Troubleshooting a Misbehaving Nvidia 3060: A Cautionary Tale for IT Professionals

As an IT professional, encountering technical hiccups is part of the job. However, there are times when even the most seasoned experts find themselves in a perplexing situation. Recently, I purchased a used laptop from my company, equipped with an Nvidia 3060 notebook GPU. Initially, everything worked seamlessly for about two weeks—but then, out of nowhere, the GPU ceased functioning.

In an effort to resolve the issue, I have tried several troubleshooting steps, including:

• Reinstalling drivers: I ensured that I had the latest drivers installed, but that yielded no improvement.
• Updating the BIOS: I thought a fresh BIOS might restore the GPU’s functionality, but this too did not yield any results.
• Rolling back updates: I reverted both BIOS and Windows updates, hoping to restore the previous state when the GPU was operational.
• Uninstalling and reverting drivers: To rule out any driver conflicts, I experimented with older driver versions, yet the problem persisted.
• Reinstalling Windows: Finally, I undertook a complete Windows reinstallation, followed by attempts to revert to a prior version.

Despite all these efforts, the device manager recognizes the GPU without any issues, yet no other programs acknowledge its presence. This has left me perplexed and reaching out to the community for guidance.

If anyone has faced a similar dilemma or has insights into potential solutions, your advice would be invaluable. It seems that even in the world of IT, some challenges are not as straightforward as they appear!