Experiencing possible hardware issue with dedicated Nvidia GPU chip?

[Nord_VPN]

Hi, I've been having an issue with my Nvidia 1660ti GPU simply not working at all or failing to operate it's fullest capacity. It is currently operating at 0% regardless of the task I am doing and makes occasional/rare jumps to 1%. I did get it to operate at what seemed like the appropriate levels for a minute or two upon boot up, but immediately went back to 0% as soon as I booted up Civ VI and went to check Task Manager again.

The issue started in the middle of a Civ VI gaming session when I took a break, downloaded some unrelated driver updates with Driver Easy, restarted my laptop and tried to get back on Civ VI. When I booted up a game of Civ, I noticed my FPS was incredibly low and immediately thought I had an issue with my battery cable connections and checked every connection to ensure that everything was fine. I double checked every cable/connection (they were all secure) and took a look at the battery icon in the bottom right corner of the screen (also fine & showed that I was indeed plugged in operating at full power).

From there, I inferred that I may have downloaded an incompatible Nvidia driver from Driver Easy, so I tried:

1. Rolling back the Nvidia drivers to an older version (even though I never downloaded any newer drivers, which I found out later since the most current Nvidia drivers available are from June 23rd).

2. Deleting the Nvidia drivers in the Device Manager and downloading them directly from a) the PC, b) from the Nvidia website, c) from the HP website, and d) thru the Driver Easy software. None of these solved the issue.

3. I even tried deleting the Nvidia drivers for the 1660ti in the Device Manager and restarted the computer to let the PC find and download the drivers themselves. That seemed to have worked temporarily and then the GPU went back to it's current state of sitting at 0% and very, very occasionally jumping up to 1%, which is what leads me to believe this is a failing hardware issue. There are also instances where the Nvidia GPU doesn't appear in the Task Manager OR in the HP Omen Gaming Hub as well which I think may also confirm my suspicions.

The GPU is currently visible in both the Task Manager and the HP Omen Gaming Hub, but is sitting at 0% usage and a temperature of 45C. When I turn on NVIDIA GeForce Performance Overlay, I see the same issues. 0% GPU Utilization, 300MHz for the GPU Clock, 1 Watt of GPU Power and 0.6 Volts for GPU Voltage.

I'm not an expert, but this all leads me to believe that I am dealing with a faulty, failing GPU chip, particularly because it appears to have begun working at full capacity  only to stop working entirely within seconds. I believe I've recreated that issue twice now, but is there anyone here who can chime in, or who has seen this issue before?

I do have an extended warranty that I purchased from a third party when I originally bought this PC, so, if it is indeed a hardware issue, I do believe they will cover it. I am currently in contact with them and have already filed a claim if the GPU has indeed failed/fried itself, but I am trying to find out if there is another solution available that I haven't tried or if there is any advice anyone here can offer in terms of troubleshooting to find out if this is indeed a hardware issue I am dealing with. I hope it isn't and would love to find a solution that doesn't mean having to mail in this laptop for several weeks. 

I will mention that I have tried numerous hardware tests thru the HP diagnosis software as well (including the ones that take several hours) and they found nothing.

The laptop passed every test and when I go to Properties for the GTX 1660ti in the Device Manager, it even says that the device is operating properly under 'Device status'.

I've tried everything I could find that is suggested as solutions and haven't found any fix. Not even forcing the PC to use the dedicated NVIDIA graphics card in the global settings tab of the NVIDIA Control Panel (which I already had it set to) has worked. Any help?

[ub6424 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Nord_VPN 

Try ...

(1) Remove <all> graphics drivers/artefacts with Display Driver Uninstaller DDU

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

(2) Uninstall OMEN Gaming Hub SDK Package

(3) Update BIOS

HP Notebook System BIOS Update (AMD Processors)

F.13 Rev.A

12.5 MB

Apr 9, 2021

Download

Why should you install the update ?

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_4123786-2338478-16

Quote: "

Updating the BIOS is recommended as standard maintenance of the computer. It can also help resolve the following issues:

• An available BIOS update resolves a specific issue or improves computer performance.
• The current BIOS does not support a hardware component or a Windows upgrade.
• HP Support recommends installing a specific BIOS update.

"

(4) Reboot

(5) Let BIOS be installed until it's completely done !

(6) Install/Update

NVIDIA Graphics Driver

27.21.14.5241 Rev.C

727.3 MB

Feb 25, 2021

Download

Realtek High-Definition (HD) Audio Driver

6.0.9159.1 Rev.C

40.1 MB

Apr 23, 2021

Download

(7) Reboot

(8) Install OMEN Gaming Hub SDK Package

OMEN Gaming Hub SDK Package

1.0.46 Rev.A

45.3 MB

Aug 29, 2021

Download

(9) Reboot and test <graphics card> again. Start gaming ...

(10) Please report your results

[Nord_VPN]

Well, sir, I do believe this worked. Everything seems to be working correctly right now although I did forget to delete the Realtek audio drivers and had to go back after downloading the BIOS update you linked, but I don't believe that changed anything and the Nvidia GPU appears to be working again.

Civ VI did just crash which is why I'm typing this now after testing it, but that happens from time to time. I'll go ahead and run it again and see what happens.

[Nord_VPN]

I can't seem to get the OMEN Gaming Hub to download using your link tho.

[ub6424]

---

@Nord_VPN wrote:

I can't seem to get the OMEN Gaming Hub to download using your link tho.

---

The link is verified and working:

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp130501-131000/sp130737.exe

[Nord_VPN]

I ended up downloading it straight from the MS Store and everything is working fine as of today. Thanks for the help.

[ub6424]

It was a great pleasure to help you

Good luck and have fun