HP PC will not detect discrete GPUs

[Protoapex]

Hey guys. I'm in need of some help here.

Firstly, specs:

It's a old HP Pavilion h8-1120 PC. Out of warranty, of course.

i7-2600 @ 3.4 GHz stock
Pegatron IPSIB-CU (Carmel2) motherboard
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM
1 TB HDD
Windows 7 Home Premium
Nvidia GT530, 2GB
300W PSU

I decided to give my i7-2600 some thermal paste maintenance.

That alone went fine. But me pulling out the processor from the mobo socket caused the HP PC I was working on to stop detecting discrete GPUs and revert back to the integrated GPU found inside the processor.

HP's BIOS settings are a major pain to work with, and I have yet to remedy this. I've done everything from installing the latest BIOS update, installing the integrated GPU drivers (which, oddly enough, are not present on this OEM PC) to disabling the iGPU in Device Manager (since THIS BIOS has no option to force the onboard GPU off or even force on PCI-E cards) and trying to run a display off the discrete GPU. I've even tried to swap in other GPUs, just to make sure it is a motherboard problem. None of the GPUs have been identified. No luck so far.

Alternatives may include getting a sub-$50 mATX motherboard to replace the crappy HP OEM mobo, or simply reinstalling Windows 7- but on a hard drive that may or may not be ending its lifespan.

Anyways, if you have a suggestion you'd like me to implement, let me know. Thanks!

 

[stormflakes]

i heard that deleting all the drivers and then installing them from scratch might work. If you update drivers they sometimes missbehave ...
Blowing out connections with compressed air might work too...

Hope you figure it out ... playing jane of the jungle just isn't the same as GTA V

 

[Protoapex]

Storm, would you advise to install all original HP drivers, or just the graphics driver? I am unable to do that because the motherboard does not detect the GT 530 at all. As for the other drivers, I am somewhat able to reinstall all of them.

 

[stormflakes]

if you cant detect your gpu i'dd guess you have a motherboard problem, but i'm not an expert in broken things.
If at all possible you could try to stick your gpu in a different pc ( friends, family, ... )
If that works then you know your GPU is fine, and you keep on looking.

Best advice i can give you, maybe someone else had this exact problem and can tell you what solved it for them ...

anyone?

 

[Protoapex]

Sadly, I tried a GTX 650, HD 4350 and GT 530 on the HP and a different PC. They were detected the other PC.

I'm guessing it's an HP thing.

 

[Protoapex]

I've submitted questions to other tech boards as well.

One user suggested I clean the PCI-E bus and the GPU for dust/corrosion...

 

[norsestar]

If it worked before and doesn't after you reseated the CPU, I'd suspect the socket. Pull the CPU and check for bent pins and/or dirty pads.