Windows 8.1 not loading with Radeon HD 7970

beegeepee

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Oct 6, 2012
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Hello,

My computer uses a Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 OC with BOOST:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/product_index.aspx?pid=1481&lid=1

Here are the components of my PC:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1s2nB

I tried to update windows 8 to windows 8.1. During the installation process I noticed a few times it said there were errors in the process, but it eventually seemingly successfully installed it.

However, when windows 8.1 booted up, I noticed the graphics were messed up (i.e. wrong resolution etc.) So, I installed the newest *Beta graphics drivers 13.11 for my graphics card which can be found here:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows%208.1%20-%2064

(I chose that one because I noticed there was no 8.1 drivers released by Sapphire for this GPU.)

During this installation, the computer completely crashed. It then tried to restart several times, and windows tried to automatically fix the problem. I tried to do that automatic start-up repair (said it would check disk which could take up to an hour) but that didn't do anything.

I then did a restore to a point prior to updating to 8.1 or installing the new graphics drivers. (time was 3AM 10/29/2013). It STILL did not load up properly even though it said it successfully restored my computer to a time when it was working perfectly fine.

I rebooted my computer and spammed F2 and F8 (wasn't sure which allowed me to view my boot options). I reset my motherboard to the default UEFI settings (I had done some OC tweaking which was very stable prior to any of this).

However, none of this fixed my issue. When I restart my computer it shows the little blue windows logo (4 blue squares) with a little loading thing under it. After a few seconds the screen goes completely blank. So, I don't know if windows is just not loading or if it is loading but my graphics card isn't working.

I can get my computer to load windows 8.1 in safe mode right now. But now when I try and install drivers it says "Failure to load detection driver". I have tried to install several different drivers. Some of your old Sapphire drivers for this card as well as some of the older drivers for the card released by Radeon. It appears there is something wrong with Catalyst Control Center. I cannot repair CCC while I am in safe mode, but I cannot access windows in a regular boot.

I was wondering if you have any suggestions on how I might fix this. Is it possible i could load windows properly if I just disable/remove my graphics card and just run my MOBO's integrated graphics card?

Any help would be immensely appreciated,

BeeGeePee
 
Solution
I had a similar problem upgrading to 8.1
My pc was perfect with 8, right after I installed 8.1 and it rebooted the exact same issue happened.
I was pulling my hair out trying to work out what the problem was.
Lucid Virtu MVP is incompatible with 8.1 for some reason. I uninstalled it and disabled igpu and set my pcie graphics as my primary graphics in the bios.
Once I booted the pc back up my GTX 680 was working again , this solved my issue , not sure if it's the same for yours, hope this may help you.

monsta

Splendid
I had a similar problem upgrading to 8.1
My pc was perfect with 8, right after I installed 8.1 and it rebooted the exact same issue happened.
I was pulling my hair out trying to work out what the problem was.
Lucid Virtu MVP is incompatible with 8.1 for some reason. I uninstalled it and disabled igpu and set my pcie graphics as my primary graphics in the bios.
Once I booted the pc back up my GTX 680 was working again , this solved my issue , not sure if it's the same for yours, hope this may help you.
 
Solution

beegeepee

Honorable
Oct 6, 2012
167
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This is a huge lead. I am almost positive I have Lucid Virtu MVP installed on my pc so I will uninstall it. However, I am not sure what you mean by "disabled igpu". I tried setting my BIOS to my MOBO's GPU in hopes that I could run windows normally off of my MOBO's GPU but that didn't work. Since, I can't get windows to boot in normal mode I can't seem to fix my drivers. Also, at least in safe mode, it doesn't appear windows is even recognizing my GPU.
 

beegeepee

Honorable
Oct 6, 2012
167
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10,690


HEY EVERYONE I FIXED IT!

It was sort of a combination of all answers so I am just going to say what ended up fixing it for me in hopes it helps someone else. I TRULY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR HELP!! You are all very helpful people.

So, after I got it to boot into safe mode, I ran CCleaner and cleared everything it possibly could as well as fixing all registry issues. ((Not sure which forum I found this on sorry)

Then, I ran driver sweeper. Again, I analyzed and cleaned everything it found. (Not sure which forum I found this on sorry)

I uninstalled Lucid VirtuMVP (suggested by MONSTA!)

Let it restart in normal mode and TADAAA!!! it actually loaded up (on my MOBO's gpu).

Then I installed the beta 13.11 drivers for my specific GPU (from AMD's website). I lost signal from my HDMI (connected to MOBO) so I switched to DVI connection (connected to Dedicated GPU) TADAAAA! working computer again!

Been a rough and long 2 days searching forums, troubleshooting, and trial and error. But this so far seems to have fixed the issue (fingers crossed).

Again thanks everyone! Hope this helps others with the same issue!

BEEGEEPEE