Stuck on Windows 11 install

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Philip.ladd156302d8

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I am building a PC with:

AMD Ryzen 5 7500F
MSI B650-A PRO WIFI Tomahawk board
32 Gb Flare DDR5 6000 RAM
WD SN7100 Nvme 2Tb storage
ASUS Dual Force RTX 4070 12 Gb
SN7100 Nvme 2Tb storage
ASUS Dual Force RTX 4070 12 Gb

In a Corsair 400D case with Arctic LF iii 240 cooling and a Corsair RM850e power supply

All new parts except GPU 1 year old.

System starts and in BIOS screen I can see everything in place with no overheating. BIOS updated to latest version and speed kept at 4800 for now.

Windows installation USB created on separate machine. Installation completes but on restart I am in an interminable loop of frozen screen post MSI logo screen or only being able to start Windows in safe mode. No amount of tweaking advice from Gemini is helping, which suspects an issue with the Nvidia driver. I have downloaded the latest version and installed that after having installed the MSI chipset.

Trying to nail down the problem. Next steps, reset BIOS to defaults then create new W11 USB and reinstall. I could swop some components as a last resort.

Any better ideas or experience
 
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Well, for troubleshooting, there's two main ways: Leave out parts to rule them out, for example trying with just one RAM module in slot A2. The GPU you can't leave out, since you have a CPU ending in -F (always bad for troubleshooting). And the other things you need as well. So then the second way would be to replace a part with a different known-good borrowed one, this could be done with the GPU for example.

Apart from that, there are some basic things, like making sure there is no overheating issue (checking the CPU temperature in the BIOS after a couple minutes, but apparently you did this already), that there are no bent socket pins, or running a quick basic stability test using Memtest86 Free. Prepare a USB stick with Memtest86 (on another PC) and boot from it by pressing F11 for the boot menu (press it a couple times right after turning on or rebooting the new system). There will be two partitions on the USB stick, so it will have two entries in the F11 boot menu, one of them (with modern systems, usually the lower one) will boot Memtest86. Two passes without errors is usually sufficient, and the row hammer tests at the end, which take a long time, can be skipped.

Also, try unplugging all unnecessary USB cables, internal (front panel etc.) and external, apart from keyboard and mouse.

To create the Win11 installer, only use the latest Media Creation Tool for Windows 11. Freshly prepare a USB drive with it and then boot from it by pressing F11 for the boot menu after turning on the PC, and select the USB drive there.
 
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Thanks for the advice. I'm embarased to say that the issue seems to have been resolved by removing the RTX4070 card and re-seating it. It must not have been fully engaged to start with. This was advice I got early in life - check the basics or the obvious before delving into the esoteric. A timely reminder.
 
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Hey, these things happen to the best of us. Good on you for admitting the slight oversight. On the right end of the PCIe slot, there's a latch that has to engage (where you also push onto in order to remove the card later). So during installation, that's what I usually focus on, seeing that latch engage, and then on the other side, just screw in a screw or two.

Anyway, pretty decent system you got there. What did the RAM cost you?
 
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Yeah, most RAM kits have gone up by 300-400% since October '25. Prices sometimes increased notably from one day to the next. So no wonder any estimations were quickly surpassed by reality. Your price actually isn't even that bad, by now it should be higher.

And the irony is, the very thing you were consulting, the AI assistant, is the main reason for the price increases in a way. They are building AI data centers everywhere, which require tons of memory of all sorts, but especially RAM. And those AI companies will pay any price for RAM, in fact, they basically bought up most of the production for '26 in advance. The market doesn't regulate itself with supply vs. demand anymore (rising prices leading to lower demand), because the demand is kept artificially high (no pun intended). So the prices just climb sky-high.
 
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I spoke too soon. All seemed good but after a couple of days the system froze again on the log in page. Long story short - ended up reinstalling to a clean system once more, without chipset or nvidia drivers. This time I created restore points after each change, basic level, then windows update, then drivers from AMD rather than MSI (installing MSI Centre froze the system previously), then on to Nvidia. Downloaded and installed only the video driver, following which the system froze again at the log in screen. So the GPU is providing a signal to the monitor but as soon as it accelerates into high power mode the system freezes at the log in page. The system will work with just the microsoft basic display driver but then I wonder why I bought the RTX 4070. Does this resonate with anyone - if so have you resolved the seemingly difficult interaction between the nvidia driver and windows 11.
 
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The driver just provides the proper interface between GPU and Windows, meaning, if Windows freezes once the proper driver is loaded, it's merely a symptom, but it shouldn't be the cause. The cause is more likely to be something low-level regarding the GPU, or its interaction with the board.

Double-check the PCIe power cable on both sides, PSU and GPU. Try setting PCI_E1 slot to PCIe 3.0 aka Gen3 (in PCIe Gen Switch), should be under Settings > Advanced > PCIe Subsystem Settings.
 
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There are various utilities available for thoroughly cleaning your system of previous drivers. Examples include Display Driver Uninstaller and NVCleanstall. For AMD are AMD Cleanup Utility and Display Driver Uninstaller too. However, these are not "toys" for someone who doesn't understand them very well...
In any case, the correct procedure is to disconnect the computer from the network/internet and uninstall the graphics card drivers (via Control Panel) and restart it. Then install the drivers you need (which you downloaded earlier from the card/graphics chip manufacturer) and only then can you reconnect your PC to the internet. Otherwise, some generic drivers from Microsoft might be automatically downloaded/installed...
 
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Jarous1 said:
Display Driver Uninstaller and NVCleanstall
Click to expand...

Sorry to nitpick: DDU yes, NVCleanstall no, the latter is just a method of clean(er) installation where you can choose to leave things out. 😉

And the DDU would be most useful if there's remnants of old drivers on the system. But if he did a fresh install of Windows and this happens directly after the first installation of any NVIDIA drivers on the system, then it should be more likely some lower-level issue, not a driver bug. For example, if limiting the first PCIe slot to PCIe 3.0 would help, it already can't really be the driver's fault alone anymore.
 
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Feel free to correct me ;-) I don't always know everything, and I don't always know how to describe things correctly to others. So I really did put nvCleanstall here by mistake...
But the problem is really mysterious...
 
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Thanks both for your suggestions - DDU I had tried and it worked but needed to be in Windows to action - running with MS Basic display driver did work but then I wonder why I have the RTX 4070 GPU - at the moment the system wont recover (Windows reinstall) beyond 57% which is where the drivers get loaded - trying an older generation card tomorrow - will report back
 
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Absolutely - wish I'd known that before I bought it - I will try to return or resell - not just an issue with MSI boards then? My current challenge is that even re-installation of windows is running into problems. I might need to reformat the drives and lose my .old installation to move ahead. Thanks for the clarification.
 
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That driver is only out since yesterday and has been pulled (revoked) the same day. Most reports are about fans not working properly under load. I doubt that this has much to do with the issues in this thread. I mean, this thread was created February 9, so it can hardly be about this latest driver from yesterday?

Also, I wouldn't advise to sell anything, or format with losing data at this point. When troubleshooting, keep a cool head and don't do any rash decisions. You need to narrow down the cause to something before taking action. But you did say you did a clean install the other day, didn't you already have to basically format a drive for that?

You said you are able to test with another card in this system, let's wait for the outcome of that. If it works fine all of a sudden, then it would be good to also test this 4070 graphics card in a different system.
 
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An update that might help others. I got the test card and installed in PCIe1 and nothing - moved to PCIe2 and all good. Removed test card and re-installed GEOForce RTX 4070 in PCIe2 - all good - windows recovered. Moved RTX 4070 to PCIe1 and nothing. Lesson learnt that the main PCIe slot was faulty under load. Returned AMD B650 board for replacement which arrived following day. Reassembled with RTX in PCIe1 and all good immediately. So I spent a lot of time on potential esoteric issues to finally discover that the board was faulty.
 
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That's unusual, you don't see such a fault very often. But for troubleshooting, you have to start somewhere, and work your way through methodically. Often it's wise to try low-effort and no-cost things first. With hindsight, there's always gonna be several steps that are done in vain, but don't be frustrated about it, it's a normal part of the process. Solving something with the first or second step already is not very common, unless it's obvious what the cause is.
 
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