6 Fixes For Laptop Not Detecting Nvidia Graphics Card

Graphics Processing Unit is an important hardware component required to build a high-performance computing system. Any slight deviance in the performance of your GPU can lead to drastic changes that affect your entire system.

Here in this article, we are going to discuss problems related to GPUs, especially NVIDIA graphics cards. There are multiple reports about Nvidia graphics cards not being detected on Windows 10. 

There may be a variety of reasons responsible for a situation where your laptop doesn’t detect the graphics card. One such reason and also with most possibility is/are errors involving device drivers.

Outdated graphics card driver or incompatible device driver update(s) installed during a Windows 10 Update session can lead to this “Graphics card not detected” error.

Another possible reason may involve the BIOS of your computer. If the GPU isn’t enabled in BIOS then surely your computer won’t detect the hardware. Moreover, an outdated BIOS version is also incompatible with the latest technological breakthroughs.

How To Transfer CPU Load To GPU?

There are some users with questions about whether it is possible to transfer CPU load to GPU. The answer to this question is NO. Why? Because the modes of information processing for GPU and CPU are totally different.

GPUs tend to execute tasks in parallel and in a very redundant way while the CPU tasks are very complex but sequential. Hence it can be inferred that tasks meant for GPU will be poorly executed by CPU and vice versa.

Therefore there is no way that you can dump CPU workload onto the GPU. 

Which Graphics Driver Version Should I Install?

1. Open the Run dialogue box by pressing Windows + R on your keyboard.
2. Type “devmgmt.msc” and click on the Ok option.
3. Expand the Display Drivers option and right-click on the Nvidia Graphics card.
4. Click on the Properties option.
5. Go to the Drivers tab. Here you can get the details of the Nvidia drivers installed on your computer. Note down the driver version and driver date.

Alternatively, you can also determine the driver version of the current graphics card driver from the Nvidia Control Panel.

1. Right-click on the open space of your Desktop screen and click on Nvidia GPU Control Panel.

2. On the Nvidia Control Panel, you can see the System Information option in the left bottom corner. Click on it.

3. Now you can see a window revealing all of your graphics card information. From here you can note down the currently installed driver version of your Nvidia Graphics Card.

Solutions For Laptop Not Detecting Nvidia Graphics Card

1. Install The Latest Nvidia Driver
2. Check If The Graphics Card(Nvidia) Is Enabled
3. Check If The Discrete GPU(Graphics Processing Unit) Is Enabled In BIOS
4. Use The Command Prompt To Fix The “Graphics Card Not Detected” Error
5. Update Your System’s Bios With The Latest Version
6. Uninstall Recent Updates

How Do I Fix The Nvidia Graphics Card If It Isn’t Detected or “Graphics Card Not Detected” error?

Below is a list of possible fixes which can effectively deal with the problem “Graphics Card Not Detected”. Just follow the solutions from easy fixes such as Checking if the GPU is enabled to complex fixes such as updating BIOS.device

Fix 1: Install The Latest Nvidia Driver

Installing the NVIDIA Graphics Card latest driver can easily solve the “graphics card not detected” error on our Windows 10 PC. But it is necessary to remove all related NVIDIA drivers from your system. So make sure each and every version of the NVIDIA graphics driver installed on your computer is removed.

Moreover simply using the default Windows 10 Uninstaller will not completely remove the drivers. Some related files such as DLL, logs, and Cache folder will remain in your system drive.

To completely remove these junk files you can download and install a third-party Uninstaller tool such as Revo Uninstaller. It is easy to use and both free and paid versions are available online.

1. Open the Windows Settings App.
2. Click on the Apps section.
3. Select the NVIDIA driver software you want to remove, then click on Uninstall.
4. Follow the subsequent on-screen instructions to finish the uninstallation process.
5. Note that if your NVIDIA isn’t showing up on your Device Manager then click on View and select the Show hidden devices option. 
6. Here the devices that are not connected to your computer will be shown. Uninstall the Nvidia GPU driver.
7. After removing all related NVIDIA drivers, visit the manufacturer’s website and download the latest driver software.
8. Be sure to select the Fresh Install option when you start installing the latest downloaded Graphics driver.
9. Restart your computer for the new changes to take effect.

Note: For those who are confused about which driver version to download and install it is strongly recommended to use a third-party professional program. It will help you automate the driver update process and save you from confusion about driver selection. 

Fix 2: Check If The Graphics Card(Nvidia) Is Enabled

There are some unusual situations in which your GPU is disabled in the Device Manager of your computer for various reasons known or unknown. To make sure that your Graphics card is enabled on your computer you can follow the step-by-step instructions given below.

1. Open the Device Manager of your computer. Press Windows Key + X and select the Device Manager option. Or enter “devmgmt.msc” into the Run dialog box and click on the Ok option.
2. Expand the Display adapters option. 
3. Right-click on your NVIDIA Graphics Card and select Properties.
4. Go to the Driver tab. If you find the Enable option then you can be sure that your NVIDIA Graphics card is disabled.
5. Click on the Enable option and restart your computer.

Fix 3: Check If The Discrete GPU(Graphics Processing Unit) Is Enabled In BIOS

For computers with both integrated and discrete Graphics Card, Windows 10 is unable to detect dGPU if it isn’t enabled in BIOS settings. Follow the step-by-step instructions to enable the discrete graphics card(dGPU). 

1. First, restart your computer and enter the BIOS setup. Press F2 or Delete repeatedly when your computer starts the booting process.
2. Navigate to Chipset, then search for dGPU Configuration.
3. Select the dGPU function and set its status to Enabled.

Fix 4: Use The Command Prompt To Fix The “Graphics Card Not Detected” Error

Some users have reported that they are unable to install Nvidia drivers. To solve this situation you need to first disable PCI Express using Command Prompt, then try to install the latest Nvidia drivers.

1. Open the Windows 10 Start Menu, enter “cmd” into the search bar.
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and select the “Run as Administrator” option.

3. Type the following command line:

bcdedit /set pciexpress forcedisable

4. Now try to install the latest NVIDIA drivers again.

Fix 5: Update Your System’s BIOS With The Latest Version

BIOS maintains the connection between the motherboard and external hardware. Hence updating the BIOS version will help or allow the motherboard to work with existing hardware more efficiently.

So if you face the problem “Graphics card not detected” then a BIOS upgrade will surely fix the situation on your computer.

Fix 6: Uninstall Recent Updates

Windows 10 Update service is always on the lookout for new updates for your operating system as well as additional installed devices. There are cases of update errors such as the 0x80070103 error code which can make your system unable to detect your graphics card(Nvidia). So in this situation uninstalling the problematic updates can resolve this problem.

1. Open the Windows 10 Settings App.

2. Double click on Update & Security.

3. Click on View installed updates history, then select the Uninstall updates.
4. Double click on the problematic update and remove it.

If uninstalling Windows updates solves the problem for your computer, then you need to make sure that these problematic updates aren’t installed in the future.