrim on ultra resulted in 40-60 fps with occasional dips into low 30 and high 20's, so still perfectly playable. But that might be just skyrim, and not indicative of other games.

CrashingNvidia said:

I see. i bought a psu tester or whatever they're called and will check how it's outputting voltages. Thanks for that.
To my surprise, performance hit was noticable, but nowhere as large as i thought it would be. Playing skyrim on ultra resulted in 40-60 fps with occasional dips into low 30 and high 20's, so still perfectly playable. But that might be just skyrim, and not indicative of other games.

The higher your memory on the card, the less of a performance hit you will see, but it will still be a fairly significant hit from 16x to 4x. 16x to 8x is much less noticeable.

New psu, same problem. So that rules out the power supply. I guess im left with faulty pci-e. Doesn't explain how a 260 works on it though, unless im overlooking something.

CrashingNvidia said:

New psu, same problem. So that rules out the power supply. I guess im left with faulty pci-e. Doesn't explain how a 260 works on it though, unless im overlooking something.

I'm at a loss as to what could be causing the problem. If you uninstall the nVidia driver, everything works fine, right? My recommendation would be to uninstall the nVidia driver, and then do the following steps to see if there is an underlying driver issue that we are missing:
1. Backup your system and user files
2. Create a system restore point
3. If you do not have a Windows 7 DVD, Create a system repair disc
4. Run Driver Verifier

If Windows cannot start in normal mode with driver verifier running, start in safe mode. If it cannot start in safe mode or normal mode, restore the system restore point using System Restore OPTION TWO.

Thanks to zigzag3143 for contributing to the above steps.

Nevermind, I think I found the culprit. I just learned about this one a couple days ago.

ASACPI.SYS is a known BSOD problem on Windows 7. Update the driver by:
1. Going to the Asus motherboard support site
When you reach the website:
2. Scroll down the page and click Utilities
3. Hold Ctrl and press f (ctrl+f) to enter the browser's find feature
4. Search for "ATK0110 driver for WindowsXP/Vista/Win7 32&64-bit" (without quotes)
5. Download and install the driver.
6. After installation is complete, verify that it installed correctly.

a. Click Start Menu
b. Click My Computer
c. Go to C:\WIndows\System32\drivers\
d. Verify that the ASACPI.SYS file is dated 2009 or newer (2010,etc.)

Thanks to JMH and zigzag3143 for the above information.