NVIDIA Driver installation black screen wont boot GTX 780

Hello all,

I want to mention that I suspect my GPU is toast, but have no conclusive way to test it immediately.

This is my first time posting a question on any forum regarding any PC I have owned as I am baffled and desperate. Approximately a week ago, there was a windows 10 update that was automatically installed upon shutdown on my computer. The next day, while playing a game, two or three times the computer froze completely including sounds. I immediately thought of the windows update being the culprit and uninstalled it. The issue didn't come up again for a few days until last Saturday when it happened once more while playing a different game. This time however the computer would not boot whatsoever. I tried resetting and hard resetting the OS in the advanced startup which did not work and proceeded to simply install a fresh copy of windows on my SSD, the same SSD.

Installation proceeded as normal until GPU drivers came up. At first, it was windows automatically downloading a driver which turned the screen blank while keeping the signal, this occurring at the end of the installation when you setup time, region, keyboard layout etc. I avoided this issue by installing again, with no internet. I managed to turn off automatic updates and install motherboard drivers, sound, and any windows updates left. I downloaded the latest driver for my card onto a separate computer, transferred it via a flash drive, and attempted to install it. This of course did not work as around 1/3 of the way through the install the screen goes black, the computer reset, and won't boot. The only way I can get into the PC at this point is by getting to advancement startup and going into safe mode or continuing on to windows 10. When I get in the PC the driver is either not installed, or not being used, I am not entirely sure at this point. So, I go online and try things like reseating the GPU, checking cables, using DDU in safe mode then installing the drivers on normal boot. I've read it could a PSU issue, but this PSU is only 12 months old. This is to say that nothing I have tried has worked yet. I'll also mention every time I have attempted something on a fresh install, neither windows nor my BIOS detects the GPU. However, after the installation seems as if it failed, the GPU is picked up in the device manager but not in the BIOS.

I am knowledgeable as I have had a couple of gaming PC's, this one that I built with the help of a friend years ago, but this situation has me stumped. Now again, I will say that I do think it is most likely the GPU that is the issue. What keeps me from believing it isn't is 1, it had shown no signs whatsoever before last week. And 2, I have no immediate way to test it.

Thank you for any assistance,

Vetoed

Hello @Ghot and thank you for the help.

I have done similar steps as to what you described in the first part which I just attempted exactly. Unfortunately it does not seem to have helped. The Nvidia installation gets about halfway, screen flickers and stays black. After some time it restarts but fails to boot. This time I got something along the lines of " your computer encountered an error and needs to restart". This happened twice before getting into automatic repair?

Did Windows report that it's using the basic display driver. If true, it's time to reseat the video card. Poor contact in the slot can cause the issue of it working only partially!

RJARRRPCGP said:

Did Windows report that it's using the basic display driver. If true, it's time to reseat the video card. Poor contact in the slot can cause the issue of it working only partially!

Yes, that has typically been the case. Once I attempt to install the driver and eventually get back into windows it is showing up. I've already reseated the GPU two times already.

- - - Updated - - -

Ghot said:

That's why we use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), and unhook the internet.
Microsoft tries to "help" with vid card driver installations. This usually doesn't work, which is WHY we unhook the internet.

Right, I understand that. I reinstalled windows 10 with no internet, did exactly as you said moving the mobo and gpu drivers to the PC using a flash drive. Installed the chipset and everything else then tried the GPU. Should I have used DDU before installing the GPU?

Oh, my post was about if it still stayed at the basic driver, after a clean driver installation. (On reboot, still using basic driver and probably an error code in Device Manger)

(after being disconnected and ready to install the video driver and other software, but Windows still won't use the proper driver)

(I had an issue like this before, IIRC with an AGP video card. It would boot, but it stayed at 16 colors or something crazy like that and then I saw an error displayed by Device Manager, IIRC. Turned out there was poor contact with the AGP slot, so I had to pull the card out and reinsert it.)

RJARRRPCGP said:

Oh, my post was about if it still stayed at the basic driver, after a clean driver installation. (On reboot, still using basic driver and probably an error code in Device Manger)

(after being disconnected and ready to install the video driver and other software, but Windows still won't use the proper driver)

(I had an issue like this before, IIRC with an AGP video card. It would boot, but it stayed at 16 colors or something crazy like that and then I saw an error displayed by Device Manager, IIRC. Turned out there was poor contact with the AGP slot, so I had to pull the card out and reinsert it.)

Oh I see, maybe I will triple-check and reseat it again or perhaps there is damage to the slot. Thanks.

Ghot said:

3. Sometimes, reseating the RAM with help with a "black screen".

QFT! Especially on Intel systems, with their tendency to often not even give a bleep code when the RAM isn't lined up correctly, thus symptom will look like a dead processor!

vetoed said:

Oh I see, maybe I will triple-check and reseat it again or perhaps there is damage to the slot. Thanks.

Seems likely to happen to me, when I move the case, at least some cases that I had a system in before, LOL.
Makes me suspect it moved too much in the slot. This problem may have been more pronounced with AGP!