Nvidia drivers causing system to freeze?

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some help. I recently ran into a problem with my system freezing sporadically forcing a manual restart. Then it got to a point where windows would freeze after I typed my password at the welcome screen. Rebooting in safe mode I can login windows normally. Event logs aren't much help since they don't have a chance to write when the system freezes...

After another hour or so of trying different things I decided to do a fresh windows install. Everything goes fine until windows updates installs the video drivers for my gfx. Reboot and bam it freezes at windows login screen. I do a quick boot to safe mode, restore to before installing the gfx drivers, and it works fine again. Installing other software/drivers goes fine. Then I try gfx drivers on the CD that came in the DS Binder, and yep it freezes again on login screen. Restore to previous point and hey it works fine again. Obviously I can't do any gaming or anything video intensive but the system works fine from what I can tell without the gfx drivers installed. Generic VGA drivers are what I'm using for the time being.

It seems the Nvidia drivers would be the culprit, unless I'm overlooking something.

Anyone have ideas as to what else I can try to fix this? I know I should probably call support but I have to wait until Monday, so I figured I would try here since I know you guys are smart.

I just purchased this system about 2 months ago, below is the config:


System Configuration:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 LE Edition SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Model: 141-BL-E757-TR)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (160GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition) (Extreme Performance)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Player/DVD Writer (Play Blu-Ray and Burn DVDs)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 1.5GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional (PCI-Express Slot Based)
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler (i7 Processors Only)
H20 Tube Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)

So when you install the drivers for the 480 is when you get the crash?

if yes then make sure you don't let windows install drivers, get the drivers from nvidia's site.

Edited by DST4ME - 17 Dec 2010 at 10:41pm

nah, if that freeze happens every time you install any driver, sounds like the video card is probably bad... especially if it works without the drivers

I don't think disabling Aero is what let me get in this time, I think it may have to do with the system being cold. After I ran a game for about 10 mins it locked up and rebooting I could not get back to desktop again(even with Aero turned off)... so something happening when video card warms up? I'm just thinking out loud...

Not sure if I will have time tonight to open up my old system.

Did a little search seems this is happening to a few with 400 series and describes exactly what is happening to me. http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=479735

I will try my old 8800GT tomorrow to confirm. Looks like I may need to RMA the 480.

My system is not overheating, there is barely any dust inside since it's still pretty damn new and it has dust filters on the air intakes. I also keep my room pretty cool, especially easy to do in the winter.

I did try the "clean install" option, unfortunately it didn't help.

Edited by Wildleeroy - 20 Dec 2010 at 11:10pm

From the EVGA Thread:

Re:Tired of it (Install 480 driver then can't login to windows without freeze) Friday, August 27, 2010 7:24 AM (permalink)


Edited by venom - 21 Dec 2010 at 4:39am

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I'll try the bit about the booting in low res(can I even move the mouse in 640x480? lol) and check the sound drivers to see if that makes a difference before throwing in the 8800.

I'll let you guys know how it goes tonight.