How to easily fix Nvidia Driver Crash in Windows 10

Nvidia (commonly known as Nvidia, stylized as NVIDIA, nVIDIA or nVidia) is an American technology company that designs graphics processing units (GPUs) for the gaming, cryptocurrency and professional markets, as well as ‘system-on-chip’ (SoC) units for the computer market. mobile and automotive computing. Its main GPU product line, labeled “GeForce”, competes directly with Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) “Radeon” products. Nvidia has expanded its presence in the gaming industry with its Shield Portable, Shield Tablet, and Shield Android TV handheld products.

In addition to GPU manufacturing, Nvidia provides researchers and scientists with parallel processing that allow them to efficiently run high-performance applications. They are deployed at supercomputing sites around the world. More recently, Nvidia has entered the mobile computing market where it produces Tegra mobile processors for smartphones and tablets as well as navigation and entertainment systems for vehicles.

A device driver is software that allows the operating system and other software to interact with certain peripherals and hardware. A driver is like a translator between software and hardware, allowing them to communicate smoothly, as they are often developed by different manufacturers and companies.

A graphics (video) driver is the software that allows the operating system and programs to use computer graphics hardware. Updated graphics drivers are important and often provide better performance. Driver updates usually provide bug fixes and compatibility with newer software. Most of the drivers that come with your computer or Windows (via Windows Update) are good enough and there is no need to install or update any other drivers. However, there is an exception for graphics drivers. The most common video cards are NVIDIA and AMD. Sometimes there are problems with Nvidia drivers, such as Nvidia driver crashes.

In this guide, we present a number of methods to resolve a crash of Nvidia driver, including downloading and installing the latest drivers or (ironically) older driver versions, adjusting your power options settings, disabling Windows services, etc.

Table of Contents:

Download Computer Malware Repair Tool

It is recommended to run a free scan with Malwarebytes – a tool to detect malware and fix computer errors. You will need to purchase the full version to remove infections and eliminate computer errors. Free trial available.

Change your screen resolution

Screen resolution refers to the clarity of the text and images displayed on your screen. At higher resolutions (such as 1600 x 1200), items appear crisper. They also appear smaller, so more items can fit on the screen. At lower resolutions (such as 800 x 600), the opposite case is true: fewer elements fit on the screen, but they look larger.

Some users have reported that simply changing ( decreasing) screen resolution resolves the Nvidia driver crashing issue. To decrease the screen resolution, simply right-click on the background and select ‘Display settings’ from the context menu.

Now, click the arrow next to your screen resolution and select a lower resolution than the current setting. See if this fixes the problem with the Nvidia driver.

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Reinstall Nvidia Drivers

This method includes uninstalling the current Nvidia drivers and installing the latest ones. To uninstall current Nvidia drivers, first access the Control Panel. Type ‘control panel’ in Search and select the ‘Control Panel’ result.

Now click ‘Uninstall a program’ under Programs. If you don’t see the Control Panel menu as shown in the image below, select ‘Category’ from the ‘Viewed by:’ drop-down menu. You can find it in the upper right corner of the Control Panel window.

Locate “NVIDIA Graphics Driver”, right-click it and select “Uninstall” in the drop-down menu. You can click the “Uninstall” button placed above the list to uninstall the driver.

Go to Nvidia website and download the latest graphics card drivers.

If you are not sure which drivers to download for the Nvidia graphics card, use third-party software such as Snappy Driver Installer. You will need a computer with a working internet connection to download it. Snappy Driver Installer (SDI) is a powerful free driver update tool for Windows that can store its entire collection of drivers offline. Having drivers offline gives Snappy Driver Installer the ability to access quick driver updates, even when there is no active internet connection. Snappy Driver works with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Drivers are downloaded via Snappy Driver Installer in so-called driver packs, which are just collections (packs) of drivers for various hardware such as audio devices, video cards, network adapters, etc. It can also show duplicate drivers and invalid drivers and it separates updates that require you to restart your computer so that it is easier to distinguish them from others. You can download Snappy Driver Installer from here.

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Download drivers from your laptop manufacturer

This method only applies to laptop owners. If you are not using a laptop, skip this step.

Uninstall the current drivers using the steps mentioned in the previous solution, then go to the laptop manufacturer’s webpage and download the latest graphics drivers. Some users reported that this solution helped them fix Nvidia graphics driver crashing issues.

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This method includes stopping automatic driver updates and downloading older versions of Nvidia drivers. The latest drivers are generally recommended, however, in some cases older drivers work better and provide a solution. Before installing older drivers, you must first stop automatic driver updates. Do this by typing ‘system’ in Search and select the ‘System’ result.

Locate ‘Advanced system settings’ in the left pane and click on it.

In the System Properties window, select the ‘Hardware’ tab and click ‘Device Installation Settings’.

In the device installation settings window, select ‘No (your device may not work as expected)’ and click ‘Save changes’.

Now that you have disabled automatic driver updates, remove current Nvidia graphics drivers and install older versions. We have described the uninstallation process in the first solution above. You can find “beta” and older drivers for Nvidia products here.

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Disable iGPU

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and modify memory in order to speed up the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations and game consoles

iGPU is an integrated graphics processing unit (or integrated GPU). This is a GPU made by the manufacturer of the processor (central processing unit) of the computer. There is another term, “dGPU”, which is a discrete GPU, a separate chip.

Now that we know the terminology, we will describe a solution that includes disabling the iGPU by accessing the BIOS settings. The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is software stored in a small memory chip on the motherboard. You may need to access the BIOS to change how the device works or to help troubleshoot a problem. In this case, we need the BIOS to disable the iGPU. To enter the BIOS, hold down the Del or F2 keys while the computer is booting (or starting up). In the BIOS settings, find the iGPU (or integrated graphics card) option and disable it. Save changes and restart your computer. See if this helps fix the problem with the Nvidia graphics driver.

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Manage 3D settings in Nvidia Control Panel

First, open the Nvidia Control Panel. Usually, you can access it by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting the “NVIDIA Control Panel”. In the Nvidia Control Panel window, find ‘Manage 3D settings’ in the left pane and select it. Select “Power Saving Mode” and set it to “Prefer Maximum Performance” and disable the V-Sync (Vertical Sync) option. Click ‘Apply’ to save changes and see if that resolves the issue with the Nvidia graphics driver.

NOTE: Nvidia Control Panel settings may vary depending on your computer’s version, but in general, they should be similar to those described.

We also recommend setting the power options to high performance by typing ‘Power’ in Search and selecting the ‘Power and sleep’ result.

Click on ‘Additional power settings’ in the right pane.

Now click on ‘Show additional plans’ and select ‘High Performance’ option.

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Disable your antivirus

It is also possible for antivirus software to cause Nvidia driver crashes. Temporarily disable anti-virus software to determine if the driver is still crashing and therefore causing the problem. If so, we suggest you consider using different anti-virus software (and uninstalling the current software). Some users have reported that Avast antivirus software, in particular, causes Nvidia driver crashes, and removing this software solved the problem.

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Clean your graphics card

The graphics card may be overheating due to dust, in which case it must be cleaned. Open the computer case and remove the graphics card. Clean it carefully and replace it. See if this fixes the driver crashes issue.

NOTE: Removing your graphics card may void your computer and/or graphics card warranty.

We hope one of the above solutions will help you fix the Nvidia drivers problem and you can use your computer without any Nvidia related issues.

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Video showing how to fix Nvidia driver crash on Windows 10:

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