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My system is 4 years old and my plan is to build a new system next year. However, my Graphics Card (EVGA GTX 260) failed. I decided to buy the Card I want for my Build next year 650 Ti Boost EVGA 01G-P4-3656-KR. I verified first via web search and by calling tech support (Evga and Gigaybte) that my current mother board, CPU and power supply would support the card. FYI the power supply was recently repaired by PC Power and Cooling under warranty and has been tested and verified as working properly.

CPU E8500
MB Gigabyte GA-EP45UD3L Rev 1.0 (latest F9 Bios) PCI 2.0
PSU Pc Power and cooling Silencer 750W
OS Win XP 32 Bit Media Center Edition (SP3)

I did a clean install (however did not clean registry).

When I reboot I see the Gigabyte Motherboard Flashscreen, then I see the Win XP loading screen, then it goes black. Sometimes it has a frozen mouse and hourglass most of the time it just black and it just stays that way. If however I "Hard" reboot the computer again (a 2nd or 3rd time), it will go through the same process, however after a couple of minutes the black screen will give way to the Desktop.

I have run Heavens Benchmark for 30 mins no problems, can run games without a hitch. The 650Ti is running flawlessly. The problem is just upon booting.

It just appears to me to be some type of driver issue or conflict somewhere in my system.

FYI... Both EVGA and Gigabyte Tech support teams have spent time with me to try to resolve the issue (trying re-install driver, Reflash the motherboard with latest firmware etc...) however the problem persists.

So every time I reboot it freezes, 2nd or 3rd "Hard" reboot black screen then desktop and then runs well.

It will boot with no problem into "Safe Mode" each time

Any constructive suggestions beyond "DON'T REBOOT" appreciated

i'd say make sure all old gpu drivers are deleted with http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html and install the latest WHQL drv from nvidia

This does sound like a driver conflict, if it boots to safe mode but not normal Windows that means there's software being loaded to memory that's fubaring everything. If all else fails try uninstalling *all* software drivers so you have system defaults (VGA video, no ethernet, etc.) and install the latest version of everything.

For what it's worth I also run an EVGA 650Ti and newer Gigabyte mobo on XP, I'm using NV driver version 314.07. Give that one a shot, maybe they broke something.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will gather everyone's suggestions over the next few days, make sure I have all my drivers, latest versions and most recent previous versions and then systematically do one at a time.