Horrible Driver Problem..

[bullet2urbrain]

Hello,

I've built a few computers in my day, and this has me stumped, as well as a few other folks around the net.

The Specs

Intel Q9450
Team 2 x 1Gb DDR2
Gigabyte P43
XFX 9800GTX
2 SATA HDD's
1 Optical Drive
Linksys Wireless PCI G Card

Windows XP 32bit


The Problem: Had fresh install onto new HDD, installed Chipset audio NIC and the like drivers, then installed XFX Drivers from CD... things worked fine, NVControl panel was there, I was able to do everything, Run AQ3 everything looks good and normal..then HDMI cable shows up.. plug in HDMI adapter to back of GFX Card, hook other end to Samsung 32" 720p HDTV turn on PC, set up multiple displays... everything is still fine, but no Audio through HDMI, turn off PC, hook up jumper wire provided with XFX GFX Card,

Computer hangs will not load windows... remove jumper, Safe mode, works fine, reboot, normal windows hangs, last known good config, has no drivers and from that point on no drivers will install correctly.

I have tried:

Driver Cleaner
Regedit and deleting everything NV related.
Non-Destructive restore of WinXP (twice)

I have tried doing both the CD version of the drivers and the Latest from Nvidia's website.

Results either are A.) Black screen with DOS type Prompt flashing requiring Hard Reset (via button) or B.) Soft restart through NVidia's software which gets to windows loading splash screen at which point it hangs.

I know CPU is good and RAM is fine.

Something is screwy with the drivers... Please help.

Thanks :toast:

[XFX Tech]

XP SP2 or 3?

Try doing driver cleaner again and then use the 175.16 drivers(http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.16_whql.html and http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_175.16_whql.html)

[bullet2urbrain]

XP SP2 or 3?

Try doing driver cleaner again and then use the 175.16 drivers(http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.16_whql.html and http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_175.16_whql.html)


XP SP2, and Those are the exact drivers I've been trying :D


EDIT: Those are not, actually the drivers i've been trying, I've been going with the 175.19 as opposed to 16

Am downloading now.

[XFX Tech]

Did the 16s work?

[bullet2urbrain]

Nope, Ran driver cleaner again, cleaning for nVidia drivers, ran the 16's and it did the black DOS type prompt.

Also, can you confirm the correct pinout for the HDMI audio passthrough on the 9800GTX? the two wire connector?? Does XFX follow convention that Black is GND (In DC)

The two wires are black and white.. i presumed that black was GND and white was SGNL... all these problems started after i started mucking trying to get the HDMI Audio to work.

Thanks.

PS: I'm format/reloading windows after this post happens... we will see if it fixes anything. the first drivers i will be installing are the 16's per your advice

[bullet2urbrain]

K well formatted Windows, fresh install on 400 Gb SATAII drive..

Installed XP
Installed Chipset Drivers
Installed Bluetooth Keyboard Mouse drivers
Installed Linksys WiFi drivers
Installed Printer Driver
Installed iTunes
Restart
Attempt to install 175.16 drivers, starts then goes to DOS link flashing prompt, and im forced to hard reset.

Methinks this card is bad......but not sure how or why...something during the driver install is corrupting something funky.

[MaK2000]

Black is ground and white is SPDIF out. Does it work if you keep the SPDIF cable out? Are you doing Windows updates before installing the display drivers? Can you try the card in another computer?

[bullet2urbrain]

Black is ground and white is SPDIF out. Does it work if you keep the SPDIF cable out? Are you doing Windows updates before installing the display drivers? Can you try the card in another computer?


Okay, I hooked that up correctly, Which i figured I did :D

I am doing windows updates and everythign else that i would normally do before installing GFX Drivers...

No I cannot try the card in another computer, I'm really tempted to go get the eVGA 260GTX or whatever it is.. its only 60 dollars more...

[XFX Tech]

Do you have any other devices plugged in to the system? A printer, ipod, anything that can be removed to see if it is conflicting with the display drivers? Have you done the latest BIOS updates for that board and reset CMOS? I guess since it can't really hurt anything have you tried SP3? If you have Realtek drivers you may have to follow these instructions to get audio drivers to install under SP3, http://boredsysadm.blogspot.com/2008/03/windows-xp-sp3-and-microsoft-hd-audio.html. We can test the card out for you since you can't test it in another system but this is generally just a driver conflict.

[bullet2urbrain]

Do you have any other devices plugged in to the system? A printer, ipod, anything that can be removed to see if it is conflicting with the display drivers? Have you done the latest BIOS updates for that board and reset CMOS? I guess since it can't really hurt anything have you tried SP3? If you have Realtek drivers you may have to follow these instructions to get audio drivers to install under SP3, http://boredsysadm.blogspot.com/2008/03/windows-xp-sp3-and-microsoft-hd-audio.html. We can test the card out for you since you can't test it in another system but this is generally just a driver conflict.

While I appreciate, all this.. the board is infact on its way to you guys already.

Another 9800GTX has entered the system and is working fine... its still an XFX one, and the more i think about it.. im really positive it was a driver issue, but not sure why??

Anyway, my "return exchange" period was up, I went and asked the ppl at the brick and mortar where i bought it if they had any ideas, they told me its best to exchange it now while i can,

I exchanged for a brand new XFX 9800 GTX, took it home, plugged it in and voila!! she works like a champ.. no rhyme or reason.

I dunno?? Paint me confused.. but also paint this problem done.

[Fungus]

Hrm... you should download all updates and install them first, IE offline installation of everything. Then install drivers.

XP SP2 can and will be pwn'd in as little time as 12 seconds without patching before putting it online... Better yet just download SP3 and install that first before everything.