Inspiron

[PalashV]

Hi, I have an old Inspiron 14R 5421 with GeForce GT 730M. Since it was running hot from sometime, around 85-90+ degree C while playing games (the CPU), I took it to a local service shop to get it cleaned up & have new thermal paste applied. The GPU was working fine and the CPU was running around 75 degrees. I once opened it personally to clean the insides a bit more but didn't touch the CPU/GPU side. But 2 days later, I realized that the GPU is not visible anywhere anymore, like in the right-click options.

When I open NVidia Control Panel, it says, 'An NVIDIA graphics card was not detected in your system'. I tried installing the driver from both NVidia & Dell's site but they both say - 'This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware'. I was able to see the GPU under display adapters but only after enabling 'Show hidden devices'. To clean install its driver, I uninstalled it but it's not visible anymore in the list. I re-opened the laptop to check if I missed something but AFAIK, these are all soldered on the board.

Is there some way to check if this a software issue or a hardware issue? Any solution to this problem?

Thanks.

[ejn63]

Boot the system in safe mode (instructions below).  If you do see both GPUs listed in the device manager, you likely have a driver issue.

If you do not, the nVidia GPU has failed -- you can either run the system on Intel only, or replace the system board if you must have the nVidia GPU (it's not a separate part, so it cannot be replaced other than by replacing the system board.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-10-92c27cff-db89-8...

[XPS_Man]

Unfortunately as the machine was opened and changes were made, I can not deny the possibility of hardware failure GPU it soldered on MOBO.

Perform a flea power : Remove battery charger and hold down the power button. Put everything back and check., 

Update : What about ePSA, Tap F12 and choose diagnostics. I recall it having GPU in tested hardware list. 

[PalashV]

I booted in safe mode but I don't see the GPU, perhaps it's failing for sure.

[PalashV]

Unfortunately as the machine was opened and changes were made, I can not deny the possibility of hardware failure GPU it soldered on MOBO.

I'm afraid for the same reason, the MOBO got a small jolt once while I was cleaning, the laptop tipped into the display's direction suddenly.

I tried flea power thing but it didn't solve the issue.

ePSA - Thanks for this, I didn't know this existed. I don't see anything related to Nvidia or a GPU here -

[XPS_Man]

Bad news @PalashV 

Get a new Motherboard 

Or use the machine with onboard graphics

[PalashV]

Yeah, so no occasional gaming for a while then. Replacing the motherboard is not an option, the laptop is already 8 years old, so will get a new one later. For now, I'll use it for normal tasks.

Thanks for your inputs.