I have an MSI Pulse GL66 11UGKV laptop that should include a soldered NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. After a factory reset, the NVIDIA software appears in my installed apps, but I still can't download or update the graphics drivers. The NVIDIA app reports that the hardware is incompatible, and Device Manager seems to show only the integrated Intel graphics. Is this likely a software or driver issue, and what should I check before assuming the RTX 3070 has a hardware problem?
3 Answers
The laptop does have a dedicated NVIDIA GPU, so seeing only Intel graphics after a reset points to missing chipset or system drivers, a BIOS/firmware issue, or a disabled/disconnected device—not simply an outdated NVIDIA driver. Install MSI’s system drivers first, reboot, and then install the NVIDIA driver. If the RTX 3070 still doesn’t appear in Device Manager or BIOS, run MSI’s hardware diagnostics or contact support because it may be a hardware-level problem.
First confirm the exact GPU in the laptop’s specifications, then check Device Manager under Display adapters and also enable View > Show hidden devices. If the RTX 3070 is missing completely, the generic NVIDIA app may reject the driver because Windows isn’t detecting the card. Download the chipset, Intel graphics, and NVIDIA drivers specifically for the MSI Pulse GL66 11UGKV from MSI’s support page, rather than relying only on the NVIDIA installer. Also check the BIOS to see whether the discrete GPU is detected.
You can also look under Other devices in Device Manager for an unknown device, since Windows may have detected the GPU without installing its driver. Remove any incomplete NVIDIA installation, reboot, install the laptop’s chipset and Intel graphics packages, and then install the RTX 3070 driver. If Windows still reports no compatible NVIDIA hardware, the issue is probably that the GPU is not being detected rather than the driver download itself.
The RTX 3070 is soldered to the motherboard, so it can’t be reseated like a desktop graphics card. That makes checking BIOS detection and MSI-specific drivers especially important before trying random driver packages.