I'm running Windows and installed a new NVIDIA RTX 5060 about a week ago. It worked normally at first, but now many standalone .exe programs either fail to open, run extremely slowly, or remain visible in Task Manager after I close them without showing a window. This affects games downloaded from Game Jolt and itch.io, as well as Audacity. Steam games still run normally, and I have plenty of free storage.
I've already restarted the computer, tried compatibility modes, reinstalled the affected programs, and updated both Windows and the NVIDIA drivers. My previous graphics card was an older AMD card. I also installed MuseHub around the time the problem began, although I've since removed it. Windows Defender has not reported anything, and browser downloads complete normally. What should I check next?
3 Answers
I’d look at what changed immediately before the issue started. Check Task Manager’s CPU, memory, disk, and GPU usage before launching an affected program, while it is stuck, and after closing it. Also run an elevated Command Prompt and use `sfc /scannow` to check for damaged Windows files. Since MuseHub was installed around the same time, uninstalling it may not remove every related component, so check installed apps and startup items as well.
Windows Defender may not display an alert for every software conflict. Run a full Defender scan and check its protection history, then test the problem in a clean boot with nonessential startup programs and services disabled. If the issue disappears, re-enable those items in groups to identify the conflict. It’s also worth doing a clean NVIDIA driver installation rather than only updating over the existing driver.
The browser downloads work and this also affects older files, so it probably isn’t just the browser blocking new downloads. Defender hasn’t shown an alert, but I’ll still check its history and try a clean boot.
Check whether Windows is detecting any phantom displays and make sure your monitor cables are connected to the RTX 5060 rather than the motherboard video outputs. Also verify in Windows graphics settings that the affected applications are assigned to the NVIDIA GPU. A stale or misconfigured display can sometimes leave programs running without displaying a usable window.
The NVIDIA driver is already updated. Some programs behave normally while others stay hidden in Task Manager, but I’ll check the detected displays and whether an extra HDMI cable or display configuration is confusing Windows.
The older AMD card failed before I installed the 5060, and MuseHub was installed around the same period. I’m going to check the performance graphs and run the system file scan once I’ve had a break from troubleshooting.