Need Advice

[Mayhem]

The following is what I posted over at the Tech Support Forums. I'm usually not asking for a whole lot of help on these issues but I'm willing to try anything that will save me from a complete re image. It may be that I just need to try and run a Windows repair but still like so input first.

 

Dear God, I need some serious help here. Windows 7, purchased a new 700 series Nvidia graphics card of which my previous card was also Nvidia but 600 series. Prior to installing the new card I uninstalled all Nvidia drivers save for a few that stated they required a reboot to be uninstalled completely. Then, being the idiot that I am, instead of rebooting and completing the uninstall process, shut down the machine and installed the new Nvidia (700 series) card.

Upon reboot, my machine will post however after the post the screen in completely black. Windows 7 continues to boot as can be seen from the HDD activity however I have absolutely no video.

I've tried most all of the ports on the back of the video card with several monitors and still nothing. The card seems to be working as I get the post and self test screens just fine but then nothing.

I then went into my BIOS and set the integrated graphics to the priority display and enabled the GPU within the CPU (i5 3570k) which I believe are something like the 4000hd or something. Tried all the related ports on the motherboard and I get the same result. Post, self test, then nothing. I've tried putting the original graphics card back in as well but still nothing.

To me, its looking like the video drivers have become so borked that Windows doesn't know what to do. I would have thought the integrated graphics would have worked no matter what but alas this is not so. I can't even get to safe mode. Well, I can probably get there but I can't see anything so it is useless.

Worst case scenario, I have a complete system backup with Macrium Reflect. I could potentially put in the old card, restore the whole system and then start over, this time not being lazy. I'd like to avoid this if at all possible though as its going to be a bit time consuming, potentially risky and a hell of a hassle. As stated the machine seems to be loading Windows fine, there is just no video.

Please, please, please. help if you can. Thanks.

[FoolTrottel]

Couldn't think of anything, so I used google:

 

 

At this point i was about to try the videocard from my old system to see if it had the same problem, but went to my BIOS settings first. After looking around in the BIOS settings i changed two settings:
- Plug And Play O/S (Advanced > PCI/PnP Settings): Changed from Yes to No.
- Initiate Graphic Adapter (Advanced > Chipset Settings > North Bridge Chipset Configuration): Changed from PEG/PCI to PCI/PEG.
Saved changes, reboot, installed drivers again, reboot, and... IT WORKED! So changing one (or both) of those settings above did the job. I don't feel like figuring out which of the those two settings was really responsible for the trouble right now (already spent way to much time on this), but i post this for people with the same problem googling for an answer. 

From here: link , it is an older thread, mostly dealing with XP, but maybe these BIOS changes may help you...

 

(I've never uninstalled/installed drivers upon swapping a Video card of the same make, and relatively close in generation... Why would one? But that knowledge is of no help to you now... I know...)

 

Good Luck!

[Mayhem]

Thanks FT. Your line of thinking is correct. Just prior to your post I did go into the bios and changed a bunch of PCI/PCIE related settings. They weren't exactly under the same terms as the ones you posted but BIOS naming conventions are often less then standardized. I also put in my Win 7 disk and did a startup recovery which took about 3 seconds to complete. Rebooting and is working fine now. Just wish I hadn't had to reboot my machine about 30 times through this whole ordeal. Thanks again.

 

Normally I wouldn't have upgraded from a GTX 670 to a 770 however I just built my son basically the same machine I have (less memory, fewer hard drives) and decided to give him my 670 as well. Should be seeing a good hick in FPS as my old card was a reference model 670, and my new one is..... well..... not.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125463&Tpk=14-125-463

[FoolTrottel]