Graphics card helps maintain performance while doing high graphics demanding tasks like gaming. But this piece of hardware is not always free of errors. Sometimes people encounter issues with the OS having problems recognising the graphics card. It can be an issue as all the applications that require the graphics card will stop working entirely. But luckily, there are some common reasons behind this issue, and if someone tries different fixes, indeed one of them will work out.
Maybe it is a new graphics card, and the system is having problems recognising it. Or perhaps it’s an old one, but it suddenly disappeared from the device manager’s list of devices. Whatever may be the case for you, it is solvable. Maybe you have faulty drivers or incorrect BIOS settings or hardware issues or GPU slot issues, or power issues. The worst-case scenario is that you have a faulty graphics card in which there is nothing you can do other than repair it or replace it. But for all the other causes, let’s take a look at the different fixes.
Page Contents
How to fix: graphics card not detected?
As mentioned above, there are several reasons why your operating system might not recognise your graphics card. So let’s take a look at some of the commonly known fixes addressing each of these issues.
Reinstall Graphics Drivers:
Whenever you have issues with a hardware piece of your system, the first you need to try is reinstalling the hardware drivers. Naturally, if Windows is preinstalled in your system, you will already have the graphics drivers on your computer. In that case, you need to check if those drivers are updated. If they are not, then go to your manufacturer’s website, look for your PC model, and install the graphics driver, you find there. If you can’t find your driver setup there, do a google search on your graphics card model’s latest graphics drivers. Download the latest build and install it onto your system.
However, if you have issues with the drivers installed on your system, maybe there is an inconsistency in the files, then you will have to perform a clean install. Uninstall whatever graphics drivers you have installed on your system and then perform a clean install using the setup file you will find in your manufacturer’s website.
The chances are that your issue might be fixed after successfully reinstalling the graphics drivers. But if this does not work for you, then try the next solution.
Check the power supply:
If you have recently set up a new graphics card and cannot detect it, then there could potentially be a power issue. Sometimes what power wattage is enough to run the CPU, and other PC components are not enough for the GPU. Some Graphics cards need a higher power wattage. So check with your graphics card model and see the minimum power requirement for it to work. Then make sure that the power supplied to your system has a wattage higher than what is required by your graphics card. Also, make sure that the graphics card is connected correctly and not partially attached to the slot. Even if you see the fan running, check with the connections.
Once you have ensured that there is enough power input for your graphics unit, check whether the OS can detect it now or not. If it is still struggling to detect the graphics card, then try the next solution.
Set the graphics card as default:
By default, intel or AMD, whatever processor powers your system, it will come with a graphics processor unit of its own. The built-in graphics unit is enough for usual daily tasks, and many budget PCs are sold without a dedicated graphics unit. They only have the built-in GPU that comes with the processor. Now, there is a chance that even though you have a dedicated graphics processor, your PC is set to use only the built-in GPU for graphics-related tasks. So you have to manually enable the dedicated graphics unit for the system to use it as the default unit.
For NVIDIA graphics processor users,
- right-click on your desktop and click on “NVIDIA Control Panel.”
- Then click on 3D settings at the top.
- Click on “Manage 3D Settings” under 3D Settings” in the left pane.
- Then click on the “Program Settings” tab.
- Then select the program for which you want to set your dedicated graphics processor as the default choice.
- From the drop-down list below, select the high-performance NVIDIA processor.
If you can run the program without having issues with your graphics processor, then the fix worked for you. But if you are still stuck on detection issues with your dedicated graphics card, then move on to the next potential solution mentioned below.
Check the Graphics slot:
Since this is a hardware issue, you should check whether the connection is proper or not. Pull out the screws from your system, and check the slot for your graphics card. Check if it is connected properly and turn the system on in the opened state to check if the GPU’s fan is running. If it is not running, then it is not connected correctly. In that case, try placing the graphics card in a different slot and do the check again on the fan. If it is still not moving, then check the connection to the graphics card slot.
If none of these seems to make the fan move, it could potentially be a compatibility issue. Your motherboard may not support the graphics card that you connected to your system. So do proper research on which graphics card will work on your system. If you have a compatible graphics card, and even the fan is moving, then the problem is elsewhere. In that case, move on to the next potential solution.
Change BIOS settings:
We can set up multiple monitors for the same system and the option to turn that on or off lies in the BIOS menu. But if you only have a single monitor, then you need to disable this option. Otherwise, you will have issues with your graphics processor unit.
- Turn on your system and while turning on press Esc, F8, F12 or F10 button. Each manufacturer sets up different keys to open up the BIOS menu. So try pressing all of them and see which one works. Press this button exactly when you turn on your system, and the manufacturer logo shows up.
- Either you will be in the BIOS menu or see the option to enter the BIOS menu. If you see the option, then just use your navigation keys to select the BIOS menu.
- Once you are in the BIOS menu, go through the different tabs and look for option IGPU or IGPU Multi Monitors. Make sure that this option is disabled in your system.
Now restart your system normally and check whether the issue is now resolved or not. If your system still can’t detect the graphics card, then try the next potential solution.
Reset BIOS:
A lot depends on your BIOS settings when it comes to the functionality of your system. The manufacturer always tunes the default BIOS settings to provide the most error-free experience. So try resetting everything on your BIOS settings too.
- Turn on your system and while turning on press Esc, F8, F12 or F10 button. Each manufacturer sets up different keys to open up the BIOS menu. So try pressing all of them and see which one works. Press this button exactly when you turn on your system, and the manufacturer logo shows up.
- Either you will be in the BIOS menu or see the option to enter the BIOS menu. If you see the option, then just use your navigation keys to select the BIOS menu.
- Once you are in the BIOS menu, go through the different tabs and look for an option to reset to default. It might be labelled differently but what you need to look for is an option to reset everything in your BIOS settings to the default value. Once you find it, select it and confirm your reset action.
After the reset is done, restart your system normally and check whether the system is now able to detect the graphics card or not. If it is still struggling, then try the next potential solution.
Update BIOS:
If you have purchased a new graphics card, then the older version of your BIOS could also be the reason behind the incompatibility. So contact your manufacturer and seek technical help from them for updating your BIOS to the latest version. Updating BIOS takes a fair bit of knowledge and caution, and if you get it wrong somehow, that could result in a complete system failure. So contact the professionals and seek their help for updating the BIOS in your PC.
After you are done with the update, you should be able to use the graphics card installed in your system.
So that is all about fixing graphics card not detected an issue in Windows. If you have any questions or queries about this guide, then comment down below, and we will get back to you. Also, be sure to check out our other articles on iPhone tips and tricks, Android tips and tricks, PC tips and tricks, and much more for more useful information.