HELP - GPU Drivers up to date, but display is BROKEN. Not monitor or cables.

Forums › Desktop computing › HELP - GPU Drivers up to date, but display is BROKEN. Not monitor or cables.

1Philip

22 posts

Geek

#288788 23-Jul-2021 12:37

Please no hate on the old system, I realize it's not ideal.

I am running Win 7 SP1,

I have a GeForce GTX 660 GPU,

Screen is a LG 21:9 Ultrawide,

Here's the problem:

Which started since moving house and not touching my PC for about 4 months (although it's always had weird little problems crop up at various times).

I can boot into Safe mode fine.

When I boot normally, it takes me to the Windows Login screen, which displays fine.

As soon as I enter my p/w, this happens:

On occasion it doesn't get to that, but just hangs at the loading screen after entering p/w.

On one occasion last night it made it into windows and worked fine (I shouldn't have turned it off!!)

I have up to date drivers for my GPU.

I'm not sure how to start pin pointing / tracking down the problem.

I've had a couple of blue screens associated with the attached image, but never taken notes on it.

Would a dump file be helpful? I don't really know how to extract the relevant info from it.

Thanks all in advance.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13657 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2748699 23-Jul-2021 12:40

Cant see any image... (oh, now I can :) )

But I'd reseat the GPU, and in safe mode, remove all the GPU drives. Reboot, and see what happens. If behaves itself on Windows drivers, then grab older Nvidia drivers (say from 3 months ago) and see how it goes. If behaves itself, then upgrade drivers - if problem comes back, its some conflict with the latest drivers.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree - kiwiblast.co.nz - Lego and more

Support Kiwi music! The People Black Smoke Trigger Like A Storm Devilskin

NZ GEEKS Discord______________________________

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung (affiliate link).

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13657 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2748701 23-Jul-2021 12:41

Eeep... theres a chance thats stuffed video memory - the card could be on its way out.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree - kiwiblast.co.nz - Lego and more

Support Kiwi music! The People Black Smoke Trigger Like A Storm Devilskin

NZ GEEKS Discord______________________________

gzt

16821 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2748708 23-Jul-2021 12:59

Do you have a cable to swap out? It's unlikely but cable faults do generate weird symptoms at different frequencies.

Safe mode and refresh rate can be related. Maybe there's a lesser res and rate available to get by on even if the fault is h/w.

1Philip

22 posts

Geek

#2748713 23-Jul-2021 13:13

Thanks for the replies all, some updates (and some info I forgot in the beginning).

Extra initial info:
HDMI is not working on the GPU for some reason at all (won't show bios or anything), I'm using displayport.
There was some liquid residue on a small bit of my GPU which I don't have rubbing alcohol yet to clean off. (Possibly new, possibly old)

Updates:
I'm currently using the integrated graphics (having removed card) and it's working fine.

So definitely GPU / Driver related.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
78927 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#2748724 23-Jul-2021 14:02

A physical problem is more likely.

Having said that, I did a NVIDIA driver update while logged via RDP and I got the same kind of picture but only over RDP. I then connected to a local session and installed the driver again and that fixed it.

My technology disclosure

1Philip

22 posts

Geek

#2748725 23-Jul-2021 14:02

Right,

So I deleted all the old drivers.

(so it had no drivers loaded for the card).

It worked fine like that.

I then found the oldest drivers available (circa 2020), and once I installed them the problem started again.

At a bit of a loss now, does this mean its the GPU that's stuffed?

1Philip

22 posts

Geek

#2748729 23-Jul-2021 14:08

freitasm:
A physical problem is more likely.

Having said that, I did a NVIDIA driver update while logged via RDP and I got the same kind of picture but only over RDP. I then connected to a local session and installed the driver again and that fixed it.

Thanks for that,

Yes I'm thinking the same sadly.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13657 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2748815 23-Jul-2021 16:34

1Philip:

At a bit of a loss now, does this mean its the GPU that's stuffed?

Most likely unfortunately.

U can try (if keen) removing the heat sink, give it a clean and apply fresh paste, and see if that helps but don't think it will.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree - kiwiblast.co.nz - Lego and more

Support Kiwi music! The People Black Smoke Trigger Like A Storm Devilskin

NZ GEEKS Discord______________________________

1Philip

22 posts

Geek

#2748903 23-Jul-2021 19:00

Alrightly, so.

Gave the old GPU a clean up, with some alcohol and heat xfer compound,

In doing so, noticed a lot of corrosion in one area, so much so that while I was cleaning the area up a bit, with a soft bristled tooth brush, a couple of the soldered on components flew off,

When I plugged it back it, not surprisingly it didn't work at all :D

So I'm just looking for a new one, theyre around for about $50 so shouldn't take too long.

Thanks everyone for your help, I always enjoy tinkering with my computer and it's a lot of fun when I learn new stuff like I have on this occasion! I was quite happy I could narrow it down to the GPU and what-not :)

Mehrts

1046 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2748912 23-Jul-2021 19:53

Electrolytic capacitors (the bigger cylindrical looking things on the board) are usually the first components to give trouble with old age in electronics. I'd say this was the cause of death here.

Over time they can begin to swell and leak the electrolyte which changes the capacitance value, leads to weird symptoms, and eventually total failure of the item. Leaking electrolyte can also cause corrosion of other items on the board too.

RIP GPU, you've done well.

1Philip

22 posts

Geek

#2748931 23-Jul-2021 20:53

It wasnt the bug caps, they were all in good condition, I've replaced capacitors on old led monitors before.

The area where the corrosion was was pretty bad, so I'm putting it down to that, either resistors or small capacitors or something.

It has done well, it was a nice unit. It would have gone much longer if not for the foreign liquid that ended up on it!