Graphics card randomly won't work after restart

[kezil24]

I have a rather strange issue. Yesterday I had to restart my machine due to Mozilla Thunderbird and Windows updates, however, when the box rebooted, my monitors displayed "No Signal". After a little troubleshooting and finding an old VGA cord, I figured out to hook it up to the on-board video card (the HDMI wouldn't work on it).

Now for some reason the card isn't detected and when I use the disk to try and re-install the drivers, I just get a "No Drivers" message at the main menu. So it looks like my graphics card just went out. But wait! I also noticed (after much frustration) that when I tried to Hibernate the box, it didn't work. Now I have Hibernate set to my front power button, however, when I also try to do it from the start menu, Hibernate and Sleep are grayed out. Please help!!!

To recap: After restart and Thunderbird/Windows updates, graphics card won't work along with losing the capability to sleep and hibernate the box.

OS: Win 7 64-bit
Graphics card: GTX 460

 

[Miranova23]

1. What updates did Windows install at that time?
(Control Panel > Windows Update > View Update History)

2. Trying popping open the case and removing the gpu. Close it back up, start up, log on, then shut down. Replace the gpu. Make sure that if it requires additional power, that is also plugged into it. Keep your monitor plugged into the onboard card. Start up and log on again, and see if it is recognized. You may have to refresh Device Manager.
(Start > type Device Manager... Right click computer's name > Scan for Hardware Changes)

3. The Sleep/Hibernate might be related to the updates, but not the gpu. Check your settings in Control Panel > Power Options.