My video card disappeared! How do I get it back?

I have an HP Pavilion dv6-3143US notebook with a switchable Radeon Mobility HD 5650 in it (running Win7x64). It's been a pain in the neck from day one, but today it pulled a new trick on me. That is, it disappeared.

I had been running it in Intel mode to keep the heat down, but I decided to see if Borderlands 2 would run well enough to play, so I installed it and tried to switch over to AMD. I clicked on 'Configure Switchable Graphics, and nothing happened.

I opened up the Intel graphics panel and clicked 'switchable graphics' and it said 'No AMD graphics driver is installed.' Odd. Tried opening the device manager. There's no graphics listed other than Intel. Odd. Tried running CCC. It says 'Catalyst cannot start.' Grr. Went to the AMD website and grabbed a new Mobility driver. 'There is no AMD device present. The driver cannot be installed.' Grr! Went to the HP website and grabbed the old, old driver that came with the computer. Installed it. 'The installation encountered errors. View the log for details.' Log is blank, except for the headers. GRR!

Then I remembered that a new driver had been installed with Windows Update about a week ago. Sure enough, it's in my Update history, installed on the 13th (and I haven't tried to use the AMD card since then, so I didn't notice; I last remember using the AMD card about two weeks ago, when I was travelling). I hop over to System Restore to try and do a restore back to before the update, but I've installed too many programs since then -- the latest restore point is on the 17th.

I have no idea where to go from here, gentlemen (and ladies). Any suggestions? I would certainly appreciate it!

Unfortunately the only fix I've ever found is a system restore from before the driver update, or a factory image restore. After this happened to me enough times for me to notice the trend (I work in PC repair) I have learned to not let Windows Updates handle video drivers on system that have dual graphics. If there is another known fix for this issue I would love to hear about it.

Whoa, so you're telling me that if this came into your shop, you'd just image it? That's not ... good news.

No, I'm saying that I have gone through every step of troubleshooting in the past, contacted manufacturers, spent hours dealing with different technical support reps from different vendors and the end result of my labors is that the only known fix at this time is to System Restore (which you have already tried and can't do because the earliest restore point is days after the issue began) or a factory image.

From what I can tell, it seems to be a driver based issue with the Windows Update system. Apparently, it attaches itself to the primary display adapter and completely disables the secondary (discrete), so much that the hardware ID isn't even readable in any of my diagnostics software. Without the hardware present, CCC will not launch because no hardware is found, and an AMD driver package will not install itself to a Intel chipset. On the rare chance that the device ID is still present in Device Manager it is possible to uninstall the Intel chipset driver in a live boot environment (Linux or PE), temporarily force the AMD chipset to be primary, then re-add the Intel drivers afterwards.

If my memory serves me right, HP does offer factory image with the ability to save the data. To check, restart your computer and hit F8 after POST and select "Repair My Computer", then when the login screen appears log into the administrator account, and the bottom option of the next menu should be "HP Recovery Manager". On the left hand side, second option down should be the system recovery options, and you can follow the prompts from there. Of course, I always handle my own backup, so I can't say for certain what data would be saved or if programs would have to be reinstalled (my guess is that they would).

If another solution presents itself, PLEASE update this thread. I will be keeping a close eye on it.

Have you tried running Windows Update and installing the driver again? Maybe try that, then running the installer for an official driver afterwards, and see if that works. I've had something sort of similar to this happen to me (i.e. my video card not being detected) and the solution ended up being to install a driver via Windows Update, as no other installer appeared capable of detecting the video card.

This is probably a dumb question, but how do I reinstall a driver through Windows Update? I don't know how to force updates to appear if they're already completed.

do a search for "view installed updates" then you can uninstall from the list. Then, the update should appear again in Windows Updates.

You have to use an older driver. Look at 11.4 ish. AMD stopped supporting switchable graphics before 12 came out. I had the exact same problem on my DV7.

mhenley said:

do a search for "view installed updates" then you can uninstall from the list. Then, the update should appear again in Windows Updates.

Click to expand...

This just shows me the Windows/Microsoft updates that have been installed. Third-party updates (including device drivers) aren't appearing in the list. Am I doing it wrong?

Since I don't install drivers via WU, I can't say for certain, but third party does appear on my list.

I mean, I can see the third party updates listed (including the killer driver update from the 13th) when I go to 'view update history', but when I click on 'Installed Updates' to delete it, it's not there. Nor is anything else that doesn't have 'Microsoft' or 'Microsoft Corporation' listed as the publisher.

To test, I imaged my drives, nuked my video drivers, installed OLD ones, then updated them with WU. I'm also not seeing the option that Filburt was talking about, so I don't think you're missing anything. Maybe he didn't read your post correctly and thought it was a failed install, not a successful install that resulted in the device no longer showing up in Device Manager.

lloose said:

You have to use an older driver. Look at 11.4 ish. AMD stopped supporting switchable graphics before 12 came out. I had the exact same problem on my DV7.

Click to expand...

I tried this, but the computer doesn't even think I *have* an AMD card right now.

I'll try the nondestructive rebuild tomorrow and let you guys know how it goes.

IcarusSC said:

I tried this, but the computer doesn't even think I *have* an AMD card right now.

I'll try the nondestructive rebuild tomorrow and let you guys know how it goes.

Click to expand...

You are using the wrong driver version then. If you try and use a driver that doesn't support switchable graphics, you will get popups saying that there is no AMD graphics card installed. Trust me, I just went through this EXACT same problem. When you are looking for the correct driver, do a search for "switchable". You will see something like this..



You need to find a driver that supports switchable graphics with the intel chipset or you will keep getting the same error. Doing a "rebuild" won't solve a single thing. If you don't believe me, download the driver directly from HP. It will be an really old driver, but it will work and recognize your 5650.

Edit: Here, I even did the search for you. Click here.

lloose said:

Edit: Here, I even did the search for you. Click here.

Click to expand...

Well, unfortunately, that's the one I already tried (mentioned in the OP). I run that, and it looks OK until it finishes, and then it says 'Installation complete. Errors occurred; see log for details." When I click on the log, the table headers show up, but there's nothing in them. The log is blank.

See for yourself.

OK, so I tried loading up the HP restore tools, but encountered another problem. When my computer boots, I press F11 (not F8, which just takes me to the Windows restore tools) and it says "System Restore" at the bottom of the screen ... but then Windows boots normally! D'oh!

I have no idea how that happened. I tried booting in through the Windows restore tools to see if it would let me access the HP tools from there, but no such luck. I'm really doing badly, here

Do you have the intel driver installed too?

lloose said:

Do you have the intel driver installed too?

Click to expand...

Ha, these questions are getting harder to answer. I swear, I have no idea how this computer got so screwed up.

So I thought it couldn't hurt to try reinstalling the Intel driver, just in case. I downloaded it from HP. When I run it, I get "The driver being installed is not validated for this computer. Setup will exit." Whee.

I ran the HP-AMD driver again, and this time chose "uninstall," thinking that maybe a fresh install might help. It uninstalled CCC and the other associated stuff without any problems, so I figured that was a good sign. I rebooted and ran it again, this time choosing "install." I got the same message as for the Intel driver: "The driver being installed is not validated for this computer. Setup will exit."

I feel like I'm not really making progress.

IcarusSC said:

OK, so I tried loading up the HP restore tools, but encountered another problem. When my computer boots, I press F11 (not F8, which just takes me to the Windows restore tools) and it says "System Restore" at the bottom of the screen ... but then Windows boots normally! D'oh!

I have no idea how that happened. I tried booting in through the Windows restore tools to see if it would let me access the HP tools from there, but no such luck. I'm really doing badly, here

Click to expand...

System Restore and System Recovery are two different things; You want System Recovery.

If booting to the recovery partition results in kicking you back to Windows, then I see four potential alternate methods. 1: Launch recovery manager from inside Windows and burn recovery discs to DVDs, then boot from the first DVD and follow the prompts. (Or, if you created the discs previously, use those. HP only allows you to burn one set.) 2: Use a boot disc with a HDD manager to change the active partition from the current one to the HP recovery partition. (I use a PE disc with Acronis) 3: Call HP and order a set of recovery discs; prepare to spend ~$50 for this. 4: Acquire a non-modified OEM, RTM, or Retail Windows 7 image that matches the license on the bottom of your laptop either from a friend or from a torrent site online, burn it to DVD, perform a clean install, then download all of the missing drivers from another working computer and install them on your HP. **Method 4 can be a daunting task, especially if you're not proficient with driver searching/installs.**

Yeah, so it's going to be scorched-earth; kill and restore. That's a bummer. I really, really appreciate all your help with this, but this is my business laptop and I'm at home for the next several months (so not travelling, so I can use my desktop gaming system, so the Intel graphics are not a problem right now).

For me, it's not a priority right now to spend the hours and hours it would take rebuilding my setup from scratch. When the holidays roll around, I most likely will, but for now, I think I'll keep my system gimped but set up with all my programs.

Once again, I really appreciate the help I got here. It's what I love about [H].

And next time I buy a laptop, I'm steering clear of HP *and* switchable graphics!

Nothing wrong with HP, but switchable graphics I can understand. With today's integrated graphics (Intel's HD4000, AMDs A-Series APUs) there's no need for switchable on the low-to-mid end, and the upper end Nvidia 660m or even last year's 560m systems don't appear to have inherited the same problem you were having. They still get screwed up if a graphics driver is installed via Windows Update, but you don't see the issue of the hardware device ID no longer being present, so driver rollback is very easy.

Best of luck to you in the future.

The basic rule I follow is.. NEVER EVER install drivers from Windows Update unless there is absolutely no other driver available.

I have seen too many systems get hosed by the drivers provided by MS through Windows Update.

Have a network card, want a connection? Don't install drivers from Windows Update.
Have a video card, want video? Don't install drivers from Windows Update.
Have a sound card, want sound? Don't install drivers from Windows Update.

The only drivers I've seen from MS that haven't given me a problem are the printer drivers.. and again, I only use them if there is absolutely no other drivers available.

mhenley said:

Nothing wrong with HP

Click to expand...

Well, my dislike of my HP notebook has more to do with build quality. The thing has always overheated easily, the top interior panel surrounding the keyboard pops loose if I squeeze the opposite side of the computer, one of my USB ports hasn't worked in ages, etc.