Windows Freezes during Nvidia Drivers Installation

I've tried 3 different versions of drivers for my newly installed 680m and they all get to the same exact spot (Says Installing Graphics Driver...) at about a tenth of the bar full during the installation when Windows will completely become unresponsive. When I hold the power button and power it off and then power it back on, Windows will claim the drivers are installed. However, performance seems awful. Even if I bump the resolution to 1080p, the overall performance of Windows will dramatically decrease. I am also unable to read the temperatures for the 680m in HWMonitor and I cannot check the clocks nor change them in MSIAfterburner, leading me to believe the drivers did not install properly. The laptop will ALSO freeze if I try to uninstall the drivers from control panel unless I am in Safe Mode. Any ideas on what I can do to remedy the issue? Thank you!

 

Nevermind! I figured it out!

The problem was that I needed to NOT use the Xbracket that came with the card. Attached to the one with the card was a thin rectangular piece of metal that went over part of the bottom, making it very very snug when you had to tighten the screws down. When I put the xbracket from my 460m on the card, it went in very easily.

That being said, I still don't see any temperatures in HWMonitor, nor any clocks in msi Afterburner.

Edit: Maybe I've spoke too soon. The drivers did install successfully, but I'm still noticing low performance just on the desktop. For example, when I open Steam and maximize the window, the cursor skips across the screen.

 

Did you flash svl7's vbios? It does not reach stock clocks if you don't.

 

Yes, I flashed the card right after installing it. Upon further inspection of gpu-z, I noticed current clocks were all at 0. So I uninstalled drivers and when I tried reinstalling yet again, it froze again. so I'm back at square one.

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Hmmm...weird. I assume the inf file is properly modified or it would not install at all right? What does device manager say? Oh, and what windows do you have? I remember you have to disable the driver signature.

 

Yes i did modify the .inf correctly. In device manager before installing drivers or attempting to it will find the card as 3D video controller. If the nvidia setup completes or freezes, upon the next time I boot it will claim it is a 680m. Even in control panel it lists all of nvidia's software, but I am still unable to check temperature and clocks. You mention that I need to disable driver signature which I had once done during the boot up process but that didn't change anything. It still asked me if I wanted to install an unsigned driver while it was installing and then it still froze. Maybe the unsigned prompt is the issue?

Edit: forgot to mention I'm on windows 7. Also, I don't know if it'll help at all but it seems like the fans on both sides are ramped up a bit faster than normal.

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The unsigned driver should have stopped your driver installation or cause it to throw an error. What you experience seems weird. The fans may be ramped up a bit faster because of some elevated temps, dunno. What does device manager say after the drivers are installed? Also, did you try another driver version?
Edit: I just reread your first post, so the driver version is not the problem.
2nd Edit: I had a problem on my desktop a few years ago with a bad nvidia driver installation after which I could not uninstall the drivers or install new ones. I tried everything, uninstalling them in safe mode seemed to work, but then when installing them again i experienced the same thing you describe. I ran ccleaner and tryed everything I could thing of, but in the end I had to reinstall windows...I hope this is not your case.

 

After installing drivers in safe mode or when it freezes windows and i reboot it will say nvidia gtx 680m graphics card in device manager. As for that issue, I read something similar in a forum on nvidia where it was the same ordeal. I just now ran driver sweeper and revo uninstaller to try to get every trace of nvidia gone. If I have to reinstall windows it's no big deal. I just got done installing it a couple of weeks ago after getting my dual drive.

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I'm running out of ideas. I just reinstalled windows and i have the same problems. Does it sound like the card is bad? I'm really worried now.

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Are you sure the vbios flash was successful? Does gpu-z see your correct vbios version?

 

I did another vbios flash last night just to see if it would help any. I don't think it made a single difference.

When you power the laptop on, the first thing you see is this:




I removed the drivers and then reinstalled them in Safe Mode. This is what GPU-Z gives me. (Sorry about the low quality)

 

2990 memory? 2 gb is the dell version, 4gb the clevo version. Which one do you have? It kinda seems like a faulty card considering you are out of possibilities and it still doesn't work ok.

 

That struck out as odd to me as well. The seller claimed it was a Dell card and that it has 2GB vram. I also noticed the card in the picture was blue but I got a green one sent to me. I will message him today and see what's going on.

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I FIXED IT!

Okay so I got an approval for an RMA from the seller but before I decided to ship it back, I figured I could try a couple more things to see if I could fix it.

I swapped hard drives and installed Windows 8.1 and the drivers installed without any issues. The card is functioning flawlessly!!!

I can't even explain how stoked I am. I literally punched the air and shouted "YES!" for a solid minute.

I'm going to try to get the drivers for the rest of the components running properly. If I succeed, I will try installing Win8.1 on the drive that was originally installed to figure out whether or not it was the OS change or the HDD change that fixed it.

EDIT: Swapped hard drives back and installed Windows 8.1. Again, works flawlessly. Not sure what could be wrong with my copy of Win 7 (Im using the disk that was shipped with the laptop). Not a big deal though. I've been really considering running 8.1 on my laptop after loving it on my desktop.

 

Congrats! I'm glad you managed to get it working. Now it's benchmark time

 

Thanks for all your suggestions and help, Chopsy!

Also not sure if he will come across it or not, but a big thank you goes to TricksterMatt!