Troubleshooting a Boot Failure After CCleaner and NVIDIA Driver Update

If you’ve recently upgraded your system with a new NVMe SSD or performed routine maintenance, such as clearing registry errors with CCleaner, you might run into unexpected hurdles. One of our readers faced a critical issue when trying to install new NVIDIA drivers, leading to a complete boot failure. Here’s a detailed account of the situation and potential steps to rectify it.

The Background

After installing a new NVMe SSD, our user chose to move around some games and optimize their system’s performance by running CCleaner. This tool is commonly utilized for clearing unnecessary files and fixing registry errors, which can help enhance overall system stability. However, following this maintenance task, complications arose.

The Issue

Several hours later, attempts to update the NVIDIA drivers were met with persistent errors, preventing the installation from proceeding. In a bid to remedy the situation, the user decided to restart the computer. Unfortunately, this was when everything took a turn for the worse—the system failed to boot entirely.

Symptoms included:
– No signal output to the monitor.
– The keyboard showed no signs of functioning (indicated by the unresponsive Caps Lock key).
– Attempts to engage Windows repair via the F11 key were unsuccessful.
– While the CPU and case fans were operational, RGB lights on both the RAM and graphics card illuminated, indicating power was reaching them.
– The system did not display any startup screens or BIOS options, leading to a complete lack of visual output.

An alarming aspect of this situation was that holding down the power button did not work to shut off the system. Instead, a manual disconnection from the power source was required to turn it off.

System Specifications

For those wondering about the setup associated with this issue, here are the relevant specs:
– Operating System: Windows 10
– Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070 Ti
– Processor: AMD Ryzen 2600
– Motherboard: Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 5 Wi-Fi

Possible Solutions

If you find yourself in a similar predicament, there are several steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

Check Physical Connections: Ensure all internal and external cables are securely connected, particularly the connections to the GPU and RAM.
Boot into Safe Mode: If accessible, try booting into Safe Mode. This can sometimes bypass problematic driver issues.
**Clear

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