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

As an IT professional, I often find myself troubleshooting complex issues with technology, but sometimes, even the most experienced among us can encounter perplexing problems that leave us scratching our heads. Recently, I faced just such a challenge with a used laptop I purchased from my previous employer.

Equipped with an Nvidia 3060 notebook GPU, the laptop performed reliably for two weeks. However, a couple of days ago, the graphics card seemingly decided to stop functioning. Frustrated, I embarked on a comprehensive troubleshooting journey, but nothing seemed to resolve the issue.

Here’s a rundown of the steps I attempted:
– Driver Reinstallation: I started by reinstalling the Nvidia drivers to ensure they were up-to-date and functioning correctly.
– BIOS Updates: Next, I looked into updating the BIOS, hoping it might improve the GPU’s compatibility.
– Rolling Back Updates: Both Windows and BIOS updates were rolled back, as recent changes might have influenced the graphics card’s performance.
– Uninstalling Drivers: I went a step further by uninstalling the drivers altogether and reverting to older versions, thinking that perhaps the latest version was causing compatibility issues.
– Reinstalling Windows: As a last resort, I even reinstalled Windows completely, trying both the latest version and an older version to see if it made any difference.

Despite these extensive efforts, the Nvidia 3060 card still shows up in the Device Manager without issue, yet it remains unrecognized by any applications or programs that require GPU functionality.

At this point, I am reaching out to the tech community for assistance. If anyone out there has faced a similar situation or has insights on diagnosing this GPU conundrum, your expertise would be greatly appreciated! Let’s collaborate to solve this puzzling issue.