G75VW GTX 660M not working (won't boot with drivers installed)

Hi guys, so this morning my laptop started booting into a black screen before login. That is, I'd hear the chime and the "Staring Windows" with the W7 logo materializing, but then all black after that. Can't even select the user or type in the password. This seems to be a common problem for different makes after googling a bit.

After trying various things, I seemed to have confirmed that it's the GPU that's failing. I went into safe mode, uninstalled all the drivers, and rebooted normally just fine. As soon as I install a driver (tried a couple different ones), the problem comes back.

Is there anything I can do as a user to continue debugging this? As I understand things, the GPU is soldered onto the motherboard for these guys, right?

Thanks in advance for any help!

EDIT: I tried a few driver versions from the ASUS website, and one of them seems to have corrected the problem.

 

Welp, looks like the GPU is really shot. Reinstall of drivers did work for a few days, but then the black screen came back.

Is warranty my only option?

 

Normally when its a GPU issue, it doesnt work then not work then work again unless you're having connection issues with the soldering on the video card but drivers usually wont affect that either. It sounds like something besides the GPU.

I'd try check the RAM with memtest86 PassMark MemTest86 - Memory Diagnostic Tool.

 

Thanks for the response, Hutsady. I tried a few memory tests before, and also just tried the one you suggested successfully. W7 always booted successfully without the nVidia drivers, so I was sure I had it nailed down, but I guess you could be right.

Oddly enough, after the memory test, I installed a driver again just to verify, and it works again. This is gonna drive me nuts. -_-

 

Very odd. You can also try some different driver versions directly from Nvidia. Give the latest ones a shot and try some legacy drivers too Beta and Legacy Drivers | GeForce

 

Hi guys, sorta necroing my old thread here. Trying to see if any of you could provide some insights.

So the problem has never fully gone away, and recently it's been happening more frequently. I've tried nearly 10 different drivers with no success. Here are some of the stuff I've tried / noticed:

- As before, running in safe mode or no nVidia drivers has no problems
- It can crash (black screen then reboot) just doing simple web-browsing, but will crash more often when I repeatedly alt-tab between full-screen games and Windows
- After a crash, taking the battery out and then back in will allow it to reboot successfully immediately
- If I don't do the battery in/out, it won't boot for successfully for a long time (get black screen where you normally log in to W7)
- But if I don't put the battery back in, and boot it while plugged in, it won't boot successfully either
- GPU temperatures are fine (based on MSI Afterburner, ~70-80C), although I do notice the problem happening more often during high temperatures
- Fans are clean and working


I bought it with AmEx, so I still have a few months of the extended warranty available, but since the problem is sorta intermittent, I'm afraid the tech would just write it off as "cannot recreate," or try a simple driver reinstall and then after a single successful boot, send it back as fixed.

Thanks in advance!

 

If you could find a stress test that would always repeat it, that could help.

 

Thanks for the response, Meaker. What's a good one that you'd recommend?

A simple google found this, but I dunno if there are better/differences.

HeavyLoad - Free Stress Test Tool for Your PC

 

3dmark vantage in extreme mode is good, modern titles like BF4 or crysis 3.

 

Did you ever fix this? I have a G75VX with the exact same issue. Thanks for the tip about removing the battery and putting it back in before restarting. At least I can boot my computer now. I would love to know if you found a permanent solution for this though.

 

They last logged in October 2014, so the chances are not great they will see your post. I'd say it's still most likely a GPU issue.

 

If you're in the US you should contact L2 Computer Repair out of Brooklyn NY. They are the best when it comes to component level repair (more than likely you will need to reball the gpu). I've used their service a few times and have always been happy.

Here's a link to their repair service on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-G72-G7...air-Service-/330921328717?hash=item4d0c72c04d