GoKawiilWindows driver-cleanup bug erases Nvidia GPU drivers on Asus ROG laptops in Eco mode
A Reddit user with an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 found that running the laptop in Asus' Eco mode, which disables the discrete GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU to save battery, caused Windows to eventually uninstall the Nvidia drivers entirely. Investigation of Windows logs revealed that pnpclean.dll, a routine that purges drivers for hardware absent past a timeout period, treated the disabled GPU as permanently disconnected after 15 days and wiped its drivers.