Asus EN7900GT causing blue screens

almightyboris · 05-03-2006, 03:55 PM

Hi all,

I bought an Asus EN7900GT card the other as an upgrade for my system. I am currently running:

Motherboard - Asus A8N-E
CPU - Athlon 3000+
2GB RAM - 1GB generic, 1GB Kingston both are 2x DDR400 pairs
Hard drive - 120GB Western Digital (practically full - not sure if this is significant)
OS - Windows XP Pro

Ok, so I installed the card, having first un-installed my old Asus 6600GT as requested by my manual. I went to install the drivers and when I run the drivere CD that came with the card, it blue-screened half-way through this program.

I tried this a few times, taking the card out etc and same result.

Next, I downloaded the GC drivers from asus. Same result.

Next, I downloaded the motherboard drivers from asus. I installed them and restarted.

Now my computer is bluescreening as soon as Windows begins. I have put my old card back in, and it still bluescreens and restarts.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

**UncleMacro** · 05-03-2006, 04:53 PM

Some software may have been installed by the video card CD which is disagreeing with your Windows installation or maybe something went wrong with the chipset drivers. I'd try to restore XP back to its previous state before you started changing things. The first thing I'd try is put the 6600GT back in the machine, turn the machine on and press F8 (safe mode basics here) and then select "Last known good configuration" and try to boot. If that's not enough to get it to boot then boot in safe mode and try selecting a system restore point (system restore basics here) from before you started changing things. Windows automatically creates system restore points before you start installing drivers so there should be plenty there to try. If it's only a software problem then you should be able to restore to its previous state before things started going wrong.

If that gets things working again then I'd do the following:

Create a system restore point in case things go wrong again.
Download the latest drivers directly from NVIDIA rather than use the drivers on the ASUS CD. ASUS has some additional programs included which have been known to cause problems.
Uninstall your 6600GT drivers in the "Add or Remove Programs" window.
Remove the 6600GT and insert the 7900GT.
Reboot and run the drivers you downloaded from NVIDIA.

almightyboris · 05-04-2006, 09:28 PM

thanks for the help

Blue screens with the old card in in "Last known good configuration" and automatically restarts if I try Safe Mode.

I'm thinking something else in my hardware is faulty. Any advice?

**UncleMacro** · 05-04-2006, 11:16 PM

It may be hardware but if your inability to boot started right after installing motherboard drivers, your XP installation may just be damaged. In that case, you may be able to recover using a repair install. It should leave your programs installed but you'll have to reinstall your drivers and any service packs and security patches. It's a better option than a clean install which wipes everything.

If you feel at home inside your computer then I'd reseat everything. Cramming video cards into their slots flexes the motherboard and can cause mechanical problems. I'd reseat all the expansion cards, the RAM, and the power cables going to the motherboard. You can also run MemTest86 to make sure your RAM didn't get zapped.

almightyboris · 05-10-2006, 04:29 PM

Thanks for that. I had already tried re-seating everything, including using an anti-dust spray but this did not help.

Couldn't do a XP repair ... kept restarting everytime it got down to 36 mins to go. I ended up doing a fresh windows install on a new hard drive.

I'm still not sure exactly what caused the problem, but it has been "fixed" by the new windows install. New card installed with no problems.

Thanks for your help

05-03-2006, 03:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
almightyboris Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3 OS: XP	Asus EN7900GT causing blue screens Hi all, I bought an Asus EN7900GT card the other as an upgrade for my system. I am currently running: Motherboard - Asus A8N-E CPU - Athlon 3000+ 2GB RAM - 1GB generic, 1GB Kingston both are 2x DDR400 pairs Hard drive - 120GB Western Digital (practically full - not sure if this is significant) OS - Windows XP Pro Ok, so I installed the card, having first un-installed my old Asus 6600GT as requested by my manual. I went to install the drivers and when I run the drivere CD that came with the card, it blue-screened half-way through this program. I tried this a few times, taking the card out etc and same result. Next, I downloaded the GC drivers from asus. Same result. Next, I downloaded the motherboard drivers from asus. I installed them and restarted. Now my computer is bluescreening as soon as Windows begins. I have put my old card back in, and it still bluescreens and restarts. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

05-03-2006, 04:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Some software may have been installed by the video card CD which is disagreeing with your Windows installation or maybe something went wrong with the chipset drivers. I'd try to restore XP back to its previous state before you started changing things. The first thing I'd try is put the 6600GT back in the machine, turn the machine on and press F8 (safe mode basics here) and then select "Last known good configuration" and try to boot. If that's not enough to get it to boot then boot in safe mode and try selecting a system restore point (system restore basics here) from before you started changing things. Windows automatically creates system restore points before you start installing drivers so there should be plenty there to try. If it's only a software problem then you should be able to restore to its previous state before things started going wrong. If that gets things working again then I'd do the following: Create a system restore point in case things go wrong again. Download the latest drivers directly from NVIDIA rather than use the drivers on the ASUS CD. ASUS has some additional programs included which have been known to cause problems. Uninstall your 6600GT drivers in the "Add or Remove Programs" window. Remove the 6600GT and insert the 7900GT. Reboot and run the drivers you downloaded from NVIDIA. Last edited by UncleMacro; 05-03-2006 at 04:56 PM.

05-04-2006, 09:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
almightyboris Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3 OS: XP	thanks for the help Blue screens with the old card in in "Last known good configuration" and automatically restarts if I try Safe Mode. I'm thinking something else in my hardware is faulty. Any advice?

05-04-2006, 11:16 PM	#4 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	It may be hardware but if your inability to boot started right after installing motherboard drivers, your XP installation may just be damaged. In that case, you may be able to recover using a repair install. It should leave your programs installed but you'll have to reinstall your drivers and any service packs and security patches. It's a better option than a clean install which wipes everything. If you feel at home inside your computer then I'd reseat everything. Cramming video cards into their slots flexes the motherboard and can cause mechanical problems. I'd reseat all the expansion cards, the RAM, and the power cables going to the motherboard. You can also run MemTest86 to make sure your RAM didn't get zapped.

05-10-2006, 04:29 PM	#5 (permalink)
almightyboris Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3 OS: XP	Thanks for that. I had already tried re-seating everything, including using an anti-dust spray but this did not help. Couldn't do a XP repair ... kept restarting everytime it got down to 36 mins to go. I ended up doing a fresh windows install on a new hard drive. I'm still not sure exactly what caused the problem, but it has been "fixed" by the new windows install. New card installed with no problems. Thanks for your help