NVIDIA 8400GS drivers fail, constantly reverts to MS drivers

I have been having this issue since getting windows 10 whereby the screen will go black for a few seconds and then a message come up saying 'display drivers have failed to start, using MS basic drivers'....This has happened multiple times, even after a few days ago where my pc 'found new drivers' and installed them. The worst part is, after a few hours , sometimes everything slows to a crawl, the mouse eventually freezes and the only way out is the reset button. This is even after I thought it may have been due to not enough memory (I just upgraded from 4 to 16 gigs) and also got an SSD 250g drive. Same exact results, so I'm thinking it's related to this near constant problem with the video card drivers where they will reset to MS drivers ...this happens about daily. Very frustrating. What's going on?

Hello guitz,

And welcome to tenforums.

I see at your system specs that you use a ATI Radeon 4300/4500. However, you also say that you have a NVIDIA 8400GS.

Have you switched graphics cards recently?

Welcome to the dream world of Microsoft. We will take control of your computer and we know which driver is best for you and we will solve all your problems by monitoring your updates and keeping everything updated whether you like it or not, but wait there's more! If we screw your machine up and you reinstall the correct driver which solves the problem, we don't care, we will reinstall the bad driver over, and over, and over, and over, did we say and over again? Rinse and repeat until you admit defeat! We are going to force you to reinstall that operable driver after every single update we push. We don't care we are Microsoft!

I have been fighting Windows 10 since I installed it several years ago. Whenever I run AutoCAD which uses the graphics driver fairly intensely I get the blue screen of death and a notice that the nvidia driver has caused a failure. I have tried every gimic on the internet and even paid $100 for an upgrade to be able to supposedly disable updates of this nature but that has not worked either. I think there should be a class action lawsuit against them for all the time this single issue has caused home users and business users alike. My time is just as valuable as theirs.Why are you and I beta testers for Microsoft each time they push an update? Windows 10 even updates the driver sometimes 10 minutes after I have installed the correct driver from my D: drive. I ended up buying an IMAC at home and have never been happier!

This is such a bias place to talk about Apple lol.

Firstly, I think that a NVIDIA 8400GS is not cutting the edge for AutoCad. But who knows.
Anyways, did you switch from AMD to Nvidia ? If so, it could be very important.

Also it is possible to disable driver updates. https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

Asuza said:

Hello guitz,

And welcome to tenforums.

I see at your system specs that you use a ATI Radeon 4300/4500. However, you also say that you have a NVIDIA 8400GS.

Have you switched graphics cards recently?

I have..just haven't updated my info ..using the NVIDIA 8400 GS now

cmilstead said:

Welcome to the dream world of Microsoft. We will take control of your computer and we know which driver is best for you and we will solve all your problems by monitoring your updates and keeping everything updated whether you like it or not, but wait there's more! If we screw your machine up and you reinstall the correct driver which solves the problem, we don't care, we will reinstall the bad driver over, and over, and over, and over, did we say and over again? Rinse and repeat until you admit defeat! We are going to force you to reinstall that operable driver after every single update we push. We don't care we are Microsoft!

I have been fighting Windows 10 since I installed it several years ago. Whenever I run AutoCAD which uses the graphics driver fairly intensely I get the blue screen of death and a notice that the nvidia driver has caused a failure. I have tried every gimic on the internet and even paid $100 for an upgrade to be able to supposedly disable updates of this nature but that has not worked either. I think there should be a class action lawsuit against them for all the time this single issue has caused home users and business users alike. My time is just as valuable as theirs.Why are you and I beta testers for Microsoft each time they push an update? Windows 10 even updates the driver sometimes 10 minutes after I have installed the correct driver from my D: drive. I ended up buying an IMAC at home and have never been happier!

holy crap, and I thought I was frustrated! lol...Yea, MS should take a page from Apple 'no driver installation needed' approach...When you think about that, Apple is really many years ahead of MS technologywise. I guess there's a reason in the audio video world among others, it is the only choice for professional stability ,etc. If I wasn't tied to this audio recording software I bought , I would make the switch myself.

Why pay 3X as much for a MAC? I run Sonar Platinum and Studio One 3 and have absolutely no problems with Windows 10 or the hardware.

Sounds to me it's more likely Malware/Viruses or an overheating problem in the GPU and/or CPU.
9 years old GPU may have been tortured to a semi-death. Time for some checks or a new Graphics card.
I would check on those first before MS paranoia.

Asuza said:

This is such a bias place to talk about Apple lol.

I am not trying to hijack this thread, or start a discussion about Apple, I merely am making a small statement that due to my frustration level with Microsoft products/philosophy I chose in my home environment to switch over to a different paradigm. Life has never been better. My IPhone, Apple Tv and IMAC play so well together.

Also it is possible to disable driver updates. https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

I will try this solution. I have been on the phone for several hours with both Microsoft and Lenovo and neither being able to resolve the issue, I hold little hope that your suggestion will resolve the issue. Microsoft even published a way to hide the drivers from updating which was a big joke, it did not work and failed for most people that have tried it according to the forums I have been perusing. If your suggestion works you will have KUDOS from me, if it doesn't I will have to resolve myself to reinstalling the driver that works one or two times a week as I fight Microsoft and their infinite wisdom.

Using DDU (or blocking them in Windows yourself) prevents Windows 10 from installing GPU driver updates. This blocks Windows update from installing a different revision of whatever driver you are using. In your case, The Nvidia drivers fail to start so it reverts to the basic display adapter, which is not the same thing. That sounds more like your drivers are bad or your card is bad. Run DDU and fresh install the latest drivers for your card, and if the problem persists then it is time for a new GPU.