Unable to install NVIDIA drivers at any attempt. Please assist.
Unable to install NVIDIA drivers at any attempt. Please assist.
I started a discussion on Reddit but didn’t get much response. So I decided to try this myself since I haven’t encountered this problem before in my online searches. I’ll paste what I shared below.
Hey, I’ve been working on building computers and installing NVIDIA drivers since the 570 series. I’ve never seen this kind of issue before, which is confusing. I’m worried my GPU might be the problem or something wrong with it. Games and Discord would close unexpectedly, and sometimes they crash on their own.
I tried updating the drivers, but that brought up strange problems. In MSI AB I noticed no information about my GPU. Then I downloaded the Display Driver Uninstaller, which removed them without issues. After restarting, I tried reinstalling, but it failed again—Windows auto-installed some older drivers (like version 528) instead of the latest ones. I attempted to reinstall once more, but it still didn’t work properly.
I also have a lot of Event Viewer errors, though some seem normal. The GPU shows up in Device Manager as 4090, but I can’t install updated drivers now. Games crash when I launch them, but the main menu works fine. Once I load a level, it closes unexpectedly.
I’m unsure if the GPU is malfunctioning or if there’s something wrong with Windows itself. I’ve dealt with a bad PSU before, but that was the last time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Additionally, I have a 1050TI from an older desktop that’s been in this situation too. It’s showing the same error when installing drivers, even after selecting the right GPU model. Could it be a motherboard issue? I’ve checked both PCIe slots, but 4090 is gone now. Maybe it’s a Windows problem? I’ve run SFC, DISM, CHKDSK, and DDU without connecting a network cable.
I’m also considering reinstalling Windows again, but the same problems persist. I’m really stuck and don’t know what’s causing this. Thanks for any help you can provide.
It might be an issue with the card's VBIOS. Check if the card supports a silent/performance BIOS mode—switching it might help. Also, examine the mainboard's BIOS settings concerning PCIE. Have you tested the card on another Windows setup or a different computer?
I used two different cards and still faced the same problem, so I’m not relying on a GPU issue anymore. When checking the main BIOS, look for settings related to memory stability, power management, or thermal throttling that might affect performance. Since the motherboard is a ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming Wi-Fi model, ensure those specific configurations are intact before troubleshooting further.
Ok so...you may be onto something, standby for a edit/update on this post. Update...well u solved in 5 mins what no one on reddit could answer over 2 days...i went into bios ( idk what needed changed ) so i just reset everything to defaults and rebooted and it installed driver first time....installed steam to test a game and game played fine...so for one im sad i did not try this prior to erasing everything on pc..but lesson learned. Question i have now though is...what in the world would cause this issue out of no where as nothing in bios has been changed in over 5-7 months that ive built this computer, i did a overclock that i watched a guide on to see how the 13900k overclocks as i was coming from a 7820x so it was different so i didnt copy the guy in video on everything but i know for sure he never changed any pcie or any funky settings that i recall, i may look for the video, i was something like quick 5 min overclock for 13900k or something. Any idea though what might of caused it as i for sure wanna redo my OC but def dont wanna touch anything that will cause this issue, so as of right now issue is solved and ill mark it solved tomorrow if thats alright as i wanna give it a day or 2 and finish setting up PC and make sure all is good but seeing as drivers installed first time since this issue came up ima lean toward issue fixed. So Angusticlavii, appreciate the help as i been at this for 2 days all day each day and nothing and i was even thinking was some form of virus or malware or jsut something crazy as i never had this happen so again ty for taking time to reply and fix this issue.
I think this is a major suspect. User error. Happens to everyone. Maybe re-trace your overclocking steps and learn the exact definitions of things you changed and didn't from the video.
ya and to be honest im not trying to break no OC records on anything so i just loaded defaults and let the AI overclock and voltage is fine so i left it at that, dont need max overclock for my uses.
Ok so interesting update, after the issue was resolved and i played around with OC settings i figure to be safe i would reinstall windows after i settled on resetting bios OC to default and ONLY applying the AI auto overclock which ive done before in the past. So i reinstalled windows and was updating apps/installing my stuff and got around to nvidia drivers finally and boom...same issue like in picture with the Nvidia failed to install. So seems i found the issue but why is it now causing a issue when that was my OC before along with several settings before. I only and only applied the AI overclock, thats it but that is causing the issue it seems. Interesting so ya idk, i went into bios and left everything default, didnt even enable XMP 1 yet ( ima test that shortly and see if that works at least )