In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

But you wouldn't expect the built in Intel graphics to be incompatible with the CPU.

Those Intel drivers are likely to be very old and we don't know how well they play with newer Windows updates. I'm curious as to the age of the PC, in my case the CPU had no integrated graphics.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Those Intel drivers are likely to be very old and we don't know how well they play with newer Windows updates. I'm curious as to the age of the PC, in my case the CPU had no integrated graphics.

Opening post says "old Dual Pentium", its likely to be an entry level Core2 assembly with low cache, sold as the 'Pentium Dual-Core' brand. Maybe the old GMA950 or similar from around 2004, perhaps 10 years old? My old 4th Gen i7 has low spec integrated graphics, they were auto disabled when i added a PCIe card.

I'm sure the latest driver Intel made would have been installed by Windows Update by now.

Given this mcahine has a graphics card, why not disable integrated graphics in BIOS?

In reply to a post by jchamier:

I'm sure the latest driver Intel made would have been installed by Windows Update by now.

Latest? Sure. New? Well, we haven't seen new 4th gen CPU gfx drivers from Intel since 2015, and my guess is the CPU is a lot older than that.

In my case the Core2 Quad CPU was almost certainly the issue, but why exactly it conflicted with my nVidia GPU or GPU drivers remains a mystery.

The CPU is an Intel Dual Core E2180 2Ghz. I think the machine is 2012 build but I changed to discrete card because the Onboard graphics were doing the same thing. 64 bit of Win 10 doesn't do it but no printer drivers.

In reply to a post by Banger:

The CPU is an Intel Dual Core E2180 2Ghz. I think the machine is 2012 build but I changed to discrete card because the Onboard graphics were doing the same thing. 64 bit of Win 10 doesn't do it but no printer drivers.

Very nice, a 2007 CPU, even older than mine was! Intel builds them to last. Probably some conflict/bug with newer Windows updates and/or graphics drivers as mine was, although I never managed to fix it.

The Nvidia driver is from 2017 so it could be that. It could be 2008 build so even older, not sure. I have a Core 2 Duo from a machine with knackered Corsair PSU, think the Foxconn 946 7MA board will take. Dunno if it will solve my problem though.

In reply to a post by Banger:

The Nvidia driver is from 2017 so it could be that.

Yes, definitely try updating that driver.

Interestingly, Nvidia stopped bug fixing drivers for Kepler series cards (GT 710, GT 730, etc) in October 2021, only fixing security issues since then. Despite this, they are still widely available for sale (unused).

Latest I can find is from 2018 for 32 bit so it seems they stopped updating sooner than thought. I seem to remember a black screen problem with win 10 but memory fails me and doesn't look like it was fixed as I am running 22H2 the latest version. One fix was to press CTRL+SHIFT+WIN+B to restart the graphic driver. I think there was a registry fix too which reduced or increased the timing of something to do with graphics response but again memory fails.

In reply to a post by Banger:

I think there was a registry fix too which reduced or increased the timing of something to do with graphics response but again memory fails.

Rings a bell, something to do with increasing the timeout before Windows considers the driver stalled and restarts it. Didn't seem to help in my case.

Ah yes that was it, MS decreased the time limit which brought many a black screen on update. I shall research this a bit more. Chances of MS fixing anything before 2025 are slim.