Weird issue with NVIDIA GeForce drivers...

Zackomana · April 23, 2023

Hello everyone, I have had a really weird issue with NVIDIA GeForce drivers for a few years now and I cannot figure it out for the life of me.

First and foremost, the issue. Every time I try to update my GPU drivers (via GeForce Experience, game ready drivers without GeForce experience, etc.,) it will get stuck at around 1/3 through the process, stops, and fails to install graphics drivers. I have tried every single iteration of installation including DDU in safe mode, not in safe mode, clean installation instead, express installation, disconnecting from my local network, yet nothing seems to work. This has been happening on the same Windows 10 legacy installation (don't ask, I haven't found the time to switch to UEFI lol) since about 2016 with a GTX 1070, 1070 Ti, RTX 3070, and an RTX 3070 Ti. But I have found one method that works every single time without failure.

To give myself a little bit of credibility, I am a system technician at a local computer warehouse (specializing in Windows software and GPU testing/repair) and I am very good at solving issues like this at work. I am currently running an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 3600MHz, an MSI MPG Gaming Carbon Pro WIFI, an EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming, and my BOOT drive is a Samsung 850 Evo 256GB.

The only fix or way around this strange issue is to download the GPU drivers from the NVIDIA website WITHOUT GeForce experience, restarting my system in safe mode without networking, just plain safe mode, and installing them. This does NOT work when I am in safe mode with networking. I have absolutely no clue why this happens. The only thing that I could find online was the fact that RTX 3000 series technically isn't compatible with Windows legacy but that doesn't explain the fact that I was having the exact same issue with GTX 1000 series, which has no compatibility issues with a legacy Windows installation. Obviously the only thing that I haven't tried is to install drivers on a fresh installation of Windows but I am lazy and haven't found the time to transfer my important data to another drive.

I am only asking if anyone can explain what is happening or if anyone has ever experienced something similar to my issue. This is one of the only driver issues that I haven't figured out for YEARS and it is driving me absolutely nuts!

Crunchy Dragon · April 23, 2023

27 minutes ago, Zackomana said:

Windows 10 legacy installation

I'm honestly genuinely curious to know if this is your issue.

It sounds counterintuitive, but I really want to know. I've ran Windows 10 with a GTX 780, Radeon HD 5450, Quadro K620, Radeon HD 6950, Radeon RX 570, GTX 1070, GTX 2070 Super, and I've never had any issues with installing any graphics card drivers ever, in or out of Safe Mode. Many of these were done with the same Windows install, and I've never had a Windows 10 legacy installation.

Zackomana · May 27, 2023

On 4/22/2023 at 9:17 PM, Crunchy Dragon said:

I'm honestly genuinely curious to know if this is your issue.

It sounds counterintuitive, but I really want to know. I've ran Windows 10 with a GTX 780, Radeon HD 5450, Quadro K620, Radeon HD 6950, Radeon RX 570, GTX 1070, GTX 2070 Super, and I've never had any issues with installing any graphics card drivers ever, in or out of Safe Mode. Many of these were done with the same Windows install, and I've never had a Windows 10 legacy installation.

I am convinced at this point that it is because of CSM/no secure boot. I have heard that PCIe 4.0 devices struggle with legacy installations (compatibility wise) but that still does not explain why I was having the same issue with a 1080 Ti... While installing drivers, a task called "driver installation module" eats up about 30% CPU usage but no disk or network usage. If I end the task, the NVIDIA driver installation fails instantly but it will fail anyways. I have scanned my windows files a few times in CMD and repaired any missing files, I am up to date on Windows updates, and I don't have any malware... Strange stuff for sure, maybe it's time to upgrade to Windows 11.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Zackomana