RTX 3050 causes black screen as soon as NVIDIA driver installs – HDMI works with Microsoft Basic Display Adapter
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to diagnose a very strange issue with my RTX 3050 and would really appreciate some help.
My PC specs
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8GB
Motherboard: MSI PRO H610M-E
RAM: 16GB DDR4 (2×8GB, 3200MHz)
Storage: NVMe SSD
PSU: 660W
OS: Windows 11
The problem
My RTX 3050 is physically installed and connected to my monitor through the HDMI port on the RTX 3050 itself.
The PC displays video normally when Windows is using the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter.
The problem starts specifically when I install the NVIDIA graphics driver.
As soon as the NVIDIA driver installation reaches the point where the display driver is installed/activated, the screen goes completely black.
The PC doesn’t immediately appear to shut down. The black screen occurs right around the time Windows switches from the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter to the NVIDIA driver.
What I’ve already observed
In Device Manager, before installing the NVIDIA driver:
Display adapters → Microsoft Basic Display Adapter
So Windows does detect/use the GPU enough to provide display output.
But when I install the NVIDIA driver:
→ screen goes black
I’ve tried waiting after the black screen, but the display doesn’t return normally.
There was also a Windows Update issue
Recently, I started a Windows Update. Almost immediately after the update started, the screen went black. I waited, but the system didn’t recover, so I eventually powered the PC off.
After that, Windows started giving:
CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED
I went through Windows Recovery Environment and tried several recovery options.
Things I checked/tried:
SFC found corrupted files and reported that it successfully repaired them.
CHKDSK /f completed and reported no filesystem problems.
Offline SFC later failed with “Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.”
DISM from WinRE repeatedly returned Error 2 / system cannot find the file specified.
RevertPendingActions also failed.
Uninstall Latest Quality Update failed.
Uninstall Latest Feature Update failed.
System Restore found a restore point from before the Windows Update, but the restore failed with 0x80070002, apparently while restoring the registry.
Safe Mode also resulted in CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED.
Because the Windows installation became badly corrupted after the interrupted update, I’m now planning to do a completely fresh Windows 11 installation.
My main concern
I’m not sure whether the original Windows corruption caused the NVIDIA driver installation to crash/black-screen, or whether there is an underlying GPU/PCIe/driver problem.
The interesting thing is that:
RTX 3050 HDMI output works with Microsoft Basic Display Adapter → NVIDIA driver installation → immediate black screen.
The GPU isn’t completely dead because it can produce video output.
I also use an i5-12400F, so there is no integrated GPU to fall back to.
What I want to know
Does this behavior point toward a faulty RTX 3050?
Could a bad/incorrect NVIDIA driver cause a complete black screen exactly when the driver initializes?
Could the PCIe slot or PSU cause this even though the GPU gives display output?
Is there a particular NVIDIA driver version I should try first?
After a clean Windows 11 installation, should I install the NVIDIA driver before Windows Update?
Is there a way to test whether the GPU is actually being detected correctly at the PCIe/BIOS level?
Could this be a hardware acceleration/display mode issue rather than a dead GPU?
Any troubleshooting suggestions would be appreciated. I’d especially like to know what I should test immediately after the clean Windows installation before installing the NVIDIA driver, so I can determine whether this is a Windows problem or a GPU/driver/hardware problem.
Thanks.