I recently built a PC that's been running smoothly for about a month, but today, it froze and buzzed, prompting a power restart. After rebooting, I received a notification from NVIDIA indicating a problem, but it didn't specify what. To address this, I attempted to reinstall the GPU drivers but faced a long black screen during the process. Although the installation reported as successful, the GPU vanished from Task Manager, and the driver showed as "Install" instead of "Reinstall."
I removed all NVIDIA software using their removal tool and reinstalled everything, including the drivers. Now, the GPU appears normal, but when I try to play games, my CPU usage spikes to 100% while the GPU barely reaches 10%. I've rebooted and reinstalled drivers multiple times, even trying older versions, but this results in the same installation issues and GPU disappearance. My specs include Windows 11, an RTX 5070, and a Ryzen 7 9700X. I'm worried that something is wrong, especially since it was working fine before this incident.
3 Answers
Definitely check your BIOS settings to ensure your GPU is set as the primary output. Sometimes after a hard reset, the system can revert to integrated graphics if available. Also, physically check if your GPU is securely seated in the PCI slot—some people have faced issues with sagging or loose cards. These simple checks can often resolve unseen issues.
I recommend running a clean installation of your GPU drivers using tools like DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller). Sometimes remnants from previous installations can cause conflicts. Make sure to boot into safe mode, run DDU, and then reinstall the drivers fresh after a reboot. It's a bit of a hassle, but it can resolve a lot of odd GPU behavior.
It sounds like a driver issue, but you might want to check the Event Viewer for any error messages. To do this, click the Start Menu, type 'event', and select Event Viewer. Look under Windows Logs > System and check for any errors marked with a red symbol, especially during the times you were gaming. This can help identify what's going wrong. I've had similar experiences with my GTX card, and tracking errors helped me pinpoint the problem.
Related Questions
Lenovo Thinkpad Stuck In Update Loop Install FilterDriverU2_Reload