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

[CrashingNvidia]

Hi all,

Here is the situation: PC was running fine, and i was playing skyrim (who isn't?), then suddenly everything froze and i had to hard reset. Only windows froze after i put in my log in password. (After the black screen with starting windows). Tried a few things in vain, got desperate, and did a clean install. once i install latest Nvidia rivers, it'll freeze at log in again. It's driving me nuts! I can only log on if in safe mode or the nvidia drivers arent there. As soon as they're installed, freeze and crash. So here's what i tried so far:

1. Tested card on a friend's pc, it works fine.
2. Tried different drivers, uninstalling old ones with driver sweeper, still doesn't work.
3. Tried a GTX 260 on my mobo same pci slot, works fine with nvidia drivers.
4. It's not heat related (i think) as my case is well cooled and temps have always been low.

I just don't get it, card is not broken, clean windows install, and crash as soon as there are nvidia drivers?! How am i suppose to make sense of that?!
This is way above my head now, and i have to turn to the expert's help to solve this problem from hell. If i need to upload anything to help you help me, let me know.

Here are the specs:
Asus P7P55D mobo
i5 750 OC'ed to 3.6 (cooled by Silver Arrow)
Palit GTX 570 (factory overclocked)
D-link network card
Windows 64 bit home premium disc.

My pc's fate rests in your hands now!

 

[writhziden]

Hello, and welcome to Sevenforums. If you follow the instructions for posting your issue, http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html, you will probably get help soon. Thanks.

Edit: I received a message from someone more experienced (FredeGail) saying the DMP files are not necessary as this is not blue screen related. However, I would be interested in seeing the health report. Thanks.

 

[writhziden]

Also, reading what you have posted, have you tried turning off the overclocking of the CPU and reset your BIOS to default settings?

 

[CrashingNvidia]

Hey writhziden,

Thanks for your response, i'll definitely do the health report tomorrow, as well as try your suggestion for the cpu overclock and bios. Hope it works! Any more ideas please throw them my way!

 

[CrashingNvidia]

Hi,

I tried resetting the bios, and it did log on to windows this time, only a couple of seconds later i get an orange screen and then BSOD! tried it a few times with changes in the bios but same result.

I uploaded the dmp files. Hope this can lead to a solution.

Thanks everyone.

 

[CrashingNvidia]

Anyone?

 

[writhziden]

Have you tried resetting your BIOS by shutting down, turning off your computer, unplugging your computer, and holding down the power button for 30 seconds to close the connection and allow all power to drain?

The blue screen is definitely being caused by your graphics card driver (or along those lines). If the above does not work, maybe you should try going to your motherboard's site and seeing if there is a BIOS update that you are missing. The fact that you did a clean install and continue to have this issue leads me to believe that this is somehow hardware related. If it is not the graphics card, it may be the motherboard.

Another thing to check is the voltage levels of your graphics card, the temperatures, etc. to make sure your motherboard is supplying the card with what it needs. I would first try the hardware reset and then the BIOS update if the hardware reset does not work. Then monitor your graphics card performance if the BIOS update does not work.

 

[CrashingNvidia]

Hi Writhziden,

I reset my bios,didn't work. Updated it to the latest version, still no luck. As before my friend's 260 works fine, but the 570 won't play nice as soon as nvidea drivers are present. Uninstall them, and i log on fine. As mentioned before it works on my firend's PC with the drivers, so it can't be faulty.
I'm out of ideas, what i'm going to do next is try and get another 570 in. If it won't work, then i'll know it must be something with the mobo or power supply not giving the card enough juice, or something similar.
the whole thing is just baffling.
Thanks again for the help.

 

[writhziden]

I was thinking the 260 works fine because it is not as high end a card. My impression was that your motherboard either was not designed to handle the 570, your motherboard was damaged somehow preventing it from supplying the 570 with what it needs, or your power supply unit is no longer supplying the power needed. You said things worked fine up until you were playing Skyrim, so it has to be that something is not performing as it was before that time.

 

[CrashingNvidia]

Yes that is my suspicion too. Although the only odd thing is that can a 260 under gaming require less power than a 570 on idle? because the 260 is fine with skyrim..
But anyway, i'll try another 570 and see how this goes.

 

[writhziden]

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

 

[CrashingNvidia]

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?

 

[writhziden]

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

 

[CrashingNvidia]

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.

 

[writhziden]

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.

 

[CrashingNvidia]

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.

 

[writhziden]

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.

 

[CrashingNvidia]

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.

 

[writhziden]

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 http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html OPTION TWO.

Thanks to zigzag3143 for contributing to the above steps.

 

[writhziden]

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.