Support NeoGAF

[AndyD]

Got a bit of a question here, GAF. I've got a laptop, comes with a recovery partition. Gonna be using it, wanna get rid of the W8 Consumer Beta (I never upgraded it, heh. Want to go back to Win7, but all that's kinda not relevant to the question.)

I want to back up my data partition on my HD first. Can anyone recommend me some backup solution other than Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-P? (something preferably free and easy?) Never really had to back up that much data before, so I'm kinda new to this...

How much are you backing up? I think you can always use the built in Windows backup if you have a nice big external drive to back up to. And copy/paste works very well in general.

Which version of Windows should I take?

If I go with the empty flash drive, what size should it have? I have an empty 8gb one here.

Edit : Derp, I suppose if one DVD of 4.7gb is enough, a flash drive of 8gb will do ..

8GB is enough. I would use what you had before. I think the screen you posted showed Win 7 64 bit. So pick that. As to Pro/Ultimate, what does the little sticker on your PC say?

 

[Shoogoo]

8GB is enough. I would use what you had before. I think the screen you posted showed Win 7 64 bit. So pick that. As to Pro/Ultimate, what does the little sticker on your PC say?

It says "Windows 7 Home Prem OA"

 

[AndyD]

Then at the bottom of the page of ISO images there is:
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1-U ISO

Get that in 64 bit. And I think you had it in French? The page has French, English and Spanish. to choose from.

 

[Jarate]

im looking to get some Sata cable, but I have no clue if I can just get a generic one, or if I have to spend the money to get a good one

 

[t-ramp]

im looking to get some Sata cable, but I have no clue if I can just get a generic one, or if I have to spend the money to get a good one

They're *all* the same, so as long as it's built well any cable should function fine. No such thing as a SATA 6Gbps cable, either.

 

[CMDBob]

How much are you backing up? I think you can always use the built in Windows backup if you have a nice big external drive to back up to. And copy/paste works very well in general.

It's about 288GB. I'll probably just use copy and paste, want to get rid of Win8ConsumerPreview so C+P should work well enough.

 

[Shoogoo]

Then at the bottom of the page of ISO images there is:
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1-U ISO

Get that in 64 bit. And I think you had it in French? The page has French, English and Spanish. to choose from.

I'd rather take it in english tbh, can I? Or is my key linked to a certain language?

Again, thanks for your help.

 

[Jzero]

I'd rather take it in english tbh, can I? Or is my key linked to a certain language?

Again, thanks for your help.

I just did a quick google search and it looks like you can use the english version.

 

[AndyD]

I'd rather take it in english tbh, can I? Or is my key linked to a certain language?

Again, thanks for your help.

I just did a quick google search and it looks like you can use the english version.

As said above, any language is fine. And you can even switch after, with language packs, but its not the easiest thing.

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Hi guys, dont know if this is where i should post this or the STEAM thread. Everytime I try to play Team Fortress 2 there is a ton of in game slow down. I have verified cache, uninstalled/re-installed, put the steam folder in exceptions for my anti virus, even switched from a 6870 to a 660ti video card but nothing seems to work. I have a decent pc(phenom ii x4 955 @ 3.4, 4gb ram, 660ti) what else should I try?

 

[Shoogoo]

I just did a quick google search and it looks like you can use the english version.

Thanks. I'll try not to lean too much on you guys, and do my google searches like a grown up. It's just that I'm feeling a bit lost, I didn't make a windows installation since Windows 2000!

I hope to find the time to do it tomorrow, in any case I'll keep you posted.

 

[Shoogoo]

So, I made a bootable DVD with the .iso file and that little program you linked me to and everything was working fine until I reached this

I never saw those partitions on my computer (1 and 2), are they hidden or something? Should I delete them? Or keep them?

Also, when I hit the 'Drive Option' link to format the Partition 3 : OS, I received this prompt;

From there I decided to wait on your opinions. What should I do? I feel like one wrong click could screw me over with this computer.

 

[AndyD]

The two small partitions are created by the OEM, Dell, to backup stuff. There is probably a Dell software backup restore option that can reinstall everything to the main drive from that 11GB portion.

And the format prompt is correct. It will format and delete absolutely everything, so make sure everything you want to keep has been backed up. It will be as if you bought a new hard drive at the store, with nothing on it.

My suggestions if you are ready to format/install is to delete all three partitions. Then the empty space will be one block with no partitions. And the OS will manage everything. Others may have other opinions, but that's my normal procedure.

 

[Zutroy]

Partition 1 will store maybe some drivers for buttons specific to that hardware (maybe media buttons or something like that).

Partition 2 is probably an exact image of how the laptop was when it first booted. It's used to recover the laptop to it's original state.

Partition 3 is the current partition being used with the OS stored.

It'll do no harm to leave the first two partitions.

The warning message for partition 3 is just saying that you're about to format it and lose all data. Just say yes if you want to install the new OS on it.

[E] Too slow...

 

[Shoogoo]

Thanks, I'm a bit worried that I won't be able to find all the drivers, mainly the front panel card reader, but also the sound card driver, etc.

I suppose the windows driver updater thing doesn't really work, does it?

 

[Zutroy]

Thanks, I'm a bit worried that I won't be able to find all the drivers, mainly the front panel card reader, but also the sound card driver, etc.

I suppose the windows driver updater thing doesn't really work, does it?

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/Product/inspiron-580

Also it's always a good idea to at least download the network drivers to a USB stick first. Once that one's on it's easy to get the rest.

 

[Shoogoo]

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/Product/inspiron-580

Also it's always a good idea to at least download the network drivers to a USB stick first. Once that one's on it's easy to get the rest.

Ah yes, I've been looking through that list a few days ago. It's a little confusing though. I don't see the front card reader, do you?

It wouldn't be a disaster if I lost it during the process, just a bit annoying

 

[Zutroy]

It'll probably be included in the chipset drivers.

 

[Shoogoo]

All right, last point now, and one where you two didn't agree on; should I delete those two ghostly partitions? Does it even matter?

 

[AndyD]

I say delete. There's nothing lost by leaving them though, aside from losing the 11 GB of space. Its a personal preference, and I just like my drives tidy.

 

[Zutroy]

I usually always delete as well, but that's because I never plan on using an OEM version of Windows to recover from.

If you have your own copy of Windows 7, by all means get rid of it and gain the extra 11GB.

 

[WoodWERD]

Hey guys, my HTPC setup was running pretty smoothly until a couple of days ago. My vid card (HD 4850) randomly stopped sending a signal/picture to my TV (HDMI), and after tinkering for a while I said 'screw it' and ordered a HD 7750. I installed the new card yesterday and everything seemed to be running smoothly at first, but I went to start up chrome or something and my tv screen goes black. The TV wasn't giving me the 'weak/no signal' message like I was getting with my old 4580, this time I'm just staring at a black screen. This requires a hard shut down, and the system will restart just fine, but when it gets to my desktop it goes back to a black screen after 5 seconds or so.

I assumed this was a driver conflict so I uninstalled catalyst control center, drivers, and removed the card from device manager. I booted to safe mode and ran guru's driver sweeper, which picked up some old stuff that I deleted as well. I then reboot, reinstall drivers via the factory cd, and restart upon completion. System reboots just fine, brings up my desktop at a nice high res, and boom, black screen again. I have no issues in safe mode.

There are a couple quirks I've noticed during this process:
- The factory driver CD behaves strangely. It will bring up a GUI with install options that disappears almost immediately to the task bar. I literally have to run the cd, and click 'drivers' within a second or two in order to start the install before the GUI minimizes to my taskbar and cannot be restored.
- Once the driver install starts, I'm briefly given an option for 'express' or 'custom' install like normal. However, the screen will flicker and the install will start before I select an option.
- After I get the black screen I'll reboot via safe mode, and when I try to bring up CCC I get an error message that says something to the effect of: 'There is no AMD driver installed or your driver is having issues.' I'll click OK and then CCC will eventually open, but I have very few options to play with.


I'm probably glossing over some things and oversimplifying a bit, so if you need more info let me know. After the original install I was getting 1920x1080 resolution by default and my PC knew it was connected to my receiver, so I though all was well! I tried searching this thread and came across a suggestion to update the monitor drivers, but I don't know if that would apply in a HTPC setup? Should I ditch this driver CD and just download the latest from catalyst? Are there some display settings buried somewhere that may be conflicting and need to be adjusted? Here are the applicable specs:

Win 7 64, C2D E8400, 8gb ram
Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Samsung 50" DLP + Denon AVR all connected via HDMI

 

[Zutroy]

I'm probably glossing over some things and oversimplifying a bit, so if you need more info let me know. After the original install I was getting 1920x1080 resolution by default and my PC knew it was connected to my receiver, so I though all was well! I tried searching this thread and came across a suggestion to update the monitor drivers, but I don't know if that would apply in a HTPC setup? Should I ditch this driver CD and just download the latest from catalyst? Are there some display settings buried somewhere that may be conflicting and need to be adjusted? Here are the applicable specs:

Win 7 64, C2D E8400, 8gb ram
Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Samsung 50" DLP + Denon AVR all connected via HDMI

This seems like a good place to start. Remove the current one again and get the latest from the web.

 

[Shoogoo]

D-day!

Finally I got some time to do this. Fuck being an adult

I have some sort of doubt though, what if my key on the sticker (Home Prem OA) isn't valid for the .iso I downloaded (Home Prem)?

Because at that point, when I enter the key, I won't have any other solution!

 

[WoodWERD]

This seems like a good place to start. Remove the current one again and get the latest from the web.

I thought so too, so yesterday I tried catalyst 12.7 beta drivers but unfortunately ran into the same issue. I also tried the 'boot in low resolution' mode under the safe mode options, but all that did was give me my login screen at a 640x480 res. Once I put my password in it takes me to a normal 1920x1080 desktop that blacked out a few seconds later. Something is conflicting I just don't know how to root it out. :\

 

[Gav]

Ok, hopefully you guys can help, because this is driving me truly insane.

Built a new PC in the week. Specs are:
MSI Z77A-G43, Intel Z77 Motherboard
Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge CPU
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 RAM
60GB OCZ Technology Vertex (used for Windows 7)
1TB Seagate Barracuda (used for data, music, games etc)
500W Silverstone SST-ST50F-ES Power Supply
1GB XFX Radeon HD 7850

Got Windows installed the other night, no problems. Went through and installed all the drivers etc, and everything was fine. Tested Steam, iTunes, all good. Shut it down for the night.

The next day, it wouldnt boot to Windows. It would get (at most) as far as the Windows Loading splash screen, then reset itself. It would get to a different point in booting every time, but always rebooted itself. Eventually got it to Windows. Installed updates, checked drivers etc. It would reboot on command and load back up, 100% fine. Thought i had solved it.

The next day, same thing. Tried taking USB keyboard and mouse out, and this didnt help. Well, it would reboot three more times, then would boot into Windows again fine without them plugged in. Again, changed drivers, updated things. PC would reboot when i told it to and load up again with no problems. Turning it on an hour later was also fine.

This morning. Reboot loop again. Sometimes getting as far as desktop for a split second, then rebooting. So i formatted the SSD, reinstalled Windows, reinstalled all the drivers and again, everything was up to date and would reboot on command. Even boot up an hour later.
I went out 4 hours ago, just got in and it wouldnt turn on again. Rebooted 6 or 7 times, and then finally let me in. Im typing this post on the PC now.
The annoying thing is, i can make changes, but wouldnt know if it made any difference unless i turned the machine off for a good few hours.

Does anyone have any ideas?!

 

[MC RaZaR]

Maybe check that the timings for your RAM are correct in the UEFI/BIOS. If you played around in UEFI, will it reboot? If so, maybe run a Memtest. It might also be the power supply. Do you have a spare PSU to test with?

 

[Cromat]

Hey guys
My laptop is always making noises as if it's writing to the HD even when nothing is happening... how can I find out what causes it?

I performed the following steps:

- Ran AV scan (Microsoft Security Essentials), nothing found
- Ran chkdsk /R (don't think it found anything, but I didn't look at it when it ended)

Didn't help. Any ideas?

 

[nan0]

Hey guys
My laptop is always making noises as if it's writing to the HD even when nothing is happening... how can I find out what causes it?

I performed the following steps:

- Ran AV scan (Microsoft Security Essentials), nothing found
- Ran chkdsk /R (don't think it found anything, but I didn't look at it when it ended)

Didn't help. Any ideas?

Do the noises go away if you run something CPU-intensive, or are they only present while the Laptop is idle?

 

[Gav]

Maybe check that the timings for your RAM are correct in the UEFI/BIOS. If you played around in UEFI, will it reboot? If so, maybe run a Memtest. It might also be the power supply. Do you have a spare PSU to test with?

PSU is a possibility. Dont have a spare lying around, so will have to try and find one.

Ive seen two possible answers from others. One saying the PSU could be faulty, and its only getting warmed up/up to power after a number of reboots.
And a second answer saying my PSU is too small. 500W/34A PSU and a 500W/30A GPU.

 

[Cromat]

Do the noises go away if you run something CPU-intensive, or are they only present while the Laptop is idle?

Present even when the computer is completely idle.

 

[t-ramp]

D-day!

Finally I got some time to do this. Fuck being an adult

I have some sort of doubt though, what if my key on the sticker (Home Prem OA) isn't valid for the .iso I downloaded (Home Prem)?

Because at that point, when I enter the key, I won't have any other solution!

Call Microsoft. It should work, though.

PSU is a possibility. Dont have a spare lying around, so will have to try and find one.

Ive seen two possible answers from others. One saying the PSU could be faulty, and its only getting warmed up/up to power after a number of reboots.
And a second answer saying my PSU is too small. 500W/34A PSU and a 500W/30A GPU.

500W is plenty. I don't know what the problem is, but I hope you get it fixed.

 

[Noisy Ninj4]

Present even when the computer is completely idle.

Check your disk drive usage? If you are running windows, you can use the integrated system monitor control plugin.

To use it, open run and type in "mmc". This will open a window called "console1". Open the File menu at the top right of the window and then click on add/remove snap-in.

A second window will open and there is a button that says "Add..." at the bottom. Click that.
Another window will open with a scroll-down menu of a bunch of stuff. At the top should be "Active-x control" (you can scroll around to find it if need be). Open up the active-x control option.

The active-x control wizard will then pop up. Hit "next". You should see a drop-down menu "Control Category" and a scroll-down menu "Control type". In the control type menu, there is an option called "System Monitor Control". (pro tip: typing "SYS" will get you very close to it)
Select System Monitor Control and click Next, then click Finish.

The system monitor control allows you to make a running graph of what computer resources are being used at any given time. Physical Disk read and write times are among the options.

 

[Jzero]

D-day!

Finally I got some time to do this. Fuck being an adult

I have some sort of doubt though, what if my key on the sticker (Home Prem OA) isn't valid for the .iso I downloaded (Home Prem)?

Because at that point, when I enter the key, I won't have any other solution!

Yea if the key doesn't activate when you type it in you can just call Microsoft and they will activate it for you with no problem.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Sigh I'm such a moron.

I've got a Trojan and it is not going away.
Superantispyware removes it but it comes back every time I restart.

SAS defines it as:
Trojan.Agent/Gen-Poison.Process

One of them shows up in the files and the other in the memory.

Right now it's sitting in C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming and it is just called RES.exe
It's latched onto a currently running program so I can't simply delete it.

New PC too..FML

 

[Jzero]

Sigh I'm such a moron.

I've got a Trojan and it is not going away.
Superantispyware removes it but it comes back every time I restart.

SAS defines it as:
Trojan.Agent/Gen-Poison.Process

One of them shows up in the files and the other in the memory.

Right now it's sitting in C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming and it is just called RES.exe
It's latched onto a currently running program so I can't simply delete it.

New PC too..FML

Scan with Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro. and delete your temporary files. Some malware removers work better than others sometimes.

 

[clav]

Sigh I'm such a moron.

I've got a Trojan and it is not going away.
Superantispyware removes it but it comes back every time I restart.

SAS defines it as:
Trojan.Agent/Gen-Poison.Process

One of them shows up in the files and the other in the memory.

Right now it's sitting in C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Roaming and it is just called RES.exe
It's latched onto a currently running program so I can't simply delete it.

New PC too..FML

If you've exhausted your options, use combofix.

Run it in safe mode.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/

Note: You may have to reinstall your antivirus software after using it.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Scan with Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro. and delete your temporary files. Some malware removers work better than others sometimes.

Ran both.
Did another restart.
No threats.

Thank God and Thank You.

 

[Noisy Ninj4]

Ran both.
Did another restart.
No threats.

Thank God and Thank You.

Next time: Keep a backup of your important files (ON AN UNCONNECTED DRIVE) and don't be afraid to reformat.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Next time: Keep a backup of your important files (ON AN UNCONNECTED DRIVE) and don't be afraid to reformat.

I put all of my essentials on a USB back when I switched computers so I'm straight if this ever comes up.
Speaking of I better update.

 

[Shoogoo]

Yea if the key doesn't activate when you type it in you can just call Microsoft and they will activate it for you with no problem.

I went on the microsoft website and found this - I tried to find it in english but couldn't -

Basically, it says that if I got an OEM windows, Microsoft can't help. I have to ask Dell in case of a problem.

On a lighter note, I saw on a forum that the key should work for any Home Premium version, so... I'll give it a try.

 

[nan0]

Present even when the computer is completely idle.

Is it only when it's idle? It might come from the CPU C4 sleep state, i.e. if the CPU runs on low frequency. You can read about it here, but it's very Thinkpad and Linux centered.

 

[PaulLFC]

Me again, sorry GAF. Bit of a strange problem with my PC, I have no idea how it started occurring.

Basically, I have my PC connected to an AV receiver. This is then connected to my TV through HDMI. When the TV is on, sound plays through the speakers and the picture output is displayed on the TV, as expected.

Up until yesterday, when I turned off the TV while leaving the AV receiver running, the sound would cut out for a couple of seconds while everything figured out what was going on, and then the sound would start playing again through the speakers while the screen was turned off. This was ideal for listening to music or podcasts.

However yesterday, this stopped working in Windows 7. When I turn off the screen, the sound just cuts out altogether, and then turning on the screen and checking the sound properties, the receiver is shown as "not plugged in" - even though it clearly is, as the picture is being displayed normally. I can only fix this with a restart, and as soon as I follow the steps above again, the same result happens and the sound cuts out.

Now it gets even stranger. I have Windows 8 installed via VHD, and trying the above steps through Windows 8, the sound works as it should do and plays when the screen is turned off. This used to work in Windows 7 until yesterday too, but suddenly stopped.

There's only two things I can think of to try, which I'm not sure are related so may not fix the problem:

- Update my graphics card drivers to the latest version on Windows 7 (since the card is connected to the receiver, maybe it has something to do with this? Not sure really)
- See what driver version Windows 8 is running, and install that version on Windows 7.

I've already tried unplugging and reconnecting the HDMI cable with no improvement, so those above are all I can think of to try tonight.

Does anyone know anything else I could try?

 

[Shoogoo]

Well played, GAF. Everything is working just fine! I couldn't update the BIOS (again) but apart from that, I have installed everything and after struggling a bit with the soundcard, I managed to find what was wrong and so far, so good!

Also, the black borders were still there after the fresh install, I thought I was fucked until I installed the drivers for the graphics card and my problem was gone!

Thanks a lot! I'm off to reinstall steam + games now

Edit : I can't play the very game that I bought this graphics card for; Borderlands 2... It just doesn't load. I looked around but didn't manage to find a solution. I suppose the BL2 OT is too busy feasting on endless loot to help me with this issue, can I get help here?

Edit 2 : found it, I had to reinstall Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client.

 

[BackwardsSuggestions]

Right guys. Quite a weird problem here.

This has happened about 5 times since January and it scares the hell out of me every time. Last night, I was uninstalling a few steam games when Windows started to really chug, I mean really chug (about 10 second delay) and then just powered off. And when I would start her up, it wouldn't even boot, the fans would start and after about 2 seconds it would turn itself off and then on again doing the same thing each time. The only way to stop the cycle is to power off at the back. After about an hour of leaving it off, it boots normally again.

At first I thought it was the CPU overheating but if you take a look at the attached image, it's hovering at 40. Is that too hot?

(PS. I have noticed it's happened a few times after physically moving the entire tower)

EDIT: Just checked CPU-Z and it says my CPU is running at 3.8Ghz...I have no idea how to overclock and I didn't even think you could on the non-k series?

 

[Gav]

500W is plenty. I don't know what the problem is, but I hope you get it fixed.

Right. Well. I put a new PSU in this evening.

Windows booted to desktop absolutely fine. 20 seconds later, it reset itself.
Back to Windows, all well and good. 2 minutes later it rebooted.

That was 5 mins ago... im still up and running.

So the new PSU has got me further, but im still rebooting randomly.

EDIT: Error log showed critial errors at times of crash with code 331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4
Googling this error code led me to this:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f299/solved-kernel-power-41-63-error-434613.html

I checked myself and had 2 audio drivers running. So i have disabled one. Sound is working and there were no issues rebooting. So i will see how this goes after i have left the PC off overnight.

 

[Gav]

Right. Well. I put a new PSU in this evening.

Windows booted to desktop absolutely fine. 20 seconds later, it reset itself.
Back to Windows, all well and good. 2 minutes later it rebooted.

That was 5 mins ago... im still up and running.

So the new PSU has got me further, but im still rebooting randomly.

EDIT: Error log showed critial errors at times of crash with code 331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4
Googling this error code led me to this:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f299/solved-kernel-power-41-63-error-434613.html

I checked myself and had 2 audio drivers running. So i have disabled one. Sound is working and there were no issues rebooting. So i will see how this goes after i have left the PC off overnight.

Double posting, but i have no idea what is going on.

I stopped counting the reboots this morning when it got to twenty...
Up and running now, but it has taken a VERY long time.

 

[prodystopian]

In task manager in Windows 7 under performance it shows my CPU usage hovering at around 50%, but when I go under processes, the sum of the CPU usage is closer to 10%, so I have no idea what is using that much CPU. Any ideas?

I tried restarting a little while ago and usage was reasonable, but after I opened a few things up, it went back to ~50%.

 

[nan0]

In task manager in Windows 7 under performance it shows my CPU usage hovering at around 50%, but when I go under processes, the sum of the CPU usage is closer to 10%, so I have no idea what is using that much CPU. Any ideas?

I tried restarting a little while ago and usage was reasonable, but after I opened a few things up, it went back to ~50%.

Did you click the "Show processes from all users" button?

 

[PaulLFC]

Me again, sorry GAF. Bit of a strange problem with my PC, I have no idea how it started occurring.

Basically, I have my PC connected to an AV receiver. This is then connected to my TV through HDMI. When the TV is on, sound plays through the speakers and the picture output is displayed on the TV, as expected.

Up until yesterday, when I turned off the TV while leaving the AV receiver running, the sound would cut out for a couple of seconds while everything figured out what was going on, and then the sound would start playing again through the speakers while the screen was turned off. This was ideal for listening to music or podcasts.

However yesterday, this stopped working in Windows 7. When I turn off the screen, the sound just cuts out altogether, and then turning on the screen and checking the sound properties, the receiver is shown as "not plugged in" - even though it clearly is, as the picture is being displayed normally. I can only fix this with a restart, and as soon as I follow the steps above again, the same result happens and the sound cuts out.

Now it gets even stranger. I have Windows 8 installed via VHD, and trying the above steps through Windows 8, the sound works as it should do and plays when the screen is turned off. This used to work in Windows 7 until yesterday too, but suddenly stopped.

There's only two things I can think of to try, which I'm not sure are related so may not fix the problem:

- Update my graphics card drivers to the latest version on Windows 7 (since the card is connected to the receiver, maybe it has something to do with this? Not sure really)
- See what driver version Windows 8 is running, and install that version on Windows 7.

I've already tried unplugging and reconnecting the HDMI cable with no improvement, so those above are all I can think of to try tonight.

Does anyone know anything else I could try?

Quick update on this - updated the Win7 drivers to the latest NVidia ones, but that didn't fix anything. I've ordered a coaxial cable off Amazon as my PC has an output for that, so I'll try running that to the receiver and sending the sound through that instead of HDMI. I have no idea if that'll fix the problem, even less idea why things are still working fine on Windows 8, but it's all I can think of to try.