Vista x64, 8800GT, black screen on boot - what the heck?

jmmtn4aj

Senior member
Aug 13, 2006
314
1
81
A month or so ago under circumstances which I have since forgotten, my computer (with a 8800GTS 640mb) start booting up to a black screen (no signal according to the monitor). The screen would blank out immediately after the the scrolling thing that appears after POST. If I disconnect the DVI cable from the graphics card then reconnect, the screen comes back, but at what looks like 640x480. NV control panel is still there, but it'll only allow me to push res up to 1024x768, and refresh rates can be pushed all the way to 85hz even though my monitor (still recognised correctly) doesn't allow it.

I thought this was a card problem, so I switched it out with a second similar set up, so now I have a 8800GT in my PC. Exact same fucking problem. Okay, the circumstances may have including a Vista patch or NV driver update, I can't remember, but I concluded that the logical step was reinstalling the OS. Now being someone who needs variety, I chose to install XP Pro. I installed XP Pro, loaded up the latest drivers, and lo and behold everything works just fine.

Meanwhile computer 2 that I swapped out the 8800GT from and replaced with the 8800GTS 640 also doesn't work, same thing, black screen, disconnecting cable and reconnect produces same results. I reinstalled the latest NV drivers after replacing the card thinking it could be that, no dice. However having gotten XP Pro working on my primary computer I couldn't give a fuck and left it to the side.

Today, I finally got around to reinstalling Vista because I wanted 4GB available RAM and DX10 back again. So a few hours of back up and a few clicks through the Windows + chipset + LAN + NV drivers later, yep, fucking black screen again. The Vista disc I used was a slip-streamed Ultimate with SP1 and August updates, so I can't help but wonder if it's something to do with the updates between July-August updates. To eliminate the drivers as the issue I uninstalled 173.xx (June drivers, current certified) and installed 169.xx. No goddamned dice.

Right now I'm pretty fucking sick of these electronic shenanigans and am really contemplating just getting an iMac

Anyone have any clue as to why the hell Vista suddenly decided to give me the finger? Take note that prior to this happening I was running Vista Ultimate with latest patches and NV drivers on both computers.



Thread title edited to remove profanity.

Video Mod BFG10K.
 

jmmtn4aj

Senior member
Aug 13, 2006
314
1
81
Just for shits and giggles I installed Server 2008 (patched with all updates) then installed the 175.xx drivers. 169.xx for Vista x64 wouldn't install. Same problem, black screen after scrolling thingy.
 

jmmtn4aj

Senior member
Aug 13, 2006
314
1
81
I did one better, I switched RAM sticks, and I've been running them at 800Mhz the whole time, my sig is outdated.

Also I installed Server 2008 x86, same problem, black screen. I then installed XP Pro x64 and voila, works again. Whatever the problem is it seems to only happen with the Vista code base + NV drivers.
 

Chadder007

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
7,560
0
0
NVidia + Vista = FAIL
Seriously their drivers have sucked for Vista (mostly for motherboard chipsets) so far.
 

Raider1284

Senior member
Aug 17, 2006
809
0
0
Originally posted by: Chadder007
NVidia + Vista = FAIL
Seriously their drivers have sucked for Vista (mostly for motherboard chipsets) so far.

Off Topic: I severly doubt its a vista driver problem... I have been running my 8800gt in vista for months without a single problem. The nvidia drivers has NEVER crashed on me.

On topic: Have you tried replacing the vga/dvi cable?
 

jmmtn4aj

Senior member
Aug 13, 2006
314
1
81
Originally posted by: Raider1284
Originally posted by: Chadder007
NVidia + Vista = FAIL
Seriously their drivers have sucked for Vista (mostly for motherboard chipsets) so far.

Off Topic: I severly doubt its a vista driver problem... I have been running my 8800gt in vista for months without a single problem. The nvidia drivers has NEVER crashed on me.

On topic: Have you tried replacing the vga/dvi cable?

Also I've ran this setup just fine for months, it's only recently that this started happening.

No I have not tried a new DVI cable. Is there any reason why this cable would be fine (no artifacts or anything @ 60Hz 1680x1050) in XP and not in Vista with the drivers installed?

Originally posted by: clandren
nice language there


Thanks
 

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
9,031
36
91
Have you tried installing the driver for your monitor? Viewsonic actually just posted a new Vista x64 driver just a few days ago.

http://www.viewsonic.com/suppo...ory=1&formName=monitor

...sounds to me like for some reason Vista is trying to output either a resolution or refresh rate your monitor can't handle at boot. When you disconnect and reconnect, Vista is resetting your display settings to default VGA which pretty much every display in existence can handle.

Have you tried hooking up a different monitor...?
 

jmmtn4aj

Senior member
Aug 13, 2006
314
1
81
Changed cable and reinstalled, nope didn't work. Will try changing monitors now but I doubt that's the problem. Before I installed the drivers the monitor name was correct, so was max RF rate and resolution so it looks like Vista had the right INF file in place prior to installing the NV driver
 

jmmtn4aj

Senior member
Aug 13, 2006
314
1
81
Ok, turns out the monitor was b0rked

/facepalm

Great, now I'm stuck with a POS TN panel because the VX2025wm is out of production and out of warranty. Arghh!'

Thanks for the help guys
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
Originally posted by: Chadder007
NVidia + Vista = FAIL
Seriously their drivers have sucked for Vista (mostly for motherboard chipsets) so far.
I agree.

I reverted to XP and have been much happier for it. My computer feels twice as fast.
 
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