Soldered laptop GPU is disconnected...?

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pokeylop

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Aug 21, 2016
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Hi, everyone,

This is following on from a previous post, so please look there before requesting more details.

Device Manager has rediscovered my Nvidia 870M after it seemingly disappeared from my computer. However, it's apparently disconnected from my computer. I don't see how this is possible, considering the GPU is soldered to the motherboard (as with most gaming laptops).

I've read elsewhere that this is possibly a sign of hardware damage, but unfortunately I couldn't get a look at the GPU as the screws attaching the fan assembly on top of it are completely stripped. The issue was originally caused by software/ driver issues, though, so I don't suspect hardware damage is the culprit here.

Anybody else experienced this on a gaming laptop? Or in any situation where you think hardware is correctly connected, but device manager doesn't? Any advice or solutions would be much appreciated, and I'm happy to provide any other information you need to solve the problem

Thanks!

Capture.jpg
 
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Solandri
This is a laptop with Nvidia Optimus (switchable Intel-Nvidia GPU). On Optimus laptops, the Nvidia GPU is not directly accessible like when you plug a GPU into a desktop. The Intel GPU is always driving the screen. The Nvidia GPU acts as a co-processor. The game uses it to render a frame, then it sends the completed frame to the Intel GPU for display.

As you might imagine, this is highly driver-dependent. You must install the Intel and Nvidia drivers from your laptop vendor's support site to get this to work properly. If you upgraded to Windows 10, you may also experience the same problem I have - Windows keeps overwriting the vendor drivers with the "latest" Intel and Nvidia drivers, which don't work with Optimus. I...
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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Sep 4, 2007
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Yeah I wouldn't be certain it isn't hardware related. A piece of hardware failing can have some screwy effects on software, especially while in use. Had it just been a software issue, reloading windows should have fixed it. That said I have had software issues a windows reload won't fix but oddly DDU would. In my cases it was PCIe slots disappearing when running GPUs for SLI. One would think an OS reload would fix the issue and usually it did but for what ever reason on 3 occasions I had to use DDU to get things right again. i am hopeful this will help you. If it doesn't you're going to have to start entertaining the idea that it is a hardware fault. Anyways give this a try. Run in safe mode, back everything up and hope for the best.

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
 
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pokeylop

Commendable
Aug 21, 2016
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1,510


Thanks for this! Thankfully, everything important is backed up on a separate SSD and hard drive, so I'll give this a shot now and see how it goes.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was hardware related by now. As I said in my previous post, this laptop's already had 2 hardware failures (one in the motherboard itself), and looking at the way they applied thermal paste on the CPU, QC was not at its best here :/
 
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rgd1101

rgd1101

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MERGED QUESTION
Question from pokeylop : "My Nvidia 870M has seemingly disappeared... Help!"





 
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pokeylop

Commendable
Aug 21, 2016
8
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1,510
Ran DDU in Safe mode; the device is still listed as nonpresent in Device Manager, though checking its driver details shows that there's no driver associated with the device so clearly DDU did its thing.

Tried reinstalling drivers with GeForce Experience and manually, but the GPU still isn't being detected. I can force a driver install using the factory driver from MSI, but it seems to me like driver remnants or corruption aren't at fault here. At this point, it seems pretty likely that there's hardware damage.

I'll keep the thread open for the time being, but if I don't get any updates in the next 2 weeks (I plan to take it to a service center in the UK in that time) then I'm calling it GPU failure. I'll consider attempting a replacement at that point, since I have nothing else to lose with this machine.
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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This is a laptop with Nvidia Optimus (switchable Intel-Nvidia GPU). On Optimus laptops, the Nvidia GPU is not directly accessible like when you plug a GPU into a desktop. The Intel GPU is always driving the screen. The Nvidia GPU acts as a co-processor. The game uses it to render a frame, then it sends the completed frame to the Intel GPU for display.

As you might imagine, this is highly driver-dependent. You must install the Intel and Nvidia drivers from your laptop vendor's support site to get this to work properly. If you upgraded to Windows 10, you may also experience the same problem I have - Windows keeps overwriting the vendor drivers with the "latest" Intel and Nvidia drivers, which don't work with Optimus. I have to let Windows 10 update, disable the Windows Update service, then manually install the Intel and Nvidia drivers from my laptop vendor. Every month I have to re-enable Windows Update (to get new security updates) and repeat this procedure.

It's still possible you've got a hardware failure, but try the above. Download the Intel and Nvidia drivers from your laptop vendor's support site, disable the Windows Update service, run DDU to uninstall both Intel and Nvidia drivers, then install the drivers you downloaded from the laptop vendor. Do not try to install drivers you download directly from Intel or Nvidia - those do not support Optimus.
 
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