RTX 3090 issue. Input welcome. SOLVED

[WhiteNoise]

I picked up a 3090 today. It is working fine but I wanted to install fresh drivers but no matter what I do, during the driver install my PC crashes. Currently, have 460.79 installed from my GTX 1080 ti. used DDU to do a cleaning, rebooted, and tried to install the latest drivers, get a blue screen. Updated BIOS and mobo drivers, windows 10 fully updated and the latest version, disconnected web, but nothing works. Crashes every time during driver install. Also the entire time the card did not detect that my monitor supports 4k and showed the highest resolution as 1080p.

After a dozen tries, I gave up, popped my 1080 ti back in, reinstalled the latest drivers, and then did some more research into this issue. I read that some people had success by going into the BIOS and setting the PCI-E slots from auto to Gen 3 (that's the latest my board supports) and after doing that and reinstalling the 3090, once I reached the desktop it loaded up at 4k. I thought I was good to go but then tried to do a clean install of the nvidia drivers again and yet again got a blue screen crash for my troubles.

So right now my pc and 3090 are working fine but I cannot update drivers. Does anyone know what is going on? I thought maybe it was a mobo compatibility issue or a windows issue but I'm at a loss.

Honestly about ready to build a new PC tomorrow with the latest and greatest but I really wasn't planning on building a new PC. My specs are up to date so if someone has any input, I am all ears. I rarely have to seek advice on PC problems but this one has me baffled.

By the way, holy cow Cyberpunk runs awesome on this 3090!!! Looks awesome, runs awesome! What an improvement over the 1080 ti.

 

[Rei]

Have you tried using DDU in Windows Safe Mode?
Also are you using the driver provided by Zotac's website (which I assume is your GPU's brand) or from Nvidia's website? You should try Zotac's provided driver first as Nvidia recommends before using Nvidia's own "generic" driver.

 

[WhiteNoise]

I used DDU in safe mode yes and tried both the latest Nvidia driver and the one on Zotac's website. This is such a strange issue.

 

[xkm1948]

What is your psu?

 

[WhiteNoise]

Corsair HX1000i

 

[Rei]

I used DDU in safe mode yes and tried both the latest Nvidia driver and the one on Zotac's website. This is such a strange issue.

Did you use the standard Windows driver type or DCH Windows driver type? It seems like the one from Zotac's website is a DCH type & an older version at that as well as directly linking to Nvidia's website but should be the most compatible version. My assumption is that Nvidia's own newer version (460.79) of the driver is not yet compatible with your GPU so you should use the version (457.51) recommended by Zotac. If all else fails then I'm outta ideas. Sorry...

Corsair HX1000i

Well, clearly your PSU should be more than capable of handling you rig so no problem there.

 

[WhiteNoise]

The driver installed is DCH Windows driver. I am not sure if the Zotac driver is or not but I tried installing it multiple times but my PC keeps crashing during install.

 

[STSMiner]

You need to install the Standard Drivers and not the DCH drivers.
Removing the DCH drivers can be a pain in the butt...... they need to be purged from the system with DDU, you might need to remove the card from the system as well.
Make sure the PC is not connected to the internet when you install the drivers.

Get the Standard Driver from this link. (Do not install the Studio Drivers.)

Download The Latest Official NVIDIA Drivers

Download the latest official NVIDIA drivers to enhance your PC gaming experience and run apps faster.

www.nvidia.com

 

[Rei]

The driver installed is DCH Windows driver. I am not sure if the Zotac driver is or not but I tried installing it multiple times but my PC keeps crashing during install.

View attachment 179227

It isn't the one provided by Zotac. The one from Zotac is version 457.51 but the one you have as shown on your screenshot is version 460.79 which should be the latest. Does that mean that its already installed then? Try the standard driver type if it's not working.

 

[STSMiner]

The 460.79 drivers do work with the card, but they must be the Standard Drivers.

 

[jesdals]

Strange thing about driver issues it is often connected with users with Windows 10 Home - wonder if theres is something there

 

[WhiteNoise]

The 460.79 drivers do work with the card, but they must be the Standard Drivers.

I didn't know that. I just downloaded the standard windows driver and will attempt the install. brb

@STSMiner

You the man! I wasn't aware that nvidia had a new style of the driver in cahoots with Microsoft. I located the standard windows version, downloaded it, and tried installing, CRASHED again! Then I went into safe mode and used DDU, got back into windows after rebooting and before I could try to install the nvidia drivers again, Microsoft installed the latest DCH driver without my permission! Again rebooted into safe mode, used DDU, disabled web, rebooted, tried installing just the drivers (windows standard) and it worked!! All is well!

I can't thank you enough, I would not have thought nvidia had two types of drivers and that their standard DCH driver was not compatible. I owe you a beer!

I want to thank the rest of you as well. I appreciate the help!

 

[STSMiner]

I didn't know that. I just downloaded the standard windows driver and will attempt the install. brb

@STSMiner

You the man! I wasn't aware that nvidia had a new style of the driver in cahoots with Microsoft. I located the standard windows version, downloaded it, and tried installing, CRASHED again! Then I went into safe mode and used DDU, got back into windows after rebooting and before I could try to install the nvidia drivers again, Microsoft installed the latest DCH driver without my permission! Again rebooted into safe mode, used DDU, disabled web, rebooted, tried installing just the drivers (windows standard) and it worked!! All is well!

I can't thank you enough, I would not have thought nvidia had two types of drivers and that their standard DCH driver was not compatible. I owe you a beer!

I want to thank the rest of you as well. I appreciate the help!

@WhiteNoise

Your welcome !

 

[Rei]

@WhiteNoise

Your welcome !

@STSMiner Cheers to you mate....

@WhiteNoise I suppose the next time you update your driver, be sure to get the standard driver type from Nvidia's website. Most likely you won't need to use DDU or even uninstall your previous driver or even need to disconnect from the internet. Or you could use GeForce Experience to update your driver.

 

[suraswami]

How to download the standard windows version? On NVidia's driver download page I only see 2 options in the drop down - 'Game Ready' and 'Studio'.

 

[Rei]

How to download the standard windows version? On NVidia's driver download page I only see 2 options in the drop down - 'Game Ready' and 'Studio'.

On that page, click the "Beta and Older Drivers" instead. That page shows a more consistent & complete listing of drivers.
Here is the link to go to that page:

Download The Latest Official NVIDIA Drivers

Download the latest official NVIDIA drivers to enhance your PC gaming experience and run apps faster.

www.nvidia.com

 

[suraswami]

On that page, click the "Beta and Older Drivers" instead. That page shows a more consistent & complete listing of drivers.
Here is the link to go to that page:

Download The Latest Official NVIDIA Drivers

Download the latest official NVIDIA drivers to enhance your PC gaming experience and run apps faster.

www.nvidia.com

Thanks.

Which one to choose?

 

[Rei]

Thanks.

View attachment 179980

Which one to choose?

Obviously the top most one are the one to pick as they are the latest which you should use for a bug-free operation & optimized for the latest games. Also are you primarily doing gaming task or studio-esque production workload on your PC? Use the "Game Ready Driver" for the former & "Studio Driver" for the latter. While those two types of driver work fine interchangeably, each is better optimized for specific set of workload.

 

[LittleKingCurio]

I registered just to respond to this thread. I am desperate! "WhiteNoise" has the exact same problem with the DCH drivers I am having and reverting back to the standard drivers has resolved my issue as detailed in this very helpful post. However, Nvidia will not be releasing any more standard drivers and will only publish DCH from now on. My efforts are now trying to understand why all of the further Nvidia DCH driver releases of crash my system. The last stable driver Nvidia 472.12 and any later release causes the same issue.

I have done an enormous amount of troubleshooting and am still at a complete loss. I have two 3090s at this point, one EVGA and one Asus. I even sent the Asus off to RMA before I could establish it as a driver issue. Both exhibit the same behavior. I have updated the graphics cards firmware and the motherboard firmware. I have tried on a fresh install of Win10 and a fresh install of Win11 (as well as on old image backups). If I plugin to my motherboard HDMI, the system will boot and it will let me install any driver version I want, but the moment I switch the cord to my graphics card it will lock up and freeze upon boot. If I am plugged in to the graphics card and attempt to install the newer drivers it will lock up the same way during the driver installation.

At this point, I use DDU in safemode to remove the newer drivers and re-install back to 472.12 and it works. Asus, EVGA, and Nvidia have so far been unable to assist or provide me with any information. This obviously isn't happening to every 3090 user on the latest DCH drivers, so I am trying to understand what about my system is unable to install ANY version of Nvidia DCH drivers without complete card failure.

 

[thesmokingman]

That is weird. I've been on DCH drivers since the beginning w/o issues. I'm using a FE card.

 

[LittleKingCurio]

I just found the solution, moments after my previous posts.

For me, the holy grail answer was - You cannot install the DCH drivers over the top of the Standard drivers (although Nvidia documentation stated this was OK). You must use DDU to completely remove the Standard drivers in safemode, then after restart, the newest DCH drivers installed without issue.

I hope this helps anyone struggling with the same issue.

 

[WhiteNoise]

Yeah, I use DCH now and have been for a long time. I have never had an issue again since the original issue I had in this thread. I'm currently using the latest drivers and I am on Windows 11 too.

 

[agent_x007]

Short version :
1) Download driver You want (Standard up to 472.12 or latest DCH),
2) Disconnect internet,
3) Install new card,
4) Install driver You want/downloaded
5) Profit ?