Graphics Card not detected or GPU not detected is a common issue that is faced by most users around the world. It is a really annoying problem where your graphics card is not detected during booting process or your GPU is not detected or recognized in windows. This problem can arise if you set up a new graphics card for your PC or perhaps at the center of working with the currently installed graphics card.
This problem can be fixed easily if you know the ideal cause but it can also get very frustrating sometimes. So within this post I will provide the numerous solutions to resolve graphics card not found issue for your PC.
There are generally two kinds of issues which you can face when graphics card or GPU is not detected by your PC.
- Graphics Card Not Detected during Boot — Here the graphics card is not found right from the start when you start or power on your computer. There’ll not be a video signal on your monitor and a black or blank screen will be displayed. This error may or might not be accompanied by beep codes depending upon your computer BIOS or motherboard.
- GPU Not Detected in Windows — within this problem your computer will be able to boot up with display to Windows but your graphics card model or GPU will not be found from the windows display settings or in device manager and it will be displayed as”Standard VGA Graphics Adapter”. You might also be unable to install graphics drivers and proceed to greater resolution and refresh rates in this problem.
Solutions to Graphics Card Not Detected Problem
Here are the a variety of hardware and software options which you can try to resolve graphics card not found error for both Nvidia and AMD pictures cards.
Check Graphics Card Installation
The first and foremost thing to do is to look at your graphics card installation. To ensure that the graphics card is properly installed in the graphics card slot, remove the graphics card and place it back again in the PCI-Express x16 slot attentively. After that electricity in your computer to see whether the issue is fixed or not. When it is not then proceed to the next step cited below.
Assess BIOS Settings
If you’re installing graphics card for the first time and they you may to disable the onboard video and place the primary graphics or movie into PEG (PCI-Express Pictures ). Different BIOS have different names here but the process is exactly the same for disabling onboard images and place main graphics to graphics card.
Assess Power Supply / PSU
This is definitely the most significant aspect to keep in mind while you face graphics card not detected problem. If your PSU is under-powered for your graphics card then it will not be able to provide adequate power to your graphics card and thus your graphics card may not be discovered by your PC or from windows.
In addition, if your graphics card demands 6-pin or 8-pin PCI-E power connectors then make sure to join them together with your PSU so as to supply adequate power to your graphics card for its functioning. You may take a look at the listing of best budget PSUs for graphics card in the link provided below.
Remove IGP or Integrated Graphics Drivers
If you’re updating from integrated images / onboard images to a dedicated graphics card then uninstall your onboard graphics card drivers prior to installing the graphics card on your PC, otherwise your graphics card may not be correctly detected by windows operating system. After eliminating the video drivers for onboard images, you can set up the video drivers for your dedicated graphics card.
Install Proper Video Drivers
You have to install appropriate video card drivers to your graphics card so it can operate correctly. Always download drivers from the official websites of the graphics card or GPU manufacturer. For Nvidia graphics cards download video drivers from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx and for AMD Radeon graphics cards you should download video drivers from http://support.amd.com/en-us/download.
Windows Updates
Widows updates may often lead to this problem where graphics card is not recognized in Windows. If your graphics card isn’t being discovered after a recent windows update, then disable or remove that windows upgrade and roll back to previous one. I have seen this issue mostly with Windows 10 that has a knack of installing and getting a lot of updates in a brief period of time.
Check Display Cable
Check the screen cable of this graphics card and see if it is working correctly or not. This is because many times per faulty and cheap video cable can cause this graphics card not detected difficulty. Here I would counsel you to buy a fantastic branded cable using gold connectors at the end-points.
Motherboard Compatibility Issue
It can happen that the graphics card is not compatible with your old motherboard. Here you can try to upgrade your BIOS to ensure it can support your new graphics card. You may download the newest BIOS version from the motherboard’s manufacturer website.
Corrupt GPU BIOS (VBIOS)
It may happen that the Video BIOS or GPU BIOS your graphics card gets corrupted and this is causing your graphics card from being detected properly in Windows. Here the graphics card may operate at normal VGA resolution (like VGA Adapter) using the default windows VGA driver however, you won’t be able to install its drivers from the GPU maker i.e. Nvidia or AMD and increase the resolution. To fix this you can flash your graphics card BIOS or GPU BIOS using GPU flashing tools.
Defective Graphics Card
If your graphics card is defective or has gone bad then this challenge is bound to arise. Here you can verify your graphics card in another PC and see if it functioning properly or not. When it is not working in different PCs then you can either get it repaired or exchange it if it is still under guarantee period.
Defective Motherboard or PCI-E x16 Slot
It’s very rare but it could occur that the motherboard PCI-E x16 slot machine is not functioning correctly or it’s gone bad. You can check your graphics card from a different computer and if it is working there then there’s definitely something wrong with your motherboard or the motherboard is not supporting your card. Here the one thing you can do is to replace your motherboard into a newer one.
