windows reinstall problems

[norseamd]

So I had some major errors on my computer, and I ended up reinstalling Windows 7. Unfortunately, I had upgraded to Windows 10. Now my Windows update doesnt work, and my browsers cant fully show certain sites like Microsoft. Some of the Microsoft website is shown by Internet Explorer 8, but it doesnt seem to be able to download anything, so it is not doing me any good. Firefox does not seem to be able to truly show the Microsoft site other than lots of text and misplaced images, and there is no download button, so that gets me stuck in the same place as Internet Explorer 8.

I would like to be able to download the Windows 10 ISO, so I can upgrade or reinstall.

 

[Elixer]

Just download the ISO, do a clean install, and it should automatically activate.

 

[Ketchup]

After a year on a Windows 10 upgrade, I did a fresh install a few weeks ago using the latest build off the media creation tool. One of the easiest installs to a fully functional system (not counting VMs). Definitely worth a shot.

 

[norseamd]

Ok, when I managed to install Windows 10, but due to a thunderstorm I shut it down as soon as it was done installing. The next morning I started it back up, and after a few minutes after Windows loaded up, the whole screen went black, even when the computer was still running. That happened again when I restarted, even before I had time to try to install any graphics drivers, and eventually the screen would go black before Windows could even load, thus preventing me from doing anything. I reloaded Windows 7, which seems to work, and the same thing happened when I installed the drivers from my GPU driver CD. I had actually tried to install the latest Catalyst drivers released by AMD, but it would only install a few programs like profiles, and would not install the actual GPU drivers for some reason. Anyways, I may have or have had a boot or BIOS virus, I dont know, but I formatted my SSD on another computer, cleared the BIOS by taking out the CMOS battery overnight, and then I just reinstalled Windows 7 this morning. Right now I am looking to install the chipset drivers that I downloaded from the Asus website, for the Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0, but there are at least 2 different install programs under the Windows 7 folder, AsusSetup and Setup.

 

[Ketchup]

I hope things get better, but it sounds like your video card may be dying. Windows 10 probably had video drivers from the get-go, which is why you didn't run into the issues with the Windows 7 install until after you started installing the Catalyst drivers manually.

 

[norseamd]

I hope things get better, but it sounds like your video card may be dying. Windows 10 probably had video drivers from the get-go, which is why you didn't run into the issues with the Windows 7 install until after you started installing the Catalyst drivers manually.

Ive been wondering that. Before all this, when I was using my computer, I would eventually have computer crashes where my entire screen would seize up in a mess of black, white, and/or colors, and it would make that most ungodly horrendous noise that I am sure you know what I am talking about. It would occasionally do it while I was surfing the internet, but it usually did it while I was playing games, and these werent that intensive of games, just Insurgency or Red Orchestra 2, neither of which is that demanding of hardware. Occasionally I would get screen flicker as well.

So why is it working with Windows 7 and no video drivers?

 

[Ketchup]

Base Windows 7 doesn't know how to use the majority of your video card. It has a very basic driver that can get a 2d pic on the screen.

 

[norseamd]

Base Windows 7 doesn't know how to use the majority of your video card. It has a very basic driver that can get a 2d pic on the screen.

I see. There is another computer in this house that is having very similar problems, including the black screens from Windows 10 or Windows 7 with video drivers, and the ability to operate on Windows 7 with no drivers.

It seems there may be other people having these same exact problems going off what seems to come up in searches online.

https://www.google.com/search?q=win...m6bPAhUEMz4KHYv0AgQQ1QIIYCgB&biw=1920&bih=946

https://www.google.com/search?q=win...&bih=946#q=windows+10+amd+driver+black+screen

Do you know which setup file I should run to install my chipset drivers?

 

[Ketchup]

Yeah, the key is Windows 7 and Windows 10. Not some odd Windows 10 bug. If you installed the same drivers you have before for 7 (I don't know how old you card is, but you may be able to go back a few years), and you are still crashing or losing your screen, you might either have a card fan going bad and overheating, or the card itself is failing.

 

[norseamd]

Yeah, the key is Windows 7 and Windows 10. Not some odd Windows 10 bug. If you installed the same drivers you have before for 7 (I don't know how old you card is, but you may be able to go back a few years), and you are still crashing or losing your screen, you might either have a card fan going bad and overheating, or the card itself is failing.

Actually, the drivers that I installed on Windows 7 that caused the screen to go black were the original drivers that came with the GPU on the CD that came with it, and they are from as far back as at least January 2014.

The drivers that I downloaded from the AMD website didnt actually install any GPU drivers, probably because my computer was not able to recognize the GPU, I am guessing because there was no chipset driver.

I am looking to install the chipset driver right now, but I dont want to make a mistake and start all over again.

 

[lehtv]

It does sound like the graphics card is failing, given that you were having problems with it even before the reinstall.

I would probably try to reinstall Windows 10 once more, this time with all the needed driver installers waiting on a USB drive.

Do you know which setup file I should run to install my chipset drivers?

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A99FX_PRO_R20/HelpDesk_Download/

Can't see any chipset drivers listed. Maybe it doesn't need any? I don't really know about AMD socket boards.

Anyway, have LAN drivers, audio drivers and GPU drivers ready. Download the newest versions of those from the website above and GPU drivers from AMD/NVIDIA. Install those as soon as you get into Windows. If it doesn't work, try a new video card.

eventually the screen would go black before Windows could even load, thus preventing me from doing anything.

This exact issue happened to me when I bought a new video card (R9 390). I could get to WIndows but as soon as I installed AMD's drivers and rebooted, the screen would turn black and the OS wouldn't even load. I managed to get into safe mode, removed the AMD drivers with DDU, started Windows normally again and it would work - but then the same issue would repeat if I installed the drivers.

I returned the card, got a new card which then worked fine. So althought it seemed like a driver issue, it was really a hardware issue.

 

[norseamd]

It does sound like the graphics card is failing, given that you were having problems with it even before the reinstall.

I would probably try to reinstall Windows 10 once more, this time with all the needed driver installers waiting on a USB drive.

I have them all downloaded right now, although I would need to put them on a USB drive.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A99FX_PRO_R20/HelpDesk_Download/

Can't see any chipset drivers listed. Maybe it doesn't need any? I don't really know about AMD socket boards.

Anyway, have LAN drivers, audio drivers and GPU drivers ready. Download the newest versions of those from the website above and GPU drivers from AMD/NVIDIA. Install those as soon as you get into Windows. If it doesn't work, try a new video card.

They are under the Windows 7 64-bit option. No idea why Windows 10 does not seem to have any, maybe Windows 10 has chipset support natively written in or something.

This exact issue happened to me when I bought a new video card (R9 390). I could get to WIndows but as soon as I installed AMD's drivers and rebooted, the screen would turn black and the OS wouldn't even load. I managed to get into safe mode, removed the AMD drivers with DDU, started Windows normally again and it would work - but then the same issue would repeat if I installed the drivers.

I returned the card, got a new card which then worked fine. So althought it seemed like a driver issue, it was really a hardware issue.

Interesting. I had originally thought it was a bad video card, but the fact that I could get Windows 7 to work and otherwise it was giving me black screens made me think it was probably a software issue.

I was hoping to be able to hold off until Vega 11, but looks like I might have to buy a 480 instead. Do you know anything about the current lineup of AMD 480s, and which brands might be good ones to buy? Reliability and durability are key concerns of mine, and something that doesnt run hot is also something that I would like in any video card I buy. Right now I am looking at the Sapphire Nitro + 1342 MHz edition.

 

[lehtv]

I was hoping to be able to hold off until Vega 11, but looks like I might have to buy a 480 instead. Do you know anything about the current lineup of AMD 480s, and which brands might be good ones to buy? Reliability and durability are key concerns of mine, and something that doesnt run hot is also something that I would like in any video card I buy. Right now I am looking at the Sapphire Nitro + 1342 MHz edition.

MSI Gaming X is excellent, runs very quiet and cool. And it's definitely durable with double ball bearing fans. But you do have to pay a slight premium over Sapphire or XFX.

 

[norseamd]

MSI Gaming X is excellent, runs very quiet and cool. And it's definitely durable with double ball bearing fans. But you do have to pay a slight premium over Sapphire or XFX.

What would be the speed difference between the MSI 480 Gaming X and the Sapphire 480 Nitro+ 1342 MHz edition?

 

[lehtv]

What would be the speed difference between the MSI 480 Gaming X and the Sapphire 480 Nitro+ 1342 MHz edition?

Practically no difference.

EDIT: I have to say though, you might be running straight into a CPU bottleneck here. If you have an FX-8000 that's heavily overclocked, you'll probably be fine.

 

[norseamd]

Practically no difference.

EDIT: I have to say though, you might be running straight into a CPU bottleneck here. If you have an FX-8000 that's heavily overclocked, you'll probably be fine.

Are Seasonic PSUs just as reliable as before? Looking at some reviews on Newegg it seems there are at least a few very unhappy customers. Especially when it comes to dealing with the customer support of Seasonic, or dealing with replacement PSUs that get sent out.

 

[lehtv]

Yes, I don't see why they wouldn't be as reliable as before.

 

[norseamd]

Yes, I don't see why they wouldn't be as reliable as before.

Alright. I am also looking at possibly getting an SSD since I have usually been out of space on the SSD I have now. I definately have been more than satisfied with my Sandisk Ultra Plus, however like you and mfenn had mentioned originally back in 2014 when I was building this computer, I probably should have thought about getting a 256 GB SSD instead of a 128 GB SSD.

So naturally the first option I have been thinking about getting is the 512 GB Samsung 850 Pro.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147361

But I am also looking at the 1 TB Mushkin Enhanced Reactor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226596

Naturally, the Samsung is the safer and probably better performing option, but the Mushkin obviously has twice the space. But I dont know that much about Mushkin. Also, I care more about sustained performance than peak performance.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/04/21/cheap-ssd-hardware/

 

[lehtv]

So naturally the first option I have been thinking about getting is the 512 GB Samsung 850 Pro.

You're not really going to notice any difference between Samsung 850 Pro and less expensive 500GB drives, even TLC based ones. I would probably buy the MX300 525GB for $120, it's just really good price/GB and sufficiently fast that performance-wise it's on par or slightly better compared to your current SSD.

1TB SSD's make sense mainly if you want to avoid using any mechanical drives but still want the space to store all sorts of bigger files, photo libraries etc. and not just programs & games.

 

[norseamd]

You're not really going to notice any difference between Samsung 850 Pro and less expensive 500GB drives, even TLC based ones. I would probably buy the MX300 525GB for $120, it's just really good price/GB and sufficiently fast that performance-wise it's on par or slightly better compared to your current SSD.

1TB SSD's make sense mainly if you want to avoid using any mechanical drives but still want the space to store all sorts of bigger files, photo libraries etc. and not just programs & games.

I am willing to consider cheaper SSDs, although not the TLC ones, more due to the reliability and lifespan concerns. Reliability and lifespan are also some of the primary reasons I have been thinking about getting the Samsung Pro. Does Sandisk have any MLC drives cheaper than the Extreme Pro? If they still made the Ultra Plus I might be considering that, but I dont think they do. How good are the OCZ/Toshiba or the Corsair drives right now?

 

[Ketchup]

That Crucial would be really hard to beat. Great price, good performer, good name.

 

[lehtv]

I am willing to consider cheaper SSDs, although not the TLC ones, more due to the reliability and lifespan concerns. Reliability and lifespan are also some of the primary reasons I have been thinking about getting the Samsung Pro. Does Sandisk have any MLC drives cheaper than the Extreme Pro? If they still made the Ultra Plus I might be considering that, but I dont think they do. How good are the OCZ/Toshiba or the Corsair drives right now?

Where do these concerns come from, exactly?

The only reliability issues I've heard of concerning TLC was with 840 EVO slowing down considerably, but that was fixed with firmware updates and it was years ago. There may well be others I haven't heard of. But it doesn't matter, there are many examples of reliability issues with MLC drives as well. Reliability has more to do with the actual controller and firmware rather than the NAND itself, and I think SSD's have been out and about for such a long time already that I don't think there's any real risk in being an "early adopter" of a newly released drive.

As for lifespan, typical home users need not be concerned at all. The expected write endurance of Samsung 850 EVO 500GB, for instance, is 150 TB. During the 10,000 power-on hours (over 400 days) of my 850 EVO, I've only written about 7 TB on it, and it's been in pretty active use with the OS, all programs and all games installed on it. I expect it to last another 20 years or more.

Here's a good illustrative graph of the endurance differences between typical TLC, typical MLC and high end MLC drives. I've put an indicator arrow to where I'm at after 10,000 hours of daily use:



Life expectancy with 500GB capacity is much better still, and the 840 EVO in the graph does not use 3D NAND, unlike 850 EVO and MX300.

Does Sandisk have any MLC drives cheaper than the Extreme Pro?

Ultra II is MLC, and SSD Plus is MLC or TLC depending on model. Both are pretty good buys.

How good are the OCZ/Toshiba or the Corsair drives right now?

Probably decent quality, OK performance but not necessarily the best value for money. I don't know anything specific about them, I suggest reading Anandtech's or TechReport's reviews for specific info.

 

[norseamd]

Where do these concerns come from, exactly?

Pretty much from what I heard about the EVO, although I certainly dont keep up on all the details.

 

[norseamd]

According to this article the Samsung TLC drives have decent performance, but other TLC drives tend to have bad sustained write performance.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2998...ng-problem-storage-makers-dont-advertise.html

 

[lehtv]

Sure, TLC has its drawbacks. Sustained write doesn't seem like an important thing though. Random is more important than sustained since it reflects real world scenarios better. And read performance is more important than write performance. The benefit of having an SSD in the first place is mostly about vastly improved loading times, which consists of reading from disk into memory.