Nvidia GeForce 555m GT

[Wratho]

I have a MSI GE620DX Laptop, and I have had it almost a year. For the last few months, occasionally when i restart my machine my GeForce 555m GT does not show up in the Device Driver.

Sometimes when this happens i am able to just restart my computer again and it reappears, other times i have to do a driver sweep with driver sweeper/driver fusion, once i did a system restore to a day before, and it didn't work, but after a while i restarted my computer again it was there. The most extreme i've had to go is to completely reformat my computer. This is the point im currently about to go to, but i would LOVE to avoid it. I was hoping that some superman of hardware could save me of this.

Things i have also tried:
-i have tries to check safe mode to see if it was in the device manager, it was not
-i have done a driver sweep
- i have restarted my computer somewhere near 20 times
-i wanted to open up my comp, but really don't want to void my warranty if this cannot be fixed before i graduate (i will be sending it back to MSI as soon as my laptop is not key to my education
-i have attempted to install drivers from Nvidia (they don't work because no hardware is detected)
-i have tried a system restore (which i will be trying again tonight)
-i have tried moving/removing all .inf/.pnf and any file with nv that i had permissions to (i read a post somewhere that it might work

I am at the point that i will try damn near ANYTHING to get this thing to show up again (even if it's just back to the iffy position it was before) and i would almost give my life to get this permanently fixed. Many people have told me it is probably something revolving around the actual card, or some soldering issue etc inside the computer, which will have to be fixed by MSI (due to warranty w/e). but if you have any ideas on anything to try, please let me know.

If there is any information you need that i have no provided here, just ask and i will provide asap.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Is your card still working? Have you tried to play a game on it when it wasn't showing up? IF you are getting proper FPS that means the card is still running your system just doesn't recognize it. But honestly I would jjust send it in as to not risk voiding your warranty.

 

[blazorthon]

After all that you've done, I'll have to agree with whoever it was who told you that the problem is probably hardware rather than software.

You could try opening up the laptop (without breaking any warranty stickers and such) and checking if anything is loose. If the graphics card is removable, you could try removing it, gently cleaning the pins with a soft pencil eraser, and re-installing it. However, I'd simply use your warranty on that machine instead of bother with it further if I was in your situation.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I am not sure I would try that though, if it was no longer under warranty I would agree, but sending it in is the safest bet, Though I have never handled laptop GPU's so I don't really know how delicate they are but I am guessing more so than a desktop one.

 

[Wratho]

currently the warranty sticker is sitting on top of a screw that is needed to remove to take a decent look at the problem hardware. so that is not an option.

secondly, i have the Intel HD 3000 that can run some games 'decently' and then i have my 555m GT that is suppose to be for the more high perfomance games. with my 555m working i can run diablo at 60+ FPS, when it doesn't show up in my device manager it caps at 30ish. That's generally how i find out that the hardware is missing.

I agree that sending the laptop into MSI is the quickest solution, and possibly the correct one. but I need the laptop for my final semester in college, so i am currently trying anything i can to make it work till then, and hopefully in the process of doing so, avoid reformatting if possible.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Well, from the way you make it sound you could just try to deal with intel hd 3000 if you absolutely cannot send it in. So there is that option. You could also get a cheap netbook to use while it is being repaired. In general it looks like msi takes about 2-3 weeks to RMA. Do you think you could make it that long without a computer? If not you could try to do your school work on a school computer?

 

[Wratho]

the only problem is i live off campus, and the ability to use an on school computer is definately an option, but i have almost 9 months left on my warranty and i have less thatn 3 months left till i am graduated. my current plan is to try my very hardest for the enxt week to handle video games on my intel HD and if it becomes unbearable then reformat will be my last attempt at making this work.

i will maintain a lookout from time to time to see if a magical answer has arrived on these forums or some other dark corner on the internet. thanks for your help so quickly.

 

[Wratho]

Alright, i have (as far as i know) fixed this issue.

What i have seen:
-After formatting my machine several times, after each format the machine worked very well, until of course the card would disappear again due to some random occurance (after a restart).
-After each format, initially the card does not show in Device Manager, but after a few windows updates it would reveal itself and work for a while till it wouldn't.
-I noticed through this process that the update that was triggering the appearance of the card was the Inter(R) HD Graphics 3000. Noticing this a thought popped into my head.

My thought: "what if i try to update my Intel card driver"
- I did the automatic driver check in Device manager (hoping it would update itself), but no update was found.
- I then went to http://bit.ly/IntelHD3000 and found the appropriate LATEST update for my machine.
- Once installed i restarted (as requested by the installer), I then check device manager to see what, if anything, had changed.
- To my surprise and happiness, my graphics card was there. For me it was actually listed under 'Standard VGA Adapter' because i had attempted to fix it by removing the driver.
-At this point i examined the properties of this device, and it was listed in the PCI Slot 1 (which was where my NVIDIA card should be).
- I then went directly to http://bit.ly/NVGF555m to download the latest 555M driver.
-I ran this and it started to install! Once it installed I restarted and everything is now working flawlessly.


I hope that my recap here will help any and all people experiencing similar issues in the future=)