Is my GPU toast?

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I

ITNewbster

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Sep 11, 2014
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Hi, so recently I was using my pc when it all crashed to a black screen.No heavy use. A reboot would not resolve it so I went into safe mode and I did a bunch of Virus scans and Chkdsk scans and some memory and cpu checking scans before I decided to try to update my GPU. At first GeForce Experience would not open in Safe Mode so I had to keep restarting my PC until it would load up windows, when it did this one time I installed new drivers and restarted my PC. When it loaded back up, the Driver wasn't installed, I tried to do it again and the whole thing went back to being a black screen. So after many reboots I just decided to disable my GPU. I disabled the GPU and windows loaded without any problems. So when I enabled my GPU it went to a black dead screen...I found my issue. So I went back into safe mode and I uninstalled my GPU from the Device Manager, and decided to go back to Nvidia GeForce Experience to download fresh drivers. Mid-way through the update the screen goes black from what I can only assume is the driver update re-enabling the GPU, thus shutting down my screen. Would my GPU be toast or is it just Driver corruption and errors? Also is there a way to download Nvidia drivers so I can install them on safe mode or something? Any help is much appreciated.

GPU: GTX 780Ti

**UPDATE** After using the DDU and uninstalling my drivers I was able to access my PC, however once I tried to install them I would get a Watchdog error or the PC output would die entirely; I have refreshed windows on my PC and it still persists, I have even gone down a version and made sure I ticked off "Beta versions" on the Nvidia Drivers.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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It's possible the graphics card has issues, but you can prove that

(I'm also confused how you "disabled" your graphics card... how do you see anything on the monitor? Did you switch to using the iGPU in the CPU?)

1) uninstall any software used to overclock or manage the graphics card such as MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision etc

2) use DDU (recommended safe mode option): http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

3) shut down, move monitor cable back to the GTX780Ti then start up

4) Should now be using basic Microsoft video driver. Does it work? If so the card is likely fine so install the NVidia drivers. If you have problems again it sounds like software issues (data corruption?)

5) If so, then there are a few things to try but the best method is:
a) get a spare HDD or SSD (at least 60GB capacity), install, and unhook all the OTHER drives for now
b) install Windows (same version.. W10 64-bit?), then the video drivers
c) if it works fine then your current version has problems

d) if so, you can try going back to your current version and if you have W10 attempt an "In Place Upgrade" by getting a recent W10 Install media (see below)

OTHER:
W10 USB Stick->
a) go to MS site for media creation tool https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10
b) insert 8GB+ USB stick
c) download and run tool
d) run "setup.exe" once download is installed to stick
e) follow instructions (should see "keep data and apps" or similar wording greyed out... if not, choose that)

The above will overwrite a lot of files so may fix whatever is possibly corrupted.

OTHER:
*I found it hard to read, so I may have missed some points however:

1) Can you go into the BIOS on bootup when the GTX780Ti is attached to the monitor?
That doesn't prove the card is fine if that works, but if you have NO VIDEO on bootup at all then the card is broken.

2) Another way to test that's not 100% conclusive is to run a Linux distro and see if you get video that way. Like Ubuntu, and boot from the USB stick after you use RUFUS to create the image.

I wouldn't bother if you get video output in Windows with the basic Microsoft drivers (after DDU) but if you get nothing then, and can't make a clean Windows install to a spare drive that might help diagnose things.
 
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I

ITNewbster

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Sep 11, 2014
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so to your points

(I disabled my GPU through Device Manager, I was able to still view my desktop)

Hi! So I disabled my graphics card through Device manager, and the results after performing your steps were

1) Nvidia Experience was successfully uninstalled

2) I downloaded the program and removed the drivers

3) I switched the cable over and what has happened was that my screen would not turn on at all, almost as if connection to the HDMI input was dead. However I am using Windows 8.1, and I am unsure if that input was ever displaying video, as when I first built it I tried to get video but I believe I was unsuccessful. I have my HDMI connected to and has always been connected to the motherboard. After running DDU I was able to get a video signal from my motherboard. I might also include that I ran a benchmark test when I had the chance to get in on regular windows non-safe mode and it crashed during the benchmark. So would it be worth my time to get the latest version of Windows 8.1 and do a refresh even if I've run countless chkdsk repairs and memory diagnostics?
 
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