Unable to install the GPU driver.
Unable to install the GPU driver.
I've been working on repairing a water-damaged PC for some family members. It started as if just the graphics card was failing, since it would boot with a spare GPU and run games like Valorant—though performance was poor. But after 10 to 15 minutes in a game, it would randomly crash with a blue screen or error code VIDEO TDR FAILURE - nvlddmkm.sys. I tried reinstalling the GPU driver, but couldn't get it to work. Nvidia doesn't show any warnings during installation, yet after a quick Express install the driver still didn't appear. Once I removed the driver, the blue screens disappeared, though the PC sometimes froze or displayed a black screen. It seems the basic Windows driver is also affected. A fresh Windows install has the same issues. I've already tried a spare PSU and RAM. My thought is that water damage might have harmed the motherboard, making it hard to properly install drivers. Could a new motherboard fix this? Or would replacing the CPU be necessary? We spent our budget on a new GPU, so a used board could be a cost-effective solution if it works. Any advice or other troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated.
In save mode uninstalling the driver helps remove outdated software from the registry and possibly updates the motherboard BIOS. It might also test installing a different GPU on another PCIe slot to avoid damage to the original graphics card. Hopefully, using a cooler will help, or if it's covered by warranty, just return it.
Encountered some unusual problems with a liquid-affected PCIe riser cable and its corresponding port; discarded the damaged cable along with the connector and PCIe slot. Successfully resolved by relocating the GPU to another slot.