Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Max on April 10, 2016, 09:22:05 AM

Title: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Max on April 10, 2016, 09:22:05 AM
I downloaded an EVGA utility, Precision X16 thinking I might want to OC my GF960GTX for AH3. After the d/l, I noticed a DirectX SDK program was downloading. I opened X16 though I didn't do any OC'ing. Something's happened to FUBAR my graphics card as here's what I see now

[img=http://s15.postimg.org/6s9kegbmf/hotcard.jpg] (http://postimg.org/image/6s9kegbmf/)

Help PLEASE!! I can open my desktop in Safe Mode, otherwise my screen goes black after a bit.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Chalenge on April 10, 2016, 09:28:21 AM
It looks like you have somehow modified your desktop scaling. You should probably reset scaling to 100% in the Nvidia Control Panel (I think there is one there), and in Control Panel -> Display -> Display Settings. Might be different in your Windows version.

Go into safe mode and remove all Nvidia drivers from Control panel. Then clean the drivers. If that is a problem because you can't get online then reboot and reinstall the latest Nvidia drivers. Reboot immediately.

Then I recommend using MSI Afrterburner instead of Precision.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Max on April 10, 2016, 09:31:23 AM
The Prt Sc I posted looks normal. My screen is a phosphorus red...look as if the card's overheating. Same fix?
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Chalenge on April 10, 2016, 09:32:16 AM
Yes, but also reinstall your monitors drivers.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Chalenge on April 10, 2016, 09:48:00 AM
Max, if nothing that I have suggested fixes the issue check that the cables are fully inserted, or maybe try another monitor. I don't think too much of coincidences, but it could be (very small chance) that your monitor just took this moment to fail.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: BaldEagl on April 10, 2016, 09:52:53 AM
You could always try removing Precision X or trying a system restore to your last good restore point.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Max on April 10, 2016, 09:54:40 AM
The monitor's fine. Something's causing the card to overheat. I can't uninstall the program in safe mode and a system restore didn't undue the damage.

I'm confused by your suggestion to remove drivers from CP and then clean the drivers.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Chalenge on April 10, 2016, 10:05:54 AM
In safe mode you can go into Control Panel -> Device Manger and then expand Sound, video, and game controllers. There you will see your video card listed. Right click it and then choose Uninstall.

Then go into Control Panel -> Programs and Features and look for anything Graphics card related (Nvidia Graphics Driver usually). Right click and uninstall.

Reboot

Look for Precision and run uninstall on that too, OR just run Uninstall from the Precision X folder.

EDIT: In some case the uninstaller will not work because only the original installation program can uninstall it. Since you just ran it then you should have it still. This is one reason I switched to MSI Afterburner.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Chalenge on April 10, 2016, 11:03:11 AM
For future reference the display driver uninstaller official program will remove all traces of graphics drivers:

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: BaldEagl on April 10, 2016, 11:27:33 AM
If you can get Precision X to open you may have inadvertently set your card fan speed to 0.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Chalenge on April 10, 2016, 11:40:44 AM
Or somehow the default clock is above the appropriate level. Driver remnants can have this same effect, which is why drivers should be cleaned properly from your system before installing new versions. DDU is working well with Windows 10 now, as well as previous versions of Windows and so it should be used faithfully.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Max on April 10, 2016, 01:42:47 PM
In safe mode you can go into Control Panel -> Device Manger and then expand Sound, video, and game controllers. There you will see your video card listed. Right click it and then choose Uninstall.

Then go into Control Panel -> Programs and Features and look for anything Graphics card related (Nvidia Graphics Driver usually). Right click and uninstall.

Reboot

Look for Precision and run uninstall on that too, OR just run Uninstall from the Precision X folder.

EDIT: In some case the uninstaller will not work because only the original installation program can uninstall it. Since you just ran it then you should have it still. This is one reason I switched to MSI Afterburner.

I didn't find any Evga or Nvidea graphics drivers under device mgr. I deleted the Precision program folder as Safe Mode disallows normal uninstall in CP's.

If I try to allow Win 7 to boot normally, the monitor goes dark once I'm at the Win desktop. What was a bright red, snowy motherboard splash screen is now yellow and it's impossible to see cursor  movements.

The vid card (EVGA 960 GTX 2G) fans are spinning quickly, at what speed I'm unsure.

Any other ideas?
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Bizman on April 10, 2016, 01:54:49 PM
While in Safe Mode, try to set the monitor settings to the lowest possible. Also, you can run Msconfig and try with the minimum settings. Also, since you can get to Safe Mode, you might be able to boot to VGA/Low-Resolution mode as well. That would allow you to use Windows normally, including uninstalling programs.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Max on April 10, 2016, 02:26:49 PM
The problem is, the screen went from bright snowy red to bright, snowy red to bright, snowy yellow. I can't see anything.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: BaldEagl on April 10, 2016, 03:04:37 PM
The problem is, the screen went from bright snowy red to bright, snowy red to bright, snowy yellow. I can't see anything.

Is it normal in safe mode?
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Max on April 10, 2016, 03:54:10 PM
No...can't see a thing but for the bright yellow "snow". I'm guessing I'll need to borrow a temporary G card and see what happens with it, once installed.

fluff'n computers drive me fluff'n insane.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: BaldEagl on April 10, 2016, 04:03:25 PM
I'm guessing your video card gave up the ghost coincidentally with the installation of Precision, not because of Precision but as a fluke of circumstance.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Max on April 10, 2016, 04:24:25 PM
Problem fixed  :banana:

After my Precision download I removed the side of computer to turn up the top 200 mm fan & hit the inside with compressed air. Somehow a 2 prong power supply cable to the card became undone.

Thanks for a replies!
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: BaldEagl on April 10, 2016, 08:48:11 PM
Well there's the untold smoking gun.   :D
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Chalenge on April 10, 2016, 09:07:11 PM
And another circumstance to log and remember.
Title: Re: Oh God - what have I done now?
Post by: Bizman on April 11, 2016, 01:44:50 AM
Note to self - always check the cables, even the smallest ones.  :salute