No video with Nvidia card

[shagdrum]

I’ve been having this issue for a while now. My PC will boot up through the BIOS screen (press Del for Bios…) and the POST test but, when running with a dedicated GPU, I will get no video when Windows is supposed to come up. If I remove the dedicated GPU and force it to run through the iGPU, things will work fine, but the dedicated GPU route is a no go. I cannot recall anything that preceded this that might have caused it (a driver update, or something).

After wiping/reinstalling the OS (Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 separately) to no effect, I suspected it was a GPU issue. Since the GPU was under warranty, I got it RMA’d. The issue persisted with the new card. I borrowed a friend’s card (an ATI card) and had the same issue. This time I thought it to be a motherboard issue (also under warranty). I called Asus and got the MoBo RMA’d. No change. If I force the bios to push the video through the PCIE slot, it still gets me the same thing (initial bios screen, maybe the Windows logo, then nothing), but, when pushed through the NVIDIA card, the resolution of the bios screen (and the UEFI interface) is MUCH lower (as in, not all of the interface is visible on the screen).

At this point I am at a loss. I have tried numerous drivers for the video card, updating the bios. Going to older bios. Tested the power supply and tried different power supplies. Tested the memory and tried different memory. Hooked up different monitors as well. I really can’t think of anything else it might be. Below is my set up.
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge
GPU: Nvidia 660 TI
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB
Storage: Samsung 512GB 830 series SSD

Thanks in advance for any input

 

[Elixer]

What is the BIOS set for, for video options?

 

[happy medium]

turn off the IGP in the bios , try gtx660

 

[shagdrum]

I currently have it set to PCIE. I have tried every valid option on there (iGPU, AUTO) with the same result; no video once Windows loads.

 

[happy medium]

check your drive for errors?

boot into safe mode with your card installed, install drivers for card.
restart computer.

 

[shagdrum]

Is there a program to check SSD's? I have tried it with a mechanical hard drive with the same issue. S.M.A.R.T data on the SSD doesn't show any errors. I forced using the igpu in bios to get the latest drivers installed for both the GPU and the iGPU. Both check out fine in device manager and I have tried deactivating the iGPU in device manager with no improvement. Since there is a GPU on the CPU, could the switching mechanism (software, trigger, whatever) be bad? In other words, could the CPU be causing the error? That is about the only piece of hardware that I have not, in some manner, substituted.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm well-known around here for asking stupid questions.

Did you plug the monitor into the dGPU output port, or did you plug it into the motherboard "iGPU" port?

Also, another question, also seemingly stupid. You're using the 660 Ti NVidia card. Which output port did you use to connect the monitor? I say this -- not knowing whether the 660 Ti had a "Display-Port" output. But on earlier cards including the 780 GTX/Ti etc., you couldn't use DP for a boot monitor because the card likely will only use DVI or HDMI.

I think it useful to pose these stupid questions, since you'd RMA'd the GPU and the motherboard. And these sorts of things that I mentioned -- in addition to the BIOS setting which has already been mentioned -- can cause panic initially. And even looking through your post, although I notice some things that depart from symptoms of these possibilities, I have to ask those questions.

 

[shagdrum]

I have insured the DVI cable is plugged into the correct output port for what I am trying to do (I can get signal when I force it through the iGPU, but nothing when going through the dGPU). I have not used any display port on the GPU; only the DVI port and the HDMI for my second monitor (HDTV). Right now, the monitor is connected to the upper DVI port on the dGPU, with no video coming out.