GT72 2QE GPU Not Recognized in Device Manager

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kmlsturm

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Hello!

I recently received my laptop back from RMA for a power issue, in which the motherboard was swapped for a new one. Everything looked great, except that the GPU seems to no longer be recognized within device manager or Nvidia's online tools. I still see the Intel integrated graphics, yet the Nvidia card has disappeared.

The laptop is running Windows 10, GPU is a GTX980m, Broadwell processor.

Troubleshooting steps I've taken:
1. Attempted to reinstall Nvidia drivers (both latest version and the one listed on the MSI support page for the GT72 2QE). However, the installer gave a message that compatible graphics hardware could not be found.
2. Used DDU to clear any previous data and retried with no success.
3. Attempted to install GeForce Experience, but received a message that a driver needed to be installed.
4. Tried to update BIOS ( E1781IMS.317 ) through the boot menu with usb drive, but the bios interface hangs when I click to confirm the install. Rebooting after seems fine.
5. Tried to update the VBIOS but received a message along the lines of "Nvidia display adapter not found"
6. Through CMD w/ admin, tried bcdedit /set pciexpress forcedisable and rebooted.
7. Reinstalled Windows 10 and tried all above steps again.
8. May have tried other steps, though it seems hard to keep everything straight at this point :rolleyes: ;D

Is there anything obvious (or not obvious) that I'm missing here? Am I looking at another RMA?

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated! Many thanks!
 
Use latest Help Desk to export the system info and post the text information in here.
 

Do you see the [GPU button]? Press it and system will switch to Nvidia GPU.
 
Thanks for your reply, Konstantin. Unfortunately, the GPU button was the first thing I tried :) The button is not lit up, and pressing it doesn't seem to do anything. I can confirm that it was functional before the RMA, though.

Here's the Help Desk export -- many thanks:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Serial Number:                9S71781311438ZF5000106
Product Name:                 GT72 2QE
OS:                           Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit Ver.1607(OS build 14393.447.amd64fre.rs1_release_inmarket.161102-0100)
Windows Product Key:          8HVX7
HDI Build:                    non-OEM
BIOS Version:                 E1781IMS.30C
BIOS Release Date:            2015/05/08
EC Version:                   N/A
CPU:                          Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5700HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
Memory:                       16 GB @ 800 MHz
                               - 8192 MB, DDR3-1600, Hynix/Hyundai HMT41GS6BFR8A-PB 
                               - 8192 MB, DDR3-1600, Hynix/Hyundai HMT41GS6BFR8A-PB 
Graphics:                     Intel(R) HD Graphics 5600, 1024 MB
VBIOS Version:                N/A
Drive:                        SSD, TOSHIBA THNSNJ128G8NU, 119.24 GB
Drive:                        HDD, HGST HTS721010A9E630, 931.51 GB
Network:                      Killer Wireless-n/a/ac 1525 Wireless Network Adapter
Network:                      Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Network:                      Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
SHIFT mode:                   None
Power Plan:                   Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e  (Balanced)

---------------------
Programs and Features
---------------------
Synaptics Pointing Device Driver     , 19.3.4.57            ,
Intel(R) Chipset Device Software     , 10.1.1.8             , 20170423
Help Desk                            , 1.0.1610.3101        , 20170424
Intel(R) Processor Graphics          , 20.19.15.4531        ,
Realtek High Definition Audio Driver , 6.0.1.8059           ,
Microsoft OneDrive                   , 17.3.6799.0327       ,
Mozilla Maintenance Service          , 53.0                 ,
WinRAR 5.50 beta 1 (64-bit)          , 5.50.1               ,
Mozilla Firefox 53.0 (x86 en-US)     , 53.0                 ,



-------------
OS Activation
-------------

Name: Windows(R), Core edition
Description: Windows(R) Operating System, RETAIL channel
Partial Product Key: 8HVX7
License Status: Licensed
 
kmlsturm date=1492965389 said:
Hello!

I recently received my laptop back from RMA for a power issue, in which the motherboard was swapped for a new one. Everything looked great, except that the GPU seems to no longer be recognized within device manager or Nvidia's online tools. I still see the Intel integrated graphics, yet the Nvidia card has disappeared.

The laptop is running Windows 10, GPU is a GTX980m, Broadwell processor.

Troubleshooting steps I've taken:
1. Attempted to reinstall Nvidia drivers (both latest version and the one listed on the MSI support page for the GT72 2QE). However, the installer gave a message that compatible graphics hardware could not be found.
2. Used DDU to clear any previous data and retried with no success.
3. Attempted to install GeForce Experience, but received a message that a driver needed to be installed.
4. Tried to update BIOS ( E1781IMS.317 ) through the boot menu with usb drive, but the bios interface hangs when I click to confirm the install. Rebooting after seems fine.
5. Tried to update the VBIOS but received a message along the lines of "Nvidia display adapter not found"
6. Through CMD w/ admin, tried bcdedit /set pciexpress forcedisable and rebooted.
7. Reinstalled Windows 10 and tried all above steps again.
8. May have tried other steps, though it seems hard to keep everything straight at this point :rolleyes: ;D

Is there anything obvious (or not obvious) that I'm missing here? Am I looking at another RMA?

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated! Many thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi kmlsturm,

Since your GT72 2QE has a GPU button, it is normal for the dGPU to disappear when the iGPU is selected. The problem that needs to be fixed is your non-operational GPU button. Without it working, you will not be able to activate your NVidia dGPU. For an explanation, read on...

Many of MSI's Titan notebooks, including most GT8# and some GT7# notebooks, use a hardware GPU button to switch between the iGPU and the dGPU. This system works differently than all other MSI gaming notebooks and only one GPU system is visible to the system at a time. When the GPU button is pressed and the notebook is rebooted, it toggles between the Intel integrated GPU (iGPU) and the NVidia discrete GPU (dGPU). When the Intel iGPU is selected, the NVidia dGPU is no longer visible and will not appear in the Windows Device Manager. When the NVidia dGPU is selected, the Intel iGPU is no longer visible and will not appear in the Windows Device Manager.

Why? Answer: Because the notebooks that MSI gave a GPU button to are capable of having two NVidia dGPU modules in SLI. Your specific model may not have come with two NVidia dGPUs, but some of the models in its line did. Most of MSI's gaming notebooks are not designed for dual dGPUs in SLI, so they use NVidia Optimus to automatically switch between GPU systems as the video workload requires. In these Optimus-controlled systems, both the iGPU and the dGPU are always available and are both visible to the Windows Device Manager at the same time. But the Titans that can do SLI, are not compatible with Optimus and must use the manual hardware switch method.

My GT80 2QE has two NVidia 980M in SLI and I'm very glad it uses the GPU button because I dislike Optimus very, very, very much. It is too buggy and never works like I want.

The real problem: Now that you know that an operational GPU button is required to activate the NVidia dGPU, how do you fix it? The GPU button is enabled by the SCM (MSI's system control manager software). So the first thing to check is that the SCM is installed and working. If it is running, you should see a "Micro Star SCM" service running in the Windows Task Manager. Next, try launching the SCM software to see if its control panel appears. You can also test any of the Fn key combinations because the SCM also enables them. For example, press Fn + the Up arrow or Fn + the down arrow to see if it controls the brightness of your LCD display. If the Fn keys work, then the SCM is running. If the SCM is not running, then you need to try reinstalling it. If that doesn't work, then you may need to also update your BIOS and EC firmware. If you do either of these, don't forget to reset the EC firmware settings afterward (it is required). If the SCM is running but the GPU button still won't work, then you should contact MSI Support again to see about having your GPU button replaced or repaired.

How to install video drivers: Installing video drivers on a Titan with a GPU button is different than other MSI gaming notebooks. You must activate the target GPU system before attempting to install a driver. For example, you will not be able to install an NVidia video driver if the NVidia dGPU is not visible. When doing a clean install of Windows, MSI instructs users to begin with the Intel iGPU selected before you start the clean install of Windows. Then, after you've installed Windows, you'll need to install the drivers in the order MSI lists on its download page for your model. They always have the user install the Intel video driver before the NVidia video driver. After the Intel video driver is installed, then you need to jump over to the utility downloads and install the SCM software so the GPU button will work. Then use the GPU button to switch to the NVidia dGPU. After the dGPU is visible, then install the NVidia video driver. In the future, always activate the target GPU system before attempting to update or reinstall a driver.

Kind regards, David
 
David, thank you!

I so appreciate the detailed explanation and troubleshooting solution. I am quite glad to have an expanded knowledge of how this specific setup functions and it seems much clearer now. Once SCM was reinstalled, the GPU button became functional and I was able to reinstall the Nvidia drivers. What an incredible relief! 

Many, many thanks! Your help is very much appreciated! :-))
 
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