Troubleshooting GPU Issues on a Used Laptop: Seeking Solutions

As an IT professional, I pride myself on troubleshooting various technical issues, but sometimes, even I encounter challenges that leave me scratching my head. Recently, I faced one such dilemma with a used laptop I purchased from my previous employer. It features an Nvidia 3060 notebook GPU, which served me well for two weeks before suddenly going silent.

In my quest to restore functionality, I have undertaken a series of steps. Initially, I began with reinstalling the graphics drivers and even updating the BIOS. I also went through the process of reverting both BIOS and Windows updates to see if these changes had affected the GPU’s performance. In my thorough investigation, I also uninstalled the drivers entirely, tested older versions, and even considered a complete Windows reinstall, followed by a rollback to a previous version.

Despite these efforts, the GPU still shows up in the Device Manager without issue, yet it remains unrecognized by any other programs. This situation has left me puzzled, and I’m reaching out to the community for insights. Have any of you encountered a similar scenario, or do you have any suggestions for further troubleshooting? Your expertise could be the key to solving this perplexing issue!