Graphics card not active?

[jerriannestinson610]

So recently I have purchased a new laptop. I purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad T540p (Refurbished) for light gaming (Sims 3) and school work. The details said it was to come with a Nvidia GeForce series graphics card, although, I couldn't find it in my device manager. Upon further research, it is listed as a hidden device.

I'm not sure if this means to Intel Graphics card is the default and this is why my sims 3 continuously crashes, but I went onto the Lenovo website and updated all of my drivers anyway to see if it'd affect it. I exclusively updated that specific graphic card's driver too and it didn't affect it at all, so I entered properties and basically my computer is saying that the card is not connected within my laptop. (Code 45)
http://tinypic.com/r/ib9jxd/9

How can I make this graphics card active without having to send it in? If I have to, I mean I can, I just much rather not in all honesty.

System Specs:
Lenovo ThinkPad T540p
Processor: Intel Core i5-4300M CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59GHz
RAM: 8 gb
System type: 64-bit
Only display adapter showing in device manager: Intel HD Graphics 4600
Hidden display adapters: Intel HD Graphics 4600 & Nvidia Quadro k2100m

 

[Woodzstack]

Congrats on your new laptop, but i think your issue is maybe your switchable graphics is not turned on. Install any OSD and control panel software you need, and chipset drivers and MEI drivers and get the latest bios for the laptop too, and then install the latest HD intel graphics and then see if you can SWITCH graphics mode with hotkeys to see if it prompts for free boot and shows the card in device manager. It might not be the case, because you did see it, but as hidden, but that could be misleading.... it might show up after a reboot of those things I said above minus the switching hotkey.

Also, check to see if you have NVidia control panel for the Quadro and see if there is a selection of which graphics processor to use when you go to the "manage" menu.

let me know whats what and I'll see if I can help you with follow up cause I'm bored and haven;t been on these forums in years. Cheers !

 

[jerriannestinson610]

Congrats on your new laptop, but i think your issue is maybe your switchable graphics is not turned on. Install any OSD and control panel software you need, and chipset drivers and MEI drivers and get the latest bios for the laptop too, and then install the latest HD intel graphics and then see if you can SWITCH graphics mode with hotkeys to see if it prompts for free boot and shows the card in device manager. It might not be the case, because you did see it, but as hidden, but that could be misleading.... it might show up after a reboot of those things I said above minus the switching hotkey.

Also, check to see if you have NVidia control panel for the Quadro and see if there is a selection of which graphics processor to use when you go to the "manage" menu.


let me know whats what and I'll see if I can help you with follow up cause I'm bored and haven;t been on these forums in years. Cheers !

If you'd like for me to be honest, I have absolutely no idea what you are speaking. I literally cannot understand any of this because I'm not too tech savy. If you gave me directions or a forum which explained this stuff, I could do it.\

I do have Nvidia control panel, it just won't open at all? No matter how many times I click it, it just won't open up. All of my drivers say they are up to date, just that one Nvidia driver won't update and I've installed updates from the Lenovo website and the Nvidia website and even had windows search for one.

I just tried to download Nvidia Experience in hopes that it would update my Nvidia control panel, but it's not recognizing my Nvidia GPU I'm gonna have an emotional breakdown.

 

[Woodzstack]

Can be frustrating at times. there isua program called DDU or display driver uninstaller. You could try running that from safe mode and uninstalling all videocard drivers and rebooting. Then start fresh with the HD intel and then the NVidia one. Thats where I would start and go from there.