NVIDIA graphics card not detected... anywhere!

[sarzi]

Hi everyone,
I have a M17x alienware laptop with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M I bought in 2011. I haven't had any problems until now. When I click on the NVIDIA control panel it says 'not detected', it doesn't show up in device manager or the BIOS. I've tried a few things from other threads online and still nothing. I even restored my laptop to factory settings and the same thing is happening. I don't know a lot about computers so if you have any suggestions please be kind and make it easy for me to understand
Any help is appreciated thanks!

 

[alvine]

does your laptop have a switch next to the keyboard to change between dedicated graphics and integrated graphics found on the processor?

 

[sarzi]

It's come up before to press Fn F7 to switch which I've tried and it does nothing, it doesn't recognize that I have the Nvidia to switch to.