My graphics card stopped showing up in Device Manager yesterday after I did a driver update that went wrong. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, reseating the card in the slot, and even booting into safe mode, but Windows still doesn't see it. How do I actually figure out if the card is dead or if it's just a software issue?
First thing - check if the card's actually getting power. Open your case and look at the card itself. Most modern GPUs have LED indicators that light up when they're powered on, and you should also check that the PCIe power cables (the 6-pin or 8-pin connectors) are fully seated and haven't come loose. A failed driver update can sometimes cause the OS to blacklist the device, but it won't cut power to the card itself. If there are no lights and the fans aren't spinning at all during boot, that's a sign the power delivery failed - which could mean a dead card or a PSU issue.
Next step is to reseat the card more aggressively than you probably did. Power down completely, flip the PSU switch to off, then press the case power button a few times to drain residual charge. Remove the card, clean the gold connector pins gently with a soft, dry cloth (no liquids), and push it back in until you hear that satisfying click. Reboot and check Device Manager again. While you're in there, also check if Windows is showing an unknown device or a device with a yellow exclamation mark - that's usually software rather than hardware failure.
If Device Manager still shows nothing and the card has no power signs, try it in a different PCIe slot if your motherboard has one. Different slots sometimes use different power delivery paths. You could also try the card in a different machine entirely if you have access to one - that'll tell you pretty definitively whether it's the card or your system. If it works elsewhere, your motherboard's PCIe slot or power delivery is probably toast. If it's still dead in another machine, the card itself likely failed.
Beyond the power and reseating checks, try booting from a Linux live USB (like Ubuntu) - if the card shows up there and functions, you've got a driver or Windows corruption issue that's fixable; if Linux doesn't detect it either, the hardware is likely toast. This tells you definitively whether it's software or dead silicon without needing to swap in another card.
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