GA-H57M-USB3 / i3-530 / 9600GT GPU wont boot windows7 64-bit

[hvdave2000]

System spec:
===========================================

MB:   GA-H57M-USB3 rev 1.0 Bios F4
CPU:  Intel i3-530, 2.93GHz, Dual Core, on-chip GPU
Memory:  G.Skill 4GB (2x2GG) DDR3 1600 GSK F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
Graphics card: MSI 9600GT-MD1G, 1GB, PCI Express x16 2.0
RAID0 Hard drive array: 2ea. Western Digital RE3 320GB 7200rpm SATA 3.0GB/s WD3202ABYS
PSU: ANTEC BP430 430W
OS: Window 7 pro 64-bit on 60GB partition

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Hello everyone,

Orignially I had put this system together without a graphic card, using only the on-board GPU.  This worked great.   However, lately we've been playing more games on this machine and the on-board graphics performance could be improved.   So I had this MSI 9600GT graphics card and gave it a try.

After installing the card, I managed to install the NVIDIA drivers okay.  However with the NVIDIA drivers loaded, the machine cannot get past the "Windows Starting" screen.   I have to boot in safe mode to do anything.  I tried several drivers from both MSI and NVIDIA:

  NVIDIA_190.62_Win7_Vista64
  NVIDIA_258.96_Win7_Vista64
  NVIDIA_191.07_Win7_Vista64
  260.99_desktop_win7_winvista_64bit_english_whql

All of these drivers had the same result... hang up at the "Windows Starting" screen.

Here are some other things I tried..... 

* Made sure the Intel VGA driver set was uninstalled.  I also downloaded the latest set of drivers for the mother board and installed them.

* Verified the BIOS was set to use the GPU card instead of on-board GPU (see pg 49 of MB manual):
  Init Display First: PEG
  Onboard VGA: "Enable if no Ext PEG"

Note that I did NOT flash the BIOS since as far as I could tell, none of the later versions had any fixes related to my problem.   

I did some searching around on the internet, I discovered at the NVIDIA forums that other people were having similar problems.  These people were blaming the NVIDIA driver files for what its worth.

THe machine is now back to its former self configured with the on-board GPU and the MSI card removed.  Everything works fine again (except for game graphics...).

So now my question...  What graphics card should I try next in this machine.  I think I want to stay away from NVIDIA.  Has anyone else put a GPU card in a machine similar to mine?

Thanks

[Fatman]

Did you disable the onboard VGA in bios before installing the card?

[hvdave2000]

Yes...

* Verified the BIOS was set to use the GPU card instead of on-board GPU (see pg 49 of MB manual):
  Init Display First: PEG
  Onboard VGA: "Enable if no Ext PEG"

[Fatman]

I would try a stronger PSU 650 watt minimum and see if you have better luck! I don't think your card is the issue nor your bios, quite possibly your PSU is not enough.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi
I have just read through your thread and I would agree with Fatman that the most likely culprit is the PSU. You need to replace it with a good quality single 12V rail one of about 600W or more. I assume that you have connected the power cables to the graphics card?

[hvdave2000]

My MSI 9600GT card does not have an extra power connector, so there's no way to plug the PSU directly to the card.   All power for the card comes through the PCI interface.

Link to the card: http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=130&prod_no=1778

So maybe the PSU is the problem.  I'll need to investigate this further.   On paper however, it doesn't seem too bad.     My guess is the card draws about 70W.    The Antec calculator shows 270W for the whole system, including the card.     My PSU is 430W and a decent brand (Antec).    So there's about a 2:1 margin. 

Unfortunately, I don't have another PSU to swap with at the moment.

[Dark Mantis]

I know the figures seem to add up ok but I still reckon that it is the power supply that is the problem. Gigabyte recommend 500W minimum.

[hvdave2000]

Thanks.   Page 23 of the manual indeed states: "it is recommended that a power supply that can withstand high power consumption be used (500W or greater)..."

[Dark Mantis]

Even if you can just borrow one to try and confirm/deny that it is the problem. I would try and get a single 12v rail of about 600W. That way it gives you a bit of leeway for the future.

[hvdave2000]

UPDATE .....

Well its been some time since I posted my problem but today I managed to upgrade the PSU with a 650W Corsair, a good PSU by most standards.   I think this PSU should have plenty of current available, +12V is single rail and can source up to 53A.

Unfortunately the PSU upgrade did NOT fix my problem... hang at the "Windows starting" screen.  Based on this, I don't think the PSU is causing the problem.  I'm thinking its a Nvidia driver issue with my MB.   I'm thinking my next step is to try a different graphics card, maybe an ATI one.   I'll probably stay away from a Nvidia chip.

Thanks

[Lsdmeasap]

You may want to try windows 7 with only 2GB of memory installed, see this post in regards to a similar issue of freezing at windows starting screen with nvidia cards and memory
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Standard-DRAM-Memory/Win-7-will-not-start-after-upgrade/m-p/32116#M5522

[Dark Mantis]

Have you made sure that the modules are inserted in DDR3_1 and  DDR3_3 which should be the white slots ?