My setup:
MSI 990xa-GD55 MB
AMD FX-6300 CPU
GSkill Ripjaws X 8GB DDR3-1600
ZOTAC Amp! GTX 760
EVGA 750B 750w PSU
Seagate Barracuda 1TB HD
PNY Optma 240 GB SSD
I am upgrading from Win 7 64 Bit to Win 8 Pro using an upgrade key. I am installing to my SSD. I downloaded the upgrade file from microsoft and placed on a USB Flash Drive. I go through the installation process just fine, and everything seems to work. I have downloaded and installed updates. My problem happens when I try to restart the computer after the updates or at any time now. I get the windows splashscreen and then the screen goes dark momentarily. Then, I get a blank dark blue screen (BSOD) and nothing happens. My mouse and keyboard are lit up, the hard drive light is randomnly blinking, and my monitor stays on. So, it seems the computer is on and doing something. I have "refreshed" and "reset" windows through windows 8 troubleshooting, but I have the same problem upon the first restart/reboot. I am wondering if this could be due to my lack of an nvidia graphics driver upon the first restart? My motherboard has no native graphics support. I am thinking that windows is looking for a graphics driver upon restart and, not finding any, is not able to output to the display. I think it uses some generic driver upon install but the bios points to my graphics card on reboot. Could this be my problem?