Nvidia is investigating RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 instability issues

Many users reported stability issues with the newly released GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 graphics cards. At the time, users could not determine the cause of the black screen and GPU initialization issues after installing the latest driver, fearing the problem was permanent. Nvidia acknowledged this issue, started collecting feedback, and began investigating.

An Nvidia representative told PC Gamer, "We are investigating the reported issues with the RTX 50 series. "

As a quick recap, the issue happens when users upgrade to Nvidia's newly released GeForce Game Ready 572.16 WHQL driver. There are some stopgap solutions to fix the problem. Some users got their RTX 5080 graphics cards to work by limiting the interface to PCIe 2.0, while some lowered the monitor refresh rate to 60Hz or switched to a single display with the Windows 11 23H2 build. One user reportedly used a third-party Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) utility to remove all traces of the GeForce driver before reinstalling with the GPU limited to PCIe 4.0 in the motherboard BIOS.

Being an early adopter has its adventures, and the newly released Blackwell series is no exception. The number of users who experienced the black screen issue extended to Youtubers who reported on this matter. Judging by the number of problems and stopgap solutions, the issue is likely related to the latest driver. Interestingly, some RTX 40-series (Ada Lovelace) GPU users reported the same issue involving the GeForce Game Ready 572.16 WHQL driver.

A hotfix and explanation will likely be released, but for now, using the DDU and switching to PCIe 4.0 in the BIOS seems to be one of the better mitigation solutions.

These issues also extended to previous-generation GPUs, so narrowing this issue is challenging. Acquiring an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 is a strenuous affair because of limited availability, hiked prices, and scalpers, so we feel for owners experiencing this pesky issue.