Troubleshooting GPU Issues: A Personal Experience

As someone deeply immersed in the world of IT, it’s always disconcerting to encounter a technical issue that defies resolution. Recently, I purchased a used laptop equipped with an Nvidia 3060 GPU from my previous employer. Initially, it performed wonderfully for about two weeks, but I was taken aback when the graphics card inexplicably stopped functioning.

Determined to get to the bottom of the issue, I embarked on a comprehensive troubleshooting journey. Here’s a summary of the steps I took in hopes of restoring the GPU to its former glory:

1. Driver Reinstallation: My first approach was to reinstall the graphics drivers. Unfortunately, this did not yield the desired results.

2. BIOS Updates: I then turned to updating the BIOS, hoping that a more recent version might solve any underlying issues.

3. Rollback Attempts: When these updates didn’t work, I attempted to revert the BIOS and Windows updates to their previous states. Sometimes, the latest updates can lead to unforeseen complications.

4. Driver Versions: I explored various driver versions, uninstalling the current ones and reinstalling older versions in hopes of finding a compatible setup.

5. Windows Reinstallation: As a final resort, I decided to reinstall Windows entirely, even reverting to an earlier version to rule out any software conflicts.

Despite these extensive troubleshooting efforts, the graphics card still appears in Device Manager but is not recognized by any other software on the system. This situation has left me stumped, and I’m reaching out to see if anyone in the community has encountered a similar problem or may have suggestions to resolve it.

If you have any insights or recommendations based on your experiences, I would be incredibly grateful for your assistance! Sometimes, a fresh perspective is all it takes to unlock a solution.