Hardware

Question

Gravatar
0 Votes
Locked

Black Screen When installing Nvidia GPU

By nlacock ·
I have been searching forums for a while now and still haven't found an answer, maybe someone can help me out. I am building a PC and have not been able to successfully install an Nvidia graphics card. I have tried on Windows XP (w/ and w/out SP2), Vista, Windows 7, and Ubuntu. Every time, no matter which OS I am using, the Nvidia installation freezes part-way through and goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor at the top. The computer is then unresponsive and will not boot, except in safe mode. I have to reinstall the OS to get it to boot properly. I have tried using the repair software that comes with the disc but so far none have worked. I have also tried installing in safe mode, however the computer still will not boot in regular mode after the driver is installed (even when turning off nvidia processes in msconfig).
I tried this with an nvidia gtx250 and an nvidia gts250 with the same results. The only other thing that it could possibly be would be the RAM. I have 6gb (3x2gb) of corsair 1600 DDR3 memory, and the OS sometimes will only detect 3.5gb. Please let me know if you need anymore info, any help is much appreciated, I've tried everything I can think of.

This conversation is currently closed to new comments.

Thread display: Collapse - | Expand +

All Answers

gravatar
Collapse -

Build of forceware ...

by OldER Mycroft In reply to Specs

Forceware is the NAME of the Nvidia graphics drivers.

The 'build' is the unique serial number that each release of the Forceware has, indicating in a sequential style, where is falls in the greater scheme of things DATE-WISE.

It is not unheard of for Nvidia (or ATI/AMD for that matter) to release a new graphics card to market but include a driver CD with old drivers on it. The drivers you are attempting to install could very well be months and months out of date. Just because your graphics card is new, doesn't preclude how long it has sat on the shelf in both a warehouse and then in the retailer's that you bought it from.

The higher the BUILD NUMBER, the newer the driver.

gravatar
Collapse -

Well we need to know what the hardware is here

by OH Smeg Moderator In reply to Black Screen When install ...

But if you are using any 32 Bit OS you have and immediate issue with the 6 GIG as no 32 BIT OS can address more than about 3.25 GIG and this includes Video RAM.

But as the system is booting to a POST Screen at least here you do not appear to have an issue with a Incompatible Video Card for this M'Board but without knowing what the actual hardware/software is it's not possible to give a more definitive answer.

It does however very much sound as if the M'Board isn't happy with this RAM.

Col

gravatar
Collapse -

That explains the RAM thing...

by nlacock In reply to Well we need to know what ...

I am using 32 bit windows, so that explains why it is only detecting part of the RAM. See my reply to the other post for more complete specs and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Back to Hardware Forum

Start or search

Related Discussions

Related Forums