Admiral-Awesome
Weaksauce
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2007
- Messages
- 105
This has been a SAGA so far, with some very perplexing symptoms and I am hoping to get some fresh eyes on it.
System specs:
CPU: 5600x with a CM Hyper 212 air cooler
MOBO: Asus Strix X570-E Gaming
RAM: G-Skill TridentZ Neo 3600 CL16 2x8GB
GPU: eVGA 3070 XC3 Ultra
PSU: eVGA 750 GA 750w Gold+
OS: Windows 10 21H1
No components were under any sort of overclock (including PBO), RAM was operating at 3600 via XMP
After about 9 months of having a perfectly stable system, I was playing COD and closed the game for the night when my computer froze on the desktop (hard lock, no BSOD). After rebooting, my resolution was set to a forced 800x600 (which persists in the BIOS). Nvidia software was no longer active in Windows and the resolution options within windows were greyed out. Device manager showed my 3070 with a code 43 error "Windows has stopped this device because it reported problems". I'm going to list my attempts at solving this issue so it's quicker to read:
1. Attempted to reinstall multiple versions of Nvidia drivers, all of them failed with error "This NVIDIA graphics driver is not compatible with this version of Windows. This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware".
2. Fresh install of Windows on a secondary SSD, same behavior.
3. Change PCI-E mode from 4.0 to 3.0. No change.
4. Moved GPU to Z170/6700K system - it works perfectly and I've been gaming on this setup for weeks now while I try to figure this out.
5. Installed working GTX 960 into system - same symptoms with code 43 error and no ability to install drivers.
6. Swapped to a different RAM kit. No change.
7. Installed a different power supply (from the Z170 system). No change. GPU is connected via 2x independent 6-pin cables for both PSUs.
8. Flash to multiple previous BIOS versions as well as the current release and beta release. I'll note that I reset the BIOS prior to re-flashing with the same results.
9. Moved GPU to second PCI-E slot - same behavior with both 3070 and 960.
10. Removed NVME drive.
11. RMA'd motherboard - received a replacement which was an entirely new board with a different S/N and booted up to the same issue.
12. Bought a B550 board because I couldn't believe the result of #11. Same result. (!!!)
13. Moved PSU and RAM to Z170 system, running fully stable.
At this point, I've swapped everything except the CPU for another tested and working part and still can't get this issue to go away. I'm wearily looking towards the CPU as the next thing to isolate, but I don't have access to one to swap and it's just such a strange issue if it is the CPU. I NEVER post requests for technical help, as I've been a lifelong PC enthusiast and have a decade of professional IT experience - I can usually always figure something out through my knowledge and Google searches, but I've exhausted all the recommended solutions to this issue online and have resorted to brute-forcing the isolation by straight up replacing almost the entire computer piece by piece.
Maybe one of you has my lightbulb moment? Thanks for reading!
System specs:
CPU: 5600x with a CM Hyper 212 air cooler
MOBO: Asus Strix X570-E Gaming
RAM: G-Skill TridentZ Neo 3600 CL16 2x8GB
GPU: eVGA 3070 XC3 Ultra
PSU: eVGA 750 GA 750w Gold+
OS: Windows 10 21H1
No components were under any sort of overclock (including PBO), RAM was operating at 3600 via XMP
After about 9 months of having a perfectly stable system, I was playing COD and closed the game for the night when my computer froze on the desktop (hard lock, no BSOD). After rebooting, my resolution was set to a forced 800x600 (which persists in the BIOS). Nvidia software was no longer active in Windows and the resolution options within windows were greyed out. Device manager showed my 3070 with a code 43 error "Windows has stopped this device because it reported problems". I'm going to list my attempts at solving this issue so it's quicker to read:
1. Attempted to reinstall multiple versions of Nvidia drivers, all of them failed with error "This NVIDIA graphics driver is not compatible with this version of Windows. This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware".
2. Fresh install of Windows on a secondary SSD, same behavior.
3. Change PCI-E mode from 4.0 to 3.0. No change.
4. Moved GPU to Z170/6700K system - it works perfectly and I've been gaming on this setup for weeks now while I try to figure this out.
5. Installed working GTX 960 into system - same symptoms with code 43 error and no ability to install drivers.
6. Swapped to a different RAM kit. No change.
7. Installed a different power supply (from the Z170 system). No change. GPU is connected via 2x independent 6-pin cables for both PSUs.
8. Flash to multiple previous BIOS versions as well as the current release and beta release. I'll note that I reset the BIOS prior to re-flashing with the same results.
9. Moved GPU to second PCI-E slot - same behavior with both 3070 and 960.
10. Removed NVME drive.
11. RMA'd motherboard - received a replacement which was an entirely new board with a different S/N and booted up to the same issue.
12. Bought a B550 board because I couldn't believe the result of #11. Same result. (!!!)
13. Moved PSU and RAM to Z170 system, running fully stable.
At this point, I've swapped everything except the CPU for another tested and working part and still can't get this issue to go away. I'm wearily looking towards the CPU as the next thing to isolate, but I don't have access to one to swap and it's just such a strange issue if it is the CPU. I NEVER post requests for technical help, as I've been a lifelong PC enthusiast and have a decade of professional IT experience - I can usually always figure something out through my knowledge and Google searches, but I've exhausted all the recommended solutions to this issue online and have resorted to brute-forcing the isolation by straight up replacing almost the entire computer piece by piece.
Maybe one of you has my lightbulb moment? Thanks for reading!