Drivers/GPU randomly go undetected when I start up

[GenBanks]

I've been using this PC regularly for a while now (the SFF in my sig), but yesterday when I turned it on the screen resolution was down to the minimum and all the W7 eye candy was turned off, just as it is after uninstalling the drivers. I hadn't changed anything about the computer though.

What I did next was to uninstall the display drivers, run driver sweeper in safe mode, then download 160.99. I initially couldn't install the new drivers though - I kept getting an error message saying 'no compatible hardware detected.' I looked in the device manager, and it just showed 'default VGA' instead of my GTX 280. Restarting the computer didn't help, but what did eventually work was selecting 'shut down' and then starting the computer up again manually (rather than clicking 'restart'). Then the GTX 280 was detected and I installed the drivers. Everything worked fine for the rest of the day.

Now this morning, I turn on the computer and the drivers/gpu are not detected again (no gtx 280 in device manager, no nvidia control panel option when I right click on desktop). I restart a couple times, nothing. Then I click 'shut down' and start manually (as before) and suddenly everything's back to normal.

Any ideas? I'm stumped

 

[n3zyd]

lan party pc, is it possible something is loose? Try reseating the card and all power connectors
if that dosen't work this will sound silly but try it if all else fails a Qtip or something like it placed under your card pushing up gently but firmly so as to make better contact, my old nf4 board pcie slot only works if something pushes the card up