NVIDIA 6200 -> 8600GT = Blank screen?

[Guest]

Hey guys,

I've been running Vista Business 64-bit for a few weeks now. It's been a
mostly good experience for me, with very few complaints. In fact, I've
decided that most of the whining about Vista is totally unfounded.

I have now, however, run into my first killer problem. I have been using an
NVIDIA Geforce 6200 card, but recently bought an XFX 8600GT. I take out my
6200, slip in the 8600, turn my computer on. I see the BIOS screen,
everything looks fine, but as soon as Vista starts booting (at the point
where you would normally see the Vista logo with the loading bar under it),
my screen goes blank! Everything else is still processing normally as after a
bit I hear the Vista startup sound coming out of my speakers. The card works
fine in Ubuntu.

System hardware:
ECS mobo w/ nForce 4 chipset
Athlon 64 3500+ (AM2)
2x Corsair ValueSelect 512MB sticks
430W Cooler Master PSU

I have tried:
1. Auto-repair from Vista DVD. ("Cannot fix the problem automatically")
2. chkdsk /r
3. Ubuntu (works fine)
4. Pulling out all the non-essentials parts.
5. Booting with the latest Forceware drivers and also with no drivers
installed.
6. Applying all the Vista hotfixes recommended by NVIDIA (except SLI ones).

Any ideas?

 

[JW]

Boot in F8 mode and download and install the latest NVIDIA Vista from the
NVIDIA drivers for your card/graphics chip and then reboot in F8 mode and
you should be able to use the NVIDIA drivers to select the resolution that
you want over the interface you are using for the next time you boot in
normal mode.

If that does not work then you have to make sure the display/TV your are
using will accept the resolution you are sending over the interface to it
that you are using.

 

[Guest]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that it won't boot into safe mode with the
8600GT either. Just freezes after "Loaded crcdisk.sys", which I've heard is
the last driver to load, so I guess it's freezing when trying to load the
desktop.

 

[Guest]

Hi David,

What you should do is reinsert your 6200 card and then uninstall ALL video
drivers until you are left with the WDDM driver that came with the Vista
disk. When you have done that, reinsert your 8600 card and check to see if
your computer starts. If it does, then download the latest WHQL driver (make
sure that you select the correct version, 32-bit or 64-bit). Hopefully, this
should solve your problem. However, I feel that a 430W power supply is a bit
on the low side, and you might benefit from getting one with a greater
capacity. I recommend that you use a supply of 600W+, and that you choose one
from a reputable manufacturer. I also notice that you only have 1GB of RAM,
which I feel is on the low side for a 64-bit system. I would recommend 4GB as
a minimum for 64-bit (if your motherboard can take it). As for being able to
run Ubuntu, did you actually install it? Some Linux distributions can be run
directly 'live' off the CD/DVD, although I don't have any experience of this
OS (this information is gleamed from magazines that have a 'no-install'
version of Linux on their covers). You could also try to reinstall Vista with
the 8600 card installed.
Dwarf

 

[JW]

Then I suggest that you try the repair described in the following link?

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial148.html#overview

 

[Guest]

Hey guys, sorry for not getting back to you for a bit. The forums decided to
stop emailing me notifications of replies.

As I said in my original post I tried booting with no drivers installed and
the latest Forceware drivers. Neither worked, though both did with the 6200.

Also, Ubuntu was physically installed on my harddrive. Ironically, the
8600GT is not supported on Ubuntu and yet it still gave me a desktop, even in
1680x1050.

Anyway, I ended up reinstalling Vista 64 with the 8600 in and everything's
going fine now. I'd still like to know what happened, though. :-/