Trying to figure out what's wrong with my GPU (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470), and how to fix it!

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MrPants17

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Jun 29, 2013
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My specs are:
Intel Core i7 CPU 870@2.93GHz (8CPUs)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3
8GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 64bit

I've had this rig for a few years now, and it has been running amazingly until yesterday. I booted up DOTA2, as I often do, and my system froze. Upon restart, my resolution was down from 1920x1080 to 1280x800, and the max is now only 1280x1024. Upon checking Device Manager, the entry for my GPU showed this error: Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43). A quick google shows just how broad this error code is. Dxdiag does not show anything on the Display tab, but System Information shows it as the Display Component. Also, after the many reboots I have been performing to try to remedy this situation, the GPU fan will sometimes spin incredibly fast as soon as Windows loads, and it will keep spinning like that until I reboot again. Not sure what that indicates, exactly.

The NVIDIA control panel won't open, prompting an error stating, "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU."

I have tried:
Cleaning all dust out of my case to make sure it's not an overheating issue
Removing and re-seating the GPU
Uninstalling current drivers and re-installing current drivers
Uninstalling current drivers and re-installing older drivers
Thoroughly scanning for viruses (grasping at straws with this one =/)

I don't see how the card could be totally fried, since I don't have on-board and it's "working" right now, but I'm starting to lose it here. Please, help me!
 
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dingo07

dingo07

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-download the latest drivers if you don't have them
-download driver fusion and ccleaner if you don't have them / install them
-boot into safe mode
-in device manager, uninstall the gpu under Display adapters - remove all files if asked
-run ccleaner to clean registry
-run driver fusion (multiple times) and select NVIDIA Display, delete files
-when driver fusion says there's nothing left to delete unless you upgrade, install the latest driver
-boot normal, right mouse-click desktop and enter Nvidia control panel

can you select the resolution you want under Display/Change resolution?
 
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MrPants17

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Jun 29, 2013
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Tried this. After using driver fusion, the driver installation kept failing. (See image: http://imgur.com/7BjYNGS.png) So, I rebooted back into safe mode, and there were a few files other than registry entries that would continue to be there when I rebooted(I assume these are the default, Windows-provided drivers upon hardware detection), so I left them there and the installation worked. However, my problem persists. Nothing has changed. The NVIDIA control panel won't open, prompting an error stating, "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU." Thank you for the replies!
 
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MrPants17

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Jun 29, 2013
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Ah, I was installing everything. I was installing that driver though. I'll try it again now and post back here in a bit. thank you again for your help!

 
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MrPants17

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Nothing seems to have changed after doing that. Still can't access NVIDIA Control Panel, change resolution, etc. Just to make sure I am following what you want me to do correctly, this is exactly what I've been doing:

- Boot in safe mode
- Go to Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Device Manager
- GPU>Driver tab>Uninstall (check the box to "delete driver software for this device")
- Run CCleaner; scan registry for issues; fix all issues
- Run Driver Fusion; select NVIDIA Display; click delete; repeat until prompt to purchase license
-** Here is where I'm unsure if I'm doing it right**
- Driver Fusion prompts for reboot after deletion of drivers; reboot to safe mode (I tried without rebooting and I couldn't install the drivers because it didn't recognize the hardware)
- Install 320.18 WHQL; custom; Graphics Driver ONLY
- Reboot normally; issue persists

Did I do it right, or did I mess something up? Sorry, I'm not familiar with Driver Fusion and drivers in general.


 
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dingo07

dingo07

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in Device Manager/Display adapters - right mouse-click NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 and click uninstall while in safe mode
then run driver fusion and delete files, reboot into safe mode, repeat driver fusion and reboot into safe mode, until there's only the drivers that can only be deleted with the upgrade - and then run ccleaner

after that, there shouldn't be a device in Device Manager, and if you tried to delete the files manually that were left by driver fusion, you wouldn't be able to because the system is using them to give you video.

at this point install the driver (in safe mode) by right mouse-clicking the exe file and run as administrator - then custom install of only the drivers and reboot
 
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MrPants17

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Jun 29, 2013
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Pretty sure I did it right that time, but still the same outcome. I got to the point where Driver Fusion was deleting 28 files every time I ran it, so after deleting those files I ran CCleaner. After that, the Device Manager showed "Standard VGA Adapter" under Display Adapters, instead of not showing one at all. I installed the driver in safe mode as administrator, then rebooted normally. It's still not working. =(

Question: Do I have to right-click and uninstall the GPU every time I reboot to safe mode after being prompted to by Driver Fusion? Or do I only do that once, at the beginning? At this point I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if I just have a hardware issue on my hands.

 
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dingo07

dingo07

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it sounds like you have a windows issue - by chance, do you have a spare drive you can fresh install windows on? I suspect it's a "glitch" in windows that's not allowing the driver to be installed properly

if you fresh installed windows on another drive, that has no partitions, and install the motherboard drivers, then all windows updates, then the updated gpu driver - I bet it would work

if after doing that, it doesn't work, then you have a hardware issue with your video card and need to replace it - or do what dvruvdd suggested, and put the card in an other machine to test
 
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MrPants17

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Well, I just tried it out on a clean install of Windows 7. No dice. Such is life. Thank you so much for your help, though! I really appreciate that you put the time in to help me out. :D
 
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Sandrider

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I had the exact same problem, when I installed the new 320.18 driver. I reverted back to the 314 drivers and got my displays and resolution back. I am staying away from that new driver best I can. I got it again from windows update and it did it again!!! It was a struggle both times, windows would not install the old driver, said I already had the best driver (that was not working). I found a forum that showed me how to force the install and it solved the problem both times. I will post it if I find it again for you. Good Luck, let me know how it all works out.
The second time around, I got it working by putting it in the second available slot. The board is a MSI Z77-GD65. And its the second one of those, the first was a lemon, and this one has me worried. 3770K proc, corsair ram and ssd, velociraptor and 4 more hdd's for the usual stuff. Nothing ever gets hot, plenty of cooling, 4 20cm fans + 3 14cm fans. It seems there is probably 100,000 similar builds working flawlessly here in the same state so who knows.
What is certain, as soon as I got another previous driver to install my problems went away.

Don't forget to start from scratch if you have not done so several times by now, disconnect everything and start with the cpu fan coming on, then rebuild from there, restarting after every component.
 
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vikilaba

vikilaba

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Nothing help for me, I all try flash vga bios, install new "clean" Windows on new HDD and driver install after restart in Device Manager say "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)". because it has reported problems. VGA cooler fan goes to max speed(5000rpm). This is issue with MSI N470GTX card and I have another GTX 470 from Asus (Voltage Tweak) and it work ok i every situation. Some guy had the same problem and on Nvidia site/forum answer is to send card in service and it repaired back for free(only in America)! It tells me that they are aware of the problems caused by the new driver :(

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1865765/device-manager-code.html
 
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vikilaba

vikilaba

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x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x .







I flashed vga card with NVFLASH application in DOS. Because I wanted to make sure that the factory default value loaded for voltage of the core, but I forget to install an older driver from MSI site(2010.) I think it does low-level driver for accesing graphic card hardwer(bios) to control programmable voltage regulators. NiBiTor or NVIDIA BIOS Editor it is not helpful in this issue because the driver may have priority...
 
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vikilaba

vikilaba

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NV SAFE sentinel downvolting in and downclocking the graphics card. NVIDIA's SAFE sentinel is activated in case of a thermal issue, hardware stability issue (GPU issue is detected and recovered) or if the GPU load is not too high and it is safe to downclock (power saving). It's just a testament to how a driver power management work.
 
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vikilaba

vikilaba

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I flash bios to resolve issue with Nvidia bug in new driver. I try Asus bios saved as bin file with GPU-Z and edited in NiBiTor and saved as rom file and create bootable USB drives with HP USB tool and flashed rom file with NVFLASH dos application. I also tried the factory nvidia bios and finally restore previously saved MSI rom. This means that I tasted all three bios but all tried with the same driver (314.07). Hmmm, maybe I should try it with an older driver(258.96):pt1cable:
 
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vikilaba

vikilaba

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Finally, I checked in with an old driver version 258.96 (with old installation wizard) and does not display CODE 43 in Device Manager with low-res desktop. But now its does artifacting on desktop! I try with the thermal compound (the recommendation to take the heatsink of the card, remove any remains of old thermal paste and clean the GPU and heatsink contacts properly and apply a fresh layer of thermal paste). I conclude from this that the new versions of drivers are with the built-in diagnostics for health of card and any type of error happens it reports CODE 43 to stop the operation of the device. I think this is generally in response to all of the same problem-HARDWARE MALFUNCTION:sarcastic:
 
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Carlos Donoso

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the problem it´s no the card it´s the damn windows 7, it has a problem with cuda cards and time of responce, i checked all around the world! this will solve your problem http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2665946 just download the app, and it will fix the tdr of 2 seconds and it will take to 8 seconds. trust me it will help!
 
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vikilaba

vikilaba

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But in my case does not throw the error message "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered".
But after treatment installations of the drivers and reboot the system, then OS display the following error message "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU" .
Do you still think that Microsoft Fix it 50848 will help me?
 
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