Windows 7 stuck on booting screen after new gfxcard

R

Random Person

Guest
Hello everyone,

Recently I've purchased a new graphicscard, with a Radeon HD6870 GPU. Naturally, I tried to install it. But, after running into a few different problems, I rebooted my PC with the 6870 in it, and every time I do this now with the 6870 in it, it gets stuck on the Windows 7 loading screen. (See SS below)

Now, the strange thing is, when I turn on my sound, while I wait for this loading screen to pass, I do hear the sounds of Windows booting up, skype booting up and msn booting up, and the occasional sounds of notices.

Furthermore, when I insert my old gfxcard, a nVidia GeForce 9800GT, it boots up normally. However, I can not install any drivers anymore. Not from my old 9800GT CD, and not from the ATI CD that I got with my new 6870. I'm thinking about a complete HDD whipe, after ofcourse backing up important files on my external HDD. What to do guys? :(

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What do you mean you can't install any of the drivers? It won't let you, you get errors or something else?

Otherwise it probably would be good idea to clean install!
 
Hmm well.. Its kinda weird actually. Whenever I insert my ATI driver CD, it says 'Do you want to boot 'setup.exe'', and when I click ok, nothing happens. It's the same when I go to the actual folder and double click on setup.exe.

When I insert my nVidia driver CD, it says 'install drivers', when I click on that, a screen opens, and it starts an installation, which finishes within 2 seconds. At the end, it says 'the installation did not add, remove, or change anything to your system. Boot up the installation again to ensure everything is installed'.

I have no ATI or nVidia drivers left on my computer. (Deleted them all with a program called Driver Whiper or something like that)..

Yeah, what to do? :S

(Also, on my very, very old laptop, both of the CDs boot up normally, and they are capable of installing all the needed drivers on the laptop)
 
I had a similar problem when trying to install my Creative sound card drivers. I had to remove the device/delete system driver files/uninstall/delete common files... it was a mess. Anyway, i want you to try something.

Place the 6870 into the second PCI-e port. Does it boot up normally now?

If the previous solution didn't work, try this. At the stuck screen, wait for everything to load, as you did mention that you can hear certain items loading. After the load, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to load up Task Manager. If it comes up, under the Application tab, click "New Task", then type in "explorer.exe". You should now see your desktop as if nothing happened! However, all this didn't solve anything, yet. Now, once in Windows, type in "msconfig" at start > run. Click the Startup tab and untick everything. It could be that there is a program preventing normal boot up, or, it could be the ATI/nVidia startup items as well that are the culprits. Once unticked, hit Apply and restart.
 
Why would I have to place the 6870 in the second PCI-e port..? Do I have to do that without or with the 9800GT in the other one?
Also, are you implying that one of my PCI-e ports may be broken? :O Because my computer does work when I put the nVidia card in that same PCI-e port.
Heck, I even managed to DL the needed nVifia-drivers from the internet, everything works perfectly fine now. :P Except for the fact that it won't let me install any drivers from CDs. Lol

Also, that's the problem, lol. When it's stuck at that Windows loading screen, nothing else will show up. Its literally stuck on there. The task manager wont show up either, it just stays at the windows loading screen. However, as I mentioned before, when I turn on my speakers, I do hear the jingles of Skype, MSN and windows itself booting up, and I hear the occasional tunes of error messages, notifications, etc. too.. So yeah, the second resolution wont work out. :S
 
Random Person said:
Why would I have to place the 6870 in the second PCI-e port..? Do I have to do that without or with the 9800GT in the other one?
Also, are you implying that one of my PCI-e ports may be broken? :O Because my computer does work when I put the nVidia card in that same PCI-e port.
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Yeah, that was dumb of me :p. I was implying that maybe your pci-e slot wasn't working, completely forgetting the fact that your 9800 in that slot!

Have you tried unticking the items i told you to untick? Try it while the 9800 is installed, then, install the 6870 and see if Windows boots up... Shame the CTRL+ALT+DEL option didn't work...
 
Haha no worries. :)
And nope, doesn't work either.. Same problem, it stays put on the Windows 7 logo. :(
You gave me some false hope there man!

Even though.. There are 2 things that I noticed. The first one would be, that the 6870's fan spins like craaazy when I press the power on button. It's only after the confirmationbeep of the motherboard, that it stops spinning at that crazy RPM.
Second thing would be that when I put my 6870 in, the 'Loading operating system..' page (The plain white text on a black BG; shows just before the window I get stuck on) stays shorter on the monitor than when my 9800GT is in my computer.. IDK if this is something of importance, but w/e, every small bit may help. :P

Also.. There's no possibility that my 6870 might be broken, right? :S Cause that would be really, really annoying.
 
Random Person said:
You gave me some false hope there man!
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:p

Random Person said:
Even though.. There are 2 things that I noticed. The first one would be, that the 6870's fan spins like craaazy when I press the power on button. It's only after the confirmationbeep of the motherboard, that it stops spinning at that crazy RPM.
Click to expand...
Yep, same here with my CPU fan. When you press the power button, 2 processes occur: First, your system enters the POST (power-on self test) process, which takes 2 seconds or so, and determines if all hardware, namely keyboard, hdd, and ram, are functional. Once determined, your system will give off a beep, or a few, if it finds errors, and will continue to boot. Part of this booting process is the BIOS (basic input-output system). Briefly, BIOS contains instructions on how the computer boots. Within BIOS, we have CMOS. CMOS contains configurations regarding your hardware such as hdd boot priority, cpu frequencies, and, yes, you guessed it, fan speed control. In your case, CMOS has already adjusted the fan speed for the 6870.
In short, your 6870 will run at full fan speed until it reaches BIOS, which adjusts fan speed and other hardware configurations based on your CMOS settings. ;)

Random Person said:
Second thing would be that when I put my 6870 in, the 'Loading operating system..' page (The plain white text on a black BG; shows just before the window I get stuck on) stays shorter on the monitor than when my 9800GT is in my computer.. IDK if this is something of importance, but w/e, every small bit may help. :p
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I don't suppose that means anything significant.

Random Person said:
Also.. There's no possibility that my 6870 might be broken, right? :S Cause that would be really, really annoying.
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Possibility? Definitely. Probability? I don't think so. I can't give you a conclusion yet. Your PSU is above recommended wattage (i used two sources to verify this), your pci-e slots isn't damaged, and Windows seems to be doing a good job at booting up without the HD6870 installed, so that rules out a format. Unticking startup items didn't help. What the hell could it be...

A few theories arise: is there a PSU shortage? and if there was, would you even be able to get through BIOS? maybe it's a bad memory stick? Maybe you need to reset your CMOS settings once you install the 6870...
I need suggestions here my self! Install the 6870 and reset your CMOS settings by removing the 3v silver battery located down south of your board. Wait 10 minutes. Insert the battery back in. Boot up. Cross your fingers!
 
Haha, that's a lot of quotes right there. :P

In short, your 6870 will run at full fan speed until it reaches BIOS, which adjusts fan speed and other hardware configurations based on your CMOS settings.
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Oh ok, that's great. :)

Possibility? Definitely. Probability? I don't think so. I can't give you a conclusion yet. Your PSU is above recommended wattage (i used two sources to verify this), your pci-e slots isn't damaged, and Windows seems to be doing a good job at booting up without the HD6870 installed, so that rules out a format. Unticking startup items didn't help. What the hell could it be...
Click to expand...
Well.. It would be really screwed up if it is broken, since I apparently already voided the warranty by opening the plastic bag around the card. That thing has cost me 175 euros, and I'm not looking forward to paying that same amount again.

A few theories arise: is there a PSU shortage? and if there was, would you even be able to get through BIOS? maybe it's a bad memory stick? Maybe you need to reset your CMOS settings once you install the 6870...
I need suggestions here my self! Install the 6870 and reset your CMOS settings by removing the 3v silver battery located down south of your board. Wait 10 minutes. Insert the battery back in. Boot up. Cross your fingers!
Click to expand...
Well, personally I don't think it's a PSU shortage. As you said, you're not able to get through the BIOS with a PSU shortage. It would give the 'not enough power to boot up hardware' blue screen and shut itself down.
I think a bad memory stick is pretty unlikely too. They've worked perfectly fine up 'till now, and when I go to the Windows Indexation page, it still lists the full 8GB at the correct speed.
About the CMOS.. I've never heard of it before. Would you mind giving me a more in-dept explanation what it is, exactly? And also, are you sure that it's safe to remove that battery..? It looks kinda risky.. Lol.
 
You mean to say that once you open up the box and install the VGA card, your warranty is voided!? That can't be, according to newegg.com, the PowerColor 6870 has a 2 year limited warranty. And the online store you bought it from should have a 30-day return policy, or however it is over there :P.

What a CMOS reset does is reset your CMOS settings, that's all. Whatever settings you had when you first built the computer (factory default), that's where they would be restored to. I do it the hard way when i have hardware issues, which is removing the battery. If you opt for an easier reset, simply go into your CMOS settings and look for the option to "restore to factory default". Save and exit.
One more thing you could try is to load Windows via Safe Mode. Safe Mode only loads up Window's critical files and no 3rd party software. Maybe this will work. And if it does, we need to search for the culprit.
 
Well, I suppose I'll have to look into that. But are you saying that I can just send Powercolor an email that my 6870 is broken, even though I haven't used it whatshowever, and they will send me a replaecment? O_O
Well ok then.. Hm. I don't really know man. I think I'm just going for the plain and easy re-installation of Windows. If it still doesn't work after that, I'll just ask Afuture (The site I bought it from) or Powercolor to replace my VGA. :P
Safe-mode does work though. It just boots up with the 6870 installed..
 
If safe mode works, it's a good sign 6870 isn't broken! What a relief... you won't be needing a replacement (even though, yes, you're allowed a return under warranty policy).
So we can almost conclude that the culprit was a 3rd party app or driver. You could either do a quick format and install Windows, or, remove all applications one by one until the problem is solved. I think the latter option is better if you don't want to lose any of your files (music, pics...).

Whadya say?
 
Haha, that's great man, I'm glad it isn't broken. :)
Hm. I think, since I store all my mp3 files, images, videos, and other important files on my external HDD, it would be better to just completely reformat my drive, and re-install Windows on it. :)
But yes, thanks loads for all your help. Man, without you I would be so clueless. :P
I'll do all that stuff tomorrow, and after that, I will let you know what's up.
Thanks again :D
 
Random Person said:
Haha, that's great man, I'm glad it isn't broken. :)
Hm. I think, since I store all my mp3 files, images, videos, and other important files on my external HDD, it would be better to just completely reformat my drive, and re-install Windows on it. :)
But yes, thanks loads for all your help. Man, without you I would be so clueless. :p
I'll do all that stuff tomorrow, and after that, I will let you know what's up.
Thanks again :D
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No problem man! I hope it solves the problem, that way you'll be up and ready to play some games!
 
No problem man! I hope it solves the problem, that way you'll be up and ready to play some games!
Click to expand...

*More like Portal 2 with you and Sniper!
It'll be all that I'm playing for a long while anyways, haha. :P
Also, that reminds me, don't forget to add me on Steam!
 
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