Dell G3 3779 Dedicated GPU

MindMaster01 · January 1

Hello, I recently got ( for free ) this laptop ( model g3 3779 from Dell ) from a company who discarded most of the older equipment. This particular laptop is in great shape, rarely used and etc. I saw it had dedicated 1060 GPU from NVIDIA which would make it a great budget gaming laptop, but there is a problem. Windows instantly blue screens whenever I try to install drivers for it, it just insta crashes.I get this : nvlddmkm.sys system_thread_exception_not_handled which would suggest that its a driver issue ( according to google at least ). I tried drivers from Dell ( older and new but without success ) same result, same BSOD. I updated everything else - BIOS, mobo drivers, but nothing helps. I cant find anything in BIOS related to dedicated GPU so I assume it switches to it when it needs in Windows. Had to boot to safe mode to disable auto drivers install from windows bcs it kept BSOD-ing every time I turn on the laptop so now I am stuck with only Intel UHD 630 but at least there is no crashes. I also tried downloading latest drivers from NVIDIA which installed fine and GPU is picked up in device manager but after restarting windows it gives me error code 43 - device reported problems so Windows stopped it ( attached picture ).
This is probably hardware related so my questions are : Did anyone had anything similar to deal with ? Can it be fixed , or is it even profitable to take it to the repair store ? Thanks for the responses in advance.

OS - Windows 10 x64 2H22
RAM - 16 GB

Sawa Takahashi · January 1

With some luck, contacting Dell customer support may be a good way to investigate the issue.

Bjoolz · January 1

5 hours ago, MindMaster01 said:

Can it be fixed , or is it even profitable to take it to the repair store ? Thanks for the responses in advance.

When it's the GPU, usually no. And you should be wary of GPU repair at repair shops as most them will at most be able to do a reflow. Reflowing can fix things, but the temps you expose it to while reflowing also bake it. Baking a GPU can temporarily fix (At most 90 days of normal use) so you won't know if it's a permanent fix until after the warranty for the repair runs out which is usually 30 days. Replacing the GPU is usually quite expensive and for most not worth it.

Some GTX 1060 GPUs were MXM designs, basically a daughter board that plugs into the motherboard. These can be replaced fairly easily, but even on ebay they are quite expensive at $200-300.

I would nuke the both the Intel and Nvidia driver using DDU, have internet disabled because of Windows update, and for the driver reinstall, use Dell's drivers. Some laptops can get crashes like this if they don't use the OEM driver as at least a base. Also, when reinstalling, install the Intel driver first. Re-enable the internet after both are installed. If it's stable with these drivers you can try updating.