Windows 10: Brand new laptop - GTX 970m gpu not recognized anywhere

Hi guys,

Just got a new laptop today. Alienware 17 r3. Booted it up, seemed to be working alright. Was updating everything as recommended by windows and updated nvidia driver through the nvidia control panel and then the gpu stopped working. Everything got messed up, my keyboard stopped working to.

I reset win 10. Keyboard works, but gpu isn't recognized. I can't even get GEforce or update drivers because it doesn't recognized hardware.

It doesn't display on device manager.

Tried everything i know how to do...any help? I'm not excellent with computers. I just know the basics

:)

 

Display issues after latest Window update (16/11/17)

Are you v.1709 now? Don't revert to Win 7. Try the other options in my post, & here is the GeForce site...

GeForce GTX 970M Graphics Card

GeForce GTX 970M

There's got to be something there to help. Keep us informed.

 

Latest Windows Update Causes Forza Horizon 3 Crash

After the update, KB3194798, Forza Horizon 3 is crashing on intro screen. Before, i was playing without any problems.

An interesting point; i have GTX 970M and Intel GPU. Disabling Intel GPU from device manager fixes this problem.

 

Hi, as it's new, could I suggest you contact the supplier or maybe Alienware?

Also I'd guess there is a recovery partition you may be able to use to check you can get back to a working situation. If that doesn't work maybe you have a hardware issue.

 

Does the Intel graphics device show in Device Manager?

Random suggestions:

Uninstall the Intel graphics device.

Clear the CMOS. (May require finding and unplugging the CMOS backup battery.)

 

The intel one shows. If I uninstall the intel I won't have anything though? I don't want to go into the CMOS because I'll void my warranty

 

You wouldn't really be uninstalling the Intel controller, just its drivers. It will do no harm. You won't go to a black screen.

If Dell/Alienware declares your warranty void because you cleared the CMOS, I'd be unpleasantly surprised. That's a harmless procedure. Particularly if it's like most Dell machines that I saw at work over the past few years, where relatively few BIOS settings could be changed.

Speaking of Dell, perhaps you should contact their support. Phone support from such companies is usually done by people reading from scripts; they don't pay real technical experts to man their phone support operations. (If you're lucky, the support won't be offshored to someone with an incomprehensible accent.) I hope that your problem will be one on their list, and they'll be able to tell you exactly what to do to fix it. (This assumes that it's not a hardware failure.)

By the way: I suppose that the laptop came without an OS (operating system) installation disk. Have you used the utility to make a recovery USB drive yet? Better yet would be using a drive imaging utility to make a full backup image of the boot drive to an external HD. (I don't use it, but Macrium Reflect Free seems to be popular.) You spent a lot of money on that Alienware 17 R3; I hope that you're prepared to spend a little more to allow you to keep it running if the OS gets corrupted. (A 4TB USB 3.0 external HD costs as little as $120.)

 

Instead of risking that, I just walked into the store and had them get me a new one haha. So know I have another one same model. GPU is working fine.

However....I haven't updated the Nvidia drivers because that's what ****ed it up last time. I should create a backup and then try updating?

 

You can use Microsoft's "Show or Hide Update Tool" to block the nvidia update. Run the tool before you install updates. A few months from now nvidia might come out with a new update. You will have to block that one also.

At the bottom of this page is the download link.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930

Another option would be to block all driver updates. This is a guide to block them.

Driver Updates in Windows Update - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

You think all updates will break it?

 

It's probably just the nvidia update that breaking it but there is no way for me to be sure. If I were you, I would block all driver updates from Windows and just install new driver updates from Dell's website for your laptop.

Once you block driver updates from Windows, then you don't have anything to worry about. Just check Dell's website once and awhile for new drivers. If you do nothing, Windows will download the nvidia driver again.

 

That's one way. It may not help you much outside of the return period, though.