TL;DR at the bottom
So, I get this PC for repair. MBO declared dead, needed replacement. Celeron E3300 CPU, 2x1 GB Kingmax RAM, integrated GPU on the dead MBO.
Win7 x64 - had to keep the existing installation if possible, which normally isn't a problem since Win7 handle hardware migration quite well.
Also received the replacement parts (ASRock P5B-DE, AMD 5450 + 2GB Transcend RAM stick) and went to work. Got everything set up, booted Windows, cleaned old drivers, installed new ones one by one...everything seemed OK...until I installed the GPU ones and restarted. POST goes fine, Windows logo shows and then, instead of entering desktop, black screen with only cursor visible! Hmm, that sounded awfully familiar. Had similar problems with bad video cards. Limited functionality with bare drivers and dead when pushed with full ones.
Booted safe mode, deinstalled Catalyst, checked everything was working and it was. Reinstalled Catalyst - problem. Checked if MBO had latest BIOS - it did. Just to be sure, booted my Linux Mint live DVD and got rainbow artifacts, could barely see a moving block where cursor was. So, it wasn't the old Windows installation, and it worked fine until VGA drivers anyway. To be extra sure, installed the card in another PC and tried booting Mint DVD - the same. OK, definitely VGA (at least I thought).
Not to leave anything to chance, ran Memtest, Prime etc. to eliminate other hardware problems. Everything checked out great.
Sent the 5450 back and asked for replacement, got the replacement and...SAME! OK, two bad cards in a row - highly unlikely, bot not impossible I guess. Just to eliminate some weird compatibility problem between MBO and VGA (had that with my new 2500K build between Asus P8Z77 and AMD 6850), I sent the second 5450 back and got Nvidia 210. Installed the card, booted Windows, everything working...so far so good. Installed Nvidia drivers - BAM! Blank screen with cursor only again!
This was getting really puzzling. Out of desperation, I turned my attention to RAM. Could it be that there is some weird voodoo going on with 4 GB of RAM and Win7 memory mapping when 1 GB VGA is being used (yes, I was grasping for straws), or some other freekish incompatibility caused by different RAM sticks, that would for whatever bizzare reason manifest itself only when VGA is being fully used? After all, the system didn't have that 2 GB stick and dedicated VGA originally. So, I went through a cycle of RAM sticks mixing and matching, slot moving, BIOS settings...nothing helped. Then, somewhere in the middle of it all, I ended up booting with only one of the original 1 GB Kingmax sticks...AND IT WORKED!!! Windows booted fine, Nvidia drivers were installed and working beautifully...just puppies and happiness all around!
Well, maybe I've flexed the MBO during all that and got it in the right space-time continuum position, or prevented a short circuit with the case somewhere (though I checked that sometime during the initial troubleshooting)? No, it was definitely the amount of RAM that made the difference. With two original sticks it wouldn't boot to desktop, with all three neither, with just the 2GB one also no success...
And, the final cherry on top - after getting the green light to kill the existing Win installation and doing a fresh one, the system worked with all the RAM installed! No problems whatsoever!
I am really lost here. Any ideas why Windows would break with more than 1 GB RAM installed, and that only if VGA drivers were installed?!
TL;DR
- installed new MBO, VGA and RAM and kept old Win7 x64 installation
- everything worked fine until I installed VGA drivers - after that I only got black screen with cursor after Win loading logo
- found out that everything worked if I kept installed RAM <2GB
- fresh Win installed worked with all the RAM
Oh, and big thank you to my Mint 11 DVD for leading me to wrong conclusions What's that about, anyway? Some AMD Linux drivers glitch?
So, I get this PC for repair. MBO declared dead, needed replacement. Celeron E3300 CPU, 2x1 GB Kingmax RAM, integrated GPU on the dead MBO.
Win7 x64 - had to keep the existing installation if possible, which normally isn't a problem since Win7 handle hardware migration quite well.
Also received the replacement parts (ASRock P5B-DE, AMD 5450 + 2GB Transcend RAM stick) and went to work. Got everything set up, booted Windows, cleaned old drivers, installed new ones one by one...everything seemed OK...until I installed the GPU ones and restarted. POST goes fine, Windows logo shows and then, instead of entering desktop, black screen with only cursor visible! Hmm, that sounded awfully familiar. Had similar problems with bad video cards. Limited functionality with bare drivers and dead when pushed with full ones.
Booted safe mode, deinstalled Catalyst, checked everything was working and it was. Reinstalled Catalyst - problem. Checked if MBO had latest BIOS - it did. Just to be sure, booted my Linux Mint live DVD and got rainbow artifacts, could barely see a moving block where cursor was. So, it wasn't the old Windows installation, and it worked fine until VGA drivers anyway. To be extra sure, installed the card in another PC and tried booting Mint DVD - the same. OK, definitely VGA (at least I thought).
Not to leave anything to chance, ran Memtest, Prime etc. to eliminate other hardware problems. Everything checked out great.
Sent the 5450 back and asked for replacement, got the replacement and...SAME! OK, two bad cards in a row - highly unlikely, bot not impossible I guess. Just to eliminate some weird compatibility problem between MBO and VGA (had that with my new 2500K build between Asus P8Z77 and AMD 6850), I sent the second 5450 back and got Nvidia 210. Installed the card, booted Windows, everything working...so far so good. Installed Nvidia drivers - BAM! Blank screen with cursor only again!
This was getting really puzzling. Out of desperation, I turned my attention to RAM. Could it be that there is some weird voodoo going on with 4 GB of RAM and Win7 memory mapping when 1 GB VGA is being used (yes, I was grasping for straws), or some other freekish incompatibility caused by different RAM sticks, that would for whatever bizzare reason manifest itself only when VGA is being fully used? After all, the system didn't have that 2 GB stick and dedicated VGA originally. So, I went through a cycle of RAM sticks mixing and matching, slot moving, BIOS settings...nothing helped. Then, somewhere in the middle of it all, I ended up booting with only one of the original 1 GB Kingmax sticks...AND IT WORKED!!! Windows booted fine, Nvidia drivers were installed and working beautifully...just puppies and happiness all around!
Well, maybe I've flexed the MBO during all that and got it in the right space-time continuum position, or prevented a short circuit with the case somewhere (though I checked that sometime during the initial troubleshooting)? No, it was definitely the amount of RAM that made the difference. With two original sticks it wouldn't boot to desktop, with all three neither, with just the 2GB one also no success...
And, the final cherry on top - after getting the green light to kill the existing Win installation and doing a fresh one, the system worked with all the RAM installed! No problems whatsoever!
I am really lost here. Any ideas why Windows would break with more than 1 GB RAM installed, and that only if VGA drivers were installed?!
TL;DR
- installed new MBO, VGA and RAM and kept old Win7 x64 installation
- everything worked fine until I installed VGA drivers - after that I only got black screen with cursor after Win loading logo
- found out that everything worked if I kept installed RAM <2GB
- fresh Win installed worked with all the RAM
Oh, and big thank you to my Mint 11 DVD for leading me to wrong conclusions What's that about, anyway? Some AMD Linux drivers glitch?