Updated Nvidia driver, now Vista and Safe Mode won't load

I wanted to update my Nvidia drivers so I installed their latest update. But as the update installed, my screen went black, the monitor said "No signal", and I could no longer see anything.

I shut it down, went into Safe Mode, and rolled back the driver. But like an idiot, I didn't leave well enough alone. Nvidia is pushing this beta driver for use with the new COD game, so I figured I'd try that. I got the exact same problem with the black screen and had to shut down.

However, now I can't even get into Safe Mode to roll it back. When going into Safe Mode, I see the arrow/mouse pointer for a few seconds, then the little green/blueish circle appears next to it like the desktop is about to load. Then nothing happens. It stays on a black screen and the disk gets quiet, like it's not even trying. The monitor is still connected and receiving a signal, it just won't load.

The same thing happens when I try to boot up Vista, except the monitor goes black and I get the "no signal". But just like in safe mode, the computer isn't trying to load. Once the screen goes black, the disk stops. It's not that it's starting up normally and I just can't see it. It's not even loading up.

I've tried every startup option when you hit F8 and nothing has worked. Trying "use the last successful boot settings" or whatever it says gets me the farthest -- I get the "Welcome" screen that loads when Vista starts, but then it just hangs there.

I need to roll that driver back, or at least remove or disable it somehow. But without Windows or Safe Mode starting, I don't know what to do. The computer is basically useless at this point. I can get to a command prompt through the system repair option, but I'm unsure of what to do with it.

The OS is Vista, the computer is a Gateway that's a few years old.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Can you try booting into Last Known Good Configuration?

 

No, it just hangs at the "Welcome" screen. I've since tried hooking the computer up to my TV, and that's also what happens when I try to start Windows normally. It'll get to the Welcome screen and then it hangs there. With my monitor, it goes black and gets "no signal" before the Welcome screen shows up.

 

Do you have a recent, good disk image that you could restore? I always assume any update will break something so I always image beforehand. (Acronis True Image). It's like working the wire with a safety net.

 

Unfortunately, no. And either System Restore got turned off or it's just not working, because it's not letting me do anything when I access it it in the system repair mode.

 

Just to add, I've done everything from the command prompt that I can think of. Chkdsk and /scannow and all that. I've also tried doing Ctrl + Alt + Del when it hangs at the Welcome screen, as I've read that it can bring up task manager. But no such luck for me.

I tried installing older nvidia drivers from the command prompt, hoping I could overwrite the new ones. It'll start the program but it jumps right to a screen saying the install failed and my only option is to close out of it.

I've run the startup repair and it only lasts a few seconds before telling me it couldn't find a problem. The memory diagnostic tool is fine too.

 

Greetings, SlipperyPete...

Couple of quick suggestions:

1. Can you boot into your machine's setup/BIOS? If so, then make sure to revert all settings to Safe defaults (pay special attention to any graphics/video settings). An added plus: if you can see your setup menus, then that checks out your monitor/cable.

2. Are you using a discrete video card or onboard video? If you have an option, switch between the two and try to produce a change in symptoms.

3. Do you have the capacity for burning CDs/DVDs? If so, then one thing you might try is booting to a Linux distro (Mint, Puppy and Ubuntu are all nice and easy). Download the .iso file and burn that file as an image to a CD/DVD (ImgBurn and InfraRecorder are good free .iso burning programs if you don't already have one). A quick tutorial for the image burning process using ImgBurn is located here.

Once the disk is created, set your boot priority to 'CD/DVD first', boot to that disk and run the OS as a live environment (in other words, don't install it - just run it from the optical drive). You may then be able to discern if this is indeed a driver problem or if some hardware issues have occurred. An added plus: while you're running the live Linux you should be able to transfer any important data that you wish to salvage to a flash drive or an external drive, just in case.

 

I can boot into the BIOS. The only video options are Ext PCIE Graphics (PEG), Ext PCI Graphics, and Auto, which is what it was set to. I've tried starting Windows and Start Mode on all 3 and nothing changes. I set it back to Auto since I wasn't sure which of the other two I should pick.

The card is a GeForce 8800 GTS. I'm not very knowlegdable about hardware, so I'm afraid I don't know what kind of card it is or how I would make that switch.

I thought I'd be able to create the boot CD you mentioned, but either the computer isn't reading the discs or they aren't burning right. I tried with two discs and two of the options you suggested, but nothing's booting from the CDs. And the priority is definitley set to CD first.

Just to further describe what I've been trying on my own, I've been trying to find info on disabling drivers through the system repair command prompt, since that's about the only control I have over the system. I found this link which describes a process:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Recover-Windows-7-from-Driver-Update-Failures-124113.shtml

In the log it describes in step 3B, the last entries are all Nvidia related. But when I search for Nvidia related entries (step 3L), the only one I really get is for the nvidia nForce AGP Bus Filter (nv_agp.sys). I haven't disabled it because I have no idea what it does. I don't need to cause myself any more problems.

 

As far as I know safe mode should not be loading your Nvidia graphics drivers. Have you done chkdsk at command prompt?

chkdsk c: /r
chkdsk d: /r

Try letting it sit at the Safe Mode hang for at least 20 minutes, just to make sure it is doing nothing (if you haven't already).

Does System Restore bring up the system restore window but then just not respond or does it not open the window?

I just want to make sure you have tried these things which you probably have already if you are considering doing offline registry edits.

 

I ran chkdsk but I couldn't remember if I did /r or /f, so I redid it with /r. Everything was fine.

I have it sitting on safe mode as I'm writing this, but I'm pretty sure it's not going anywhere.

System Restore comes up and everything, but there's no restore point. I think it may even say that SR is off, which it shouldn't be. But who knows.

 

Does anyone know more about the thing I mentioned before, the nvidia nForce AGP Bus Filter (nv_agp.sys)? Is it worth trying to disable it, or will it just screw me up even worse?

 

When I see "BUS" in the description that means a fundamental part of the motherboard's data transfer abilities. I would not disable it. It could involve HD transfer speeds or network settings. I think it would mess you up worse.

I'm sorry that I don't have any real suggestions. You have tried all the things I would have tried. Which brand system is this? Does the BIOS/Flash screen give you a key to hit for a "Boot Menu" which would allow you to select CD/ROM for a one time boot option(Dell, Toshiba,Gateway usually F12, Asus is F8)?

Can you boot another computer from the linux discs you have created? Trying to figure out if they were burned correctly. If you used Imgburn's "Write Image to Disc" option then that Cd should have booted.

I hope Caliban will offer some advice.

 

Well, I have no idea what changed, but the crisis is over.

I had the computer off for a while, not trying anything. I've done that repeatedly during this process, BTW. Then I started it up again. It started loading Windows and my monitor went black with the "No signal".

But the drive kept lighting up and making noise, like it was actually loading Windows. I plugged in my TV and, sure enough, Windows had loaded. Praise the Gods.

I immediately went to Device Manager to roll back the driver update, but that option was greyed out for some reason. I decided to reboot into safe mode and install the old, stable driver that had been working. Then I restarted and Windows loaded, this time with my monitor still on.

So... the worst is over. I still don't know why I can't run an nvidia update without the monitor going black and the "no signal" and all that, but at least Windows is working again.

I kinda hate fixes like this, where I don't know what happened. If this ever happens again, I don't know what I did (if anything) to correct it. But I'm thankful it's fixed.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. If anyone has any insight on why I can't update the nvidia drivers, I'd still love to get that cleared up.

Thanks again!

Pete

 

Hi SlipperyPete

Looks like Windows may have done you a Big favor. Last night, I was going to recommend that you Not do that again, use a boot CD,
do a proper removal of the current driver and then re-install the old (original) driver, but it was very late and I was too
tired to write all that.

Looks like you got good advice but I confess I haven't read the entire thread.

I have this installed and it has been useful:
NVIDIA Inspector

In the future, if you want to update the nVidia driver:

• Use the Manual Driver Search to download the proper driver from GeForce Drivers
• create a restore point before you make a change
• use Add or Remove programs to uninstall the current graphics driver (don't know what it's called in Vista)
• after the uninstall, reboot. Windows will use a default driver.
• ignore and cancel the automatic New Hardware prompts
• go to Add or Remove Programs again and select the installer that you downloaded
• if there is a Custom Install option, select Only the graphics driver and possibly any additional components that you
  Know are required for your setup
• reboot again after the install
• after reboot, make any adjustments needed such as monitor refresh rate, screen resolution and color quality

 

When you updated the driver and it caused all of this, where did you update from - not Windows Update I hope? When I loaded Win 8 recently my TV adapter wouldn't work, yet it had been fine on Win 7. I replaced the MS signed driver Win 8 had installed with the Win 7 driver from the manufacturer's site and now it's fine. When I enquired of MS about this I was told that MS don't test drivers before signing them, they merely establish that it will install.

Best avoided!

 

Great news!

May I suggest that you Create a Restore point now and test it by starting System Restore once a week for a few weeks to make sure that you have at least one restore point available. Just opening System Restore should allow you to see if a restore point is available. One of the best changes between XP and Vista/Win7 is the availability of restore points from the recovery environment. Checking that System Restore is turned on and keeps a restore point available for a few weeks is definitely worth doing as it would have been invaluable in your situation, when safe mode wouldn't work.

 

I got the Nvidia driver straight from their site. I initially tried their most recent update, and that got me the black monitor "no signal" problem. Then I went back to the site because they're advertising a beta update for use with Black Ops 2. I tried that one and that's the one that not only gave me the "no signal" but kept me from being able to get into Windows or Safe Mode.

Regarding system restore, I went in there after I got Windows back up. I got an error saying the volume shadow copy service used by system restore isn't working. I'm not sure what's causing that, but I knew I hadn't turned off system restore and I guess I hadn't. But you would think you'd get a notification that there's an error that prevents system restore from working. I certainly don't remember seeing one.

 

Try going to Start and right-clicking Computer on the right menu and selecting Properties. Then select System Protection from the menu on the left of the window that opens. On the next window see if hitting the Configure button lets you turn on System Restore.

 

That's actually how I opened it. I looked it up and there's some service that controls the shadow copy thing. Mine was set to manual and the site suggested it be on automatic.

It didn't allow me to enable System Restore just by making that change, but maybe next time I reboot it will. I'm doing some work on it so I can't reboot just yet.

 

Hi, SlipperyPete...

I was going to suggest that you consider backing up the machine with one of the good freebies available (especially since System Restore isn't cooperating) - but then I remembered that you can't burn disks, so that kinda shot that one down. Still, you might consider picking up an external hard drive and performing some imaging, even more so if this is an important computer.

Glad you've got some semblance of normalcy going on. I agree about the uncertainty, however - I hope this isn't a train wreck waiting to happen.

 

I got the shadow copy problem cleared up, so System Restore is working again.

I've found some stuff on Nvidia's forums about people having the same problem I am, where they update their drivers and get "no signal" from their monitor. The suggested fixes involve removing and installing drivers, which is how I got into this mess in the first place.

I feel a little better now that System Restore is back, but I'm not sure I have the energy and/or courage to mess around with it now.

 

It's always been my belief that OEMs usually update their driver packages to address specific problems. If you adhere to the old mantra "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" then unless one of those specific problems is appearing with your machine, then it's probably safest to leave well enough alone (especially with device drivers).

Certainly not admonishing you in any way, SlipperyPete, but I think your issues in this thread illustrate what can happen when a driver installation goes wrong.

 

I do need the upgrade. Drivers are old and I couldn't even run a game that came out over a year ago. That's why I tried the beta drivers they're pushing for Black Ops 2, since I figured if it'll help play that game then surely it'll help play mine.