Troubleshooting a Sudden GPU Failure: A Frustrated IT Professional’s Dilemma

As an IT professional, I’m accustomed to navigating the ins and outs of technology, but I recently found myself stumped by a peculiar issue with my newly acquired laptop. After purchasing a used model from my previous employer, I was satisfied with its performance, especially considering it’s equipped with an NVIDIA 3060 GPU. For about two weeks, everything was functioning seamlessly—until the dreaded moment when the graphics card abruptly stopped working.

Despite my efforts to restore functionality, I’ve hit a wall. Here’s a brief recap of the troubleshooting steps I’ve undertaken so far:

1. Driver Reinstallation: I initially tried updating the GPU drivers to ensure they were current.
2. BIOS Updates: I checked for any available BIOS updates and promptly applied them.
3. Reverting Changes: When the updates didn’t resolve the issue, I attempted to revert both the BIOS and Windows updates.
4. Driver Rollback: I even uninstalled the drivers altogether, reverting to older versions in hopes of regaining compatibility.
5. OS Fresh Start: As a last resort, I reinstalled Windows and went back to a previous version.

While the GPU appears in the device manager, it remains unrecognized by any software, leaving me puzzled and frustrated.

I’m reaching out to the community for any insights or recommendations. Has anyone else faced a similar predicament? Your experiences and advice could shed light on this troubling situation, and hopefully lead to a solution. Thank you in advance for your help!