Troubleshooting a Nvidia 3060 GPU: A Frustrated IT Professional’s Dilemma

As an IT professional, it can be incredibly frustrating to encounter issues that seem to have no clear solution—especially when it concerns hardware that previously functioned perfectly. Recently, I found myself in this predicament after purchasing a used laptop equipped with an Nvidia 3060 notebook GPU from my company.

For the first two weeks, everything ran smoothly. However, just a few days ago, the GPU suddenly stopped functioning. In my quest to resolve the issue, I’ve undertaken a series of troubleshooting steps:

1. Reinstalling Drivers: I began with a fresh installation of the GPU drivers, hoping it would rectify the problem. Unfortunately, this did not yield any results.

2. BIOS Updates: I explored potential BIOS updates and even rolled back to previous versions in case a recent update was the culprit.

3. Windows Updates: Continuous tweaking included uninstalling drivers, reverting to older versions, and reinstalling Windows entirely—attempts to bring the system back to stability.

Despite my exhaustive efforts, the device manager recognizes the GPU without issue. However, it appears to be invisible to other applications, leading me to wonder if there is something I might have overlooked.

If anyone in the tech community has insights or experiences with similar issues, your advice would be immensely appreciated. What else could be causing this GPU recognition problem, and how might I resolve it? Your expertise could help turn this frustrating experience around!