G750JS Black Screen After nVidia Driver Install (Fresh Win10 Install)

[Fuzzy_Logic]

hey guys. first off, i want to apologize if this issue was resolved in another thread already. i searched, but i could not find anything. i am having an issue after getting the nvidia gtx870m driver installed / trying to install the driver on my laptop with a fresh windows 10 install.

in regular windows, if i try and install the driver using the software provided by asus or the latest driver provided by nvidia, during the install process.. my laptop will freeze and lock up (cursor does not move, ctrl+alt+del does not work). i have to hard reset my laptop to get back into windows.

i have tried going into device manager and clicking on "update driver". that is hit or miss. sometimes the nvidia driver will update and install, sometimes during the update process it will freeze just like when i try and use the driver software from asus / nvidia -- forcing me to hard reboot again.

if i do get the driver installed.. and i reset the computer, i see the asus rog splash logo... but right afterwards i get the dreaded black screen.

i have tried going into safe mode and installing the driver there. in safe mode i can install the driver using the software from nvidia or asus, no problem. it's just when i reboot, i get the dreaded black screen again.

every time my laptop black screens, i have to to a fresh install of windows 10 as i currently see no way out of the loop described above.

i do notice that with a fresh install of windows, i see that if i let windows natively find drivers on its own... eventually i will see "intel hd graphics 4xxx" under display adapters in device manager. i find this funny because i spoke to an asus tech about my issue yesterday and they said i do not have an integrated graphics card. i just have the gtx870m on it.

how do i go about resolving this issue and getting my laptop back up and running? i am tired for formatting it over and over again every time i get the black screen after installing the gtx870m drivers, be it from asus or nvidia.

[Dreamonic]

Your model supports Optimus, so you should be seeing the Intel Graphics HD 4600 in Device Manager as well as your 870M. Have you installed drivers for the Intel iGPU yet?

What system BIOS version are you using?

[Fuzzy_Logic]

Dreamonic wrote:
Your model supports Optimus, so you should be seeing the Intel Graphics HD 4600 in Device Manager as well as your 870M. Have you installed drivers for the Intel iGPU yet?

What system BIOS version are you using?

are you talking about the drivers for the intel graphics hd 4600? if so, i can install both the intel graphics hd driver and the nvidia driver, but as soon as i restart from installing the nvidia driver.. i get the black screen.

if i install the intel graphics hd driver by itself, no black screen. it's as soon as i install the nvidia drivers (whether it's from asus, nvidia, or through updating the driver via device manager) that i get the black screen.

i am currently on bios version 208.

[Dreamonic]

Yes, I was.

Okay, now to the other questions (order of process).

At what point did you notice this issue? Was it directly after a BIOS flash, hardware change even or simply when installing Windows 10?
When was everything working right is the question, and from then till now, when did it stop?

Let's get all of that out of the way first.

[Fuzzy_Logic]

Dreamonic wrote:
Yes, I was.

Okay, now to the other questions (order of process).

At what point did you notice this issue? Was it directly after a BIOS flash, hardware change even or simply when installing Windows 10?
When was everything working right is the question, and from then till now, when did it stop?

Let's get all of that out of the way first.

(first off, posting from my g750 so I can show you guys what I am seeing in device manager currently. i finished my current fresh install of windows 10 and just let windows natively find the drivers. i will post pics / links at the end of this post.)

also, thank you dreamonic and anyone else who may respond trying to help me resolve this issue.

to the questions:

At what point did you notice this issue?

this all started a year and a half ago. my g750js froze out of nowhere. at that time, i wasn't running windows 8.1 anymore (OS my laptop came with). i had upgraded to windows 10 using microsoft's download update. so my laptop was running windows 10 when it froze. i did a hard reboot and that was my first experience getting a black screen after the hard reboot. i did a fresh install of windows 10, but could not get past where i am today. after installing the NVidia driver, it would black screen. i was so frustrated witht he issue, i just put the laptop away and didn't bother with it.

Was it directly after a BIOS flash, hardware change even or simply when installing Windows 10?

my laptop just suddenly froze / locked up one night while i was using it and ever since then.. i couldn't install the NVidia drivers. if i did install the drivers, the laptop would just black screen after restarting. it would black screen when i had bios version 205, and is still black screening on bios version 208.

When was everything working right is the question, and from then till now, when did it stop?

it was working fine until that night when it froze / locked up. i did a hard reboot, black screen. fresh install of windows 10.. get up to the point where the NVidia drivers are installed, and black screen.

the most recent thing i did (which was yesterday) was upgrade the bios. everything i am doing right now is with bios version 208.

and as far as what my device manager looks like right now?











seeing as the NVidia drivers installed (windows installed them natively, i just let the laptop sit and did not install any drivers on my own) i know if i restart the laptop.. it will black screen.

[Dreamonic]

Thanks for the detailed information Fuzzy Logic.

When you mention "fresh" install of Windows 10, are you doing this through USB flash drive (clean) or from the Windows Reset method in the Recovery menu? I ask because this exact black screen issue is also present with some of the older G75 models and doing these installs from the upgraded Windows 10 (possibly corrupted packages) in exactly the same way (specific conditions met), basically right after upgrading to it.

Have you tried using an external monitor to see if you get display that way when the screen is black after POST? This was a step to combat one of the black screen issues that the G75 users had. You could try entering the BIOS even, disable Fast boot and enable Launch CSM instead and see if that allows you to boot properly into Windows after installing your display drivers. It very well could be another UEFI boot problem happening under specific conditions again.

I'm not saying it isn't a hardware related issue (it very well could be), but until you troubleshoot further (if you're willing) before throwing in the towel, there are some things to try as mentioned above. Otherwise, you can look online for another ASUS 870M and do a notebook disassembly and replace the MXM GPU easily (hopefully addressing the issue).

[Fuzzy_Logic]

happy to give any information i can. i am asking for help and the only way i can (hopefully) find a resolution is to give people the best answers i can to questions. that being said:

When you mention "fresh" install of Windows 10, are you doing this through USB flash drive (clean) or from the Windows Reset method in the Recovery menu? I ask because this exact black screen issue is also present with some of the older G75 models and doing these installs from the upgraded Windows 10 (possibly corrupted packages) in exactly the same way (specific conditions met), basically right after upgrading to it.

i used windows media creation tool to create a usb, which i am using to install windows 10. through the usb method, i can get the laptop back up and running in 5 mins after a black screen. from the recovery menu, it takes 30 some odd minutes. i usually delete all partitions every install so both my ssd and mechanical drive say "unallocated". i am installing windows on the ssd. the drives on the laptop are the factory 256ssd and 1tb hdd.

also i am on the non anniversary edition of windows 10 if that makes a difference. i still have to click "all apps" in the start menu to bring up my programs. i know in anniversary, the start menu goes straight to the apps.

Have you tried using an external monitor to see if you get display that way when the screen is black after POST?

have NOT tried external monitor. i have a tv and an hdmi cable. which i could test.

You could try entering the BIOS even, disable Fast boot and enable Launch CSM instead and see if that allows you to boot properly into Windows after installing your display drivers. It very well could be another UEFI boot problem happening under specific conditions again.

i have tried disabling fast boot, which did NOT solve the issue. how would i enable Launch CSM?

'm not saying it isn't a hardware related issue (it very well could be), but until you troubleshoot further (if you're willing) before throwing in the towel, there are some things to try as mentioned above. Otherwise, you can look online for another ASUS 870M and do a notebook disassembly and replace the MXM GPU easily (hopefully addressing the issue).

the whole laptop teardown is something i am NOT looking forward to. i would rather not if i could avoid it. lol! which is why i am hoping it's a software glitch or something i am doing incorrectly in my method. i see my nvidia card is being detected as windows is installing drivers for it on its own after a fresh install. it's just the restart after where i get the black screen.

[Fuzzy_Logic]

update:

external monitor / tv connected through hdmi: black screen like laptop

disabled fast boot / enabled csm: black screen still

😞

[Dreamonic]

Very well said, I agree.

If that's how you've been installing Windows, you're fine there. Cross that off the list.

I recommend testing external display then if you have a means to do so.
EDIT: So you did, and no change there either.

When you disable Fast boot, that setting Launch CSM should be available to enable. When disabling Fast boot in the BIOS and you Save & Exit, it sometimes re-enables again. Either way, if you've tried this and no changes were present, cross that off the list as well.
EDIT: Still nothing.



I understand the whole part about not wanting to do the disassembly, but you have to remember though, if it turns out to be a faulty GPU, you'll have to cross that road anyway.


A while back there was a member here who wanted to do a 780M GPU upgrade in a G75VW (which doesn't support it at all - physically even using the 780M heatsink assembly - lots of modifications involved). We went to great lengths getting it to boot and working by bridging the SOIC onboard the GPU, removing MXM header in VBIOS, inserting VBIOS as OROM - modifying various system BIOS modules to support it, flashing system BIOS countless times because I was doing things in such a way not to brick his notebook because he did not own an SPI programmer to recover. This very well limited the options in a "testing" phase. It was a process that we both were determined to execute successfully nonetheless. When it came time to install the drivers, we had tried two different Section# (supported driver packages) which one caused a black screen and the other not. These were in the display drivers nvami.inf file because the Subsystem IDs didn't match existing HW string IDs already present in that file since the GPU was unsupported by the model of notebook. I'm bringing this up because he believed the GPU may have been faulty at one point as after further testing ensued, it no longer was booting properly (black screen) indefinitely and that's as far as it went with it unfortunately; He could boot fine using the existing GPU when installed again. So his system still functioned just not with the 780M he purchased online.


So it goes with saying, hardware problems like the one above may not be apparent right away until further involvement. It just takes full awareness in the order of events before things happened to know when something is amiss.

[Fuzzy_Logic]

i feel like i already am doing tests on the gpu, which it's failing... but is there another way to test it to make sure? a program? tested my ssd, hdd, and ram to rule those out for failure. lol! i'm not opposed to opening up the laptop, just not looking forward to it. i watched videos of a g750 disassembly and was more or less long sigh. lol!

is there a tutorial or a video on replacing the graphics card specifically? i'm visual so it helps to see what i'm going to be doing before i go do it myself.

and as far as the topic of upgrading the gpu, would an 880m work on the g750js? and if it would, what if any benefit would i get from going from 870 => 880?