Troubleshooting a Non-Responsive Nvidia 3060 Laptop GPU: An IT Professional’s Dilemma

As an IT professional, encountering a tech issue can sometimes feel like navigating a maze with no clear exit. Recently, I found myself in this exact situation with my personal laptop. I purchased a used device from my previous company, which was equipped with an Nvidia 3060 notebook GPU. For the first couple of weeks, everything functioned smoothly, but suddenly, the GPU stopped working.

In my quest to resolve the issue, I implemented a variety of troubleshooting steps, but to no avail. Here’s a summary of my attempts so far:

1. Driver Management: I started by reinstalling the GPU drivers, hoping to rectify any corruption. When that didn’t work, I opted for BIOS updates and even downgraded to previous versions of both the BIOS and Windows to see if compatibility was an issue.

2. Windows Recovery: I explored additional avenues, including completely uninstalling the current drivers and reverting to previous versions. Eventually, I also took the drastic step of reinstalling Windows entirely, then reverting to an older version in the hopes that this would restore the functionality of the GPU.

Despite all these efforts, Device Manager recognizes the graphics card without any hitches. However, it still remains unrecognized by almost all other programs, leaving me scratching my head over the next steps.

If anyone has faced a similar scenario or has insights into troubleshooting this Nvidia 3060 GPU issue, I would greatly appreciate your advice. It’s always helpful to hear from the community, especially those who have navigated similar technical challenges. Thank you in advance for your suggestions!