Problem booting windows when video card is in

[Ritz718]

I've got a 6 year old HP desktop that I'm having problems with. I've stripped it down to just the two HD's (RAID) and DVD drive. It's got onboard everything and works fine like this. The problem is the onboard video is crap. Originally it came with a ASUS GeForce 8500 GT, which worked great for a while. I started having problems which is why I stripped it down to barebones.

So the problem I'm running into is when I install the video card, it recognizes it as the GeForce 8500 GT and searches for drivers. It has no problem at this point displaying anything or booting Windows Vista (32bit.) After it installs drivers, it comes up as "Standard VGA Graphics Card" or something generic like that. I tried installing the original drivers that came with the computer as well as using the newest ones from the nvidia website, and it tells me I have to reboot, of course. I do, and it won't boot Windows. BIOS posts, then the Windows loading screen (with the progress bar) comes up, but when it tries to load the actual GUI it goes to a black screen and reboots itself.

I can boot if I switch the BIOS back to using the onboard video as the primary source, but in the Device Manager it doesn't show my GeForce card anymore, and I have no option to switch when I go to Appearance settings.

Any help with what could possibly be my problem would be much appreciated! Let me know if more info is needed.

-edit- To clarify, when the video card is first installed, it will display through the video card just fine, but in a very low resolution until the drivers are installed.

 

[carnageX]

Have you tried getting the nVidia drivers from HP's website? One of my friends that had an HP before he built his own system had similar issues. He'd get BSOD's / Windows not starting until he used the driver specifically from HP.

 

[Ritz718]

Yes, I've tried HP's original that came with the computer, and then HP's updated one. Also tried nvidia's newest from the nvidia website.

all have the same result.

 

[Ritz718]

I'm wondering if maybe the GPU is shot but will display when not using hardware accelleration? is that possible?

or maybe the PSU can't keep up anymore when the extra load is on it?

or last, the pcie x16 slot no good? although, it does display some of the time.


I was going to try buying a cheap video card ($50 nvidia or so) to test it out if I can't come up with anything from the forums. I just hate wasting the money if that's not what it is....

 

[Joe C]

will it boot up in safe mode?

 

[Ritz718]

Hmm... I don't think I actually tried that. Will try when I get home tonight.

 

[Ritz718]

Safe mode boots... I'm in it now. Still, I wonder if it's the strain on the GPU that causes it, since safe mode is pretty basic with generic drivers. BIOS has the video card selected and Windows does recognize it as the GeForce card in the Device Manager though.

 

[Ritz718]

So after safe mode booted I tried booting normally. It actually works so far but I haven't really tested out anything. Will post more tonight.

 

[carnageX]

Weird. Good luck - do some stress tests with games and such and see if it does anything.

 

[-RockMan-]

So after safe mode booted I tried booting normally. It actually works so far but I haven't really tested out anything. Will post more tonight.

To be sure you have drivers, click start right click on my computer icon.
Point to device manager and choose display, right click on the vga tab.
Click on the tab that says driver details, if it was originally provided by microsoft.
Try these first: Drivers | GeForce

That should be enough to get you up and running.