Hi I think I have finally figured out that CUDAminer must have slightly damaged my card. Because it is not 100% recognised when it is running alongside intel graphics (nvflash does not see it) and that would explain why it is defaulting to intel hd graphics.. However I have managed to update everything and clear it up enough so that when I change it to the dedicated only mode (when the 970m is the only graphics processor) it forces the card to work as there is only one display adapter.

However I am unsure what has happened to the card because when it is running it runs flawlessly and the memory is still fine (so I know I haven't burnt it out).

Furthermore I don't think the heat generated was too much for the gpu because I only ran it for 2 hours at 70ish degrees and it can quite easily get up to this temp when I have a long gaming session anyways.

From what I have observed the card normally steps up from 135MHz through 428MHz and ends up at over 1000MHz but when CUDAminer activates it, it jumps to over 1000MHz straight away which could have damaged it slightly. Maybe CUDAminer needs a setting to slowly ramp up the voltage and clock speed of the card like what happens in normal conditions.

Thanks everyone for your help! If anyone knows how to get the 970m recognised in nvflash please let me know because the last thing I could try is to reflash the vbios (but it needs to see the card to flash).

If anyone has anymore suggestions please pop up or send me an email at tom.ski@hotmail.co.uk