What should I do if the video driver stops responding and has been repaired?

Today we will tell you about the main ways to fix the “Video driver has stopped responding and was successfully repaired” error. The cause of the problem can be completely different situations, for example: an incorrectly updated or outdated driver, incorrect settings of the video chip, disabling hardware acceleration in the system, exposure to malware, high load on the GPU due to running resource-intensive games and applications, software failure in the BIOS, malfunctions updating Windows 10, 8.1, 7 and even the presence of dust in the hardware itself.

Rolling back the video adapter driver
Configuration via NVIDIA Control Panel
How to install DirectX?
Using the OS Registry
Where to enable or disable hardware acceleration?
What to do if the video card overheats?
Unsuccessful overclocking of the video card

The error “The video driver has stopped responding and has been repaired” is displayed in the system tray and is accompanied by text about which video driver (NVIDIA, AMD, ATI Radeon or Intel) caused the problem.

You can also see the inscription Kernel Mode Driver, nvlddmkm or atikmdag.

Regardless of the type of notification and type of errors, steps should be taken to eliminate them. This will help avoid subsequent problems with the performance of Windows and your PC as a whole. By following the instructions from our article, you can identify the exact cause of the failure and get rid of the message “The video driver has stopped responding and was successfully restored.”

What should I do if I receive the error “The video driver has stopped responding and was successfully restored”?

Often, the problem we are considering appears due to incorrect operation of the graphics chip driver. Many more users encounter such a failure due to the installation of an incompatible or unsuitable video driver. First of all, pay attention to the nuances below.

If Microsoft Manager notifies you that the video driver does not need to be updated, but you did not install it manually and do not know whether it was updated automatically, it is recommended that you try to update the driver without using the functionality of the standard manager. To do this, you need to download the installer from the official website of NVIDIA, AMD, etc.
Use the same method if you downloaded and installed updates using third-party driver packs.
If the downloaded components cannot be installed manually, then you need to remove the current version of the driver. To get rid of complex manipulations, we recommend using the Display Driver Uninstaller program.
Laptop owners can try to install the software not from the NVIDIA/AMD website, but look for it on the manufacturer’s website, taking into account the specific model of the video card and laptop.

By the way, the problem may be due to the presence of a large number of active processes and services that consume a lot of GPU resources. Go to the task manager and see which processes can be stopped and close them. You can use the professional Advanced SystemCare utility to close unnecessary services and improve OS performance. Situations involving malicious software (including mining software) should not be ruled out. It happens that some objects cannot even be stopped or removed using a standard uninstaller. Check your computer with a good antivirus, then remove objects using specialized software IOBit Uninstaller.

If the latest updates are installed correctly, but the problem still occurs, you will need to roll back the video card driver

Open “Start” and go to “Control Panel”;
At the top right of the screen, change the viewing mode from categories to large icons;
Launch "Device Manager";
Expand the “Video adapters” tab, find your equipment and right-click on it, select “Properties” in the context menu that opens;
In the next window, see if the “Roll Back...” key is active, if so, press it;
If the rollback option is not available, you should click “Update driver”;
Further steps - click “Search for drivers on this computer”, then “Select a driver from the list of available ones” and indicate the location of the old driver on your hard drive (which you previously downloaded);
Click “Next” and wait for the rollback or reinstallation procedure to complete, and then check if the problem is fixed.

If you don't have the required driver version, you can. We also recommend reading the article about ways to update video drivers.

Problems with Adobe Flash Player

Quite strange, but sometimes this crash occurs due to malfunctioning Adobe Flash Player. In this case, we just need to visit the official website of the program, download its latest version and reinstall it. Do not forget that when downloading this application, you must take into account the bitness of your operating system. Determine which Windows, x64 or x32 bit you have installed.

In the meantime, we are moving on to reviewing the next method to solve the problem when the video driver stopped responding and was restored in Windows 7, specifically when working with an NVIDIA video card.

Fixing an error on some NVIDIA video cards by changing power management settings

If your system sometimes freezes and displays a crash message on the taskbar, changing the default NVIDIA GeForce configurations may help. Basically, you need to change the optimal power consumption to the best one.

Go to the control panel and open the “NVIDIA Control Panel” item;
Find the “3D Settings” section and select “Manage 3D Settings”;
In the “Global” tab, look for the “Power management mode” item and click on the line “Prefer maximum performance mode”;
Press the “Apply” button and check whether the OS freezes after performing the above manipulations.

If it doesn’t help, move on to the next step

In the 3D parameters section, open the “Adjust viewing picture settings” item;
Try activating “Custom settings with a focus on performance” by checking the corresponding box.

The problem with video card drivers may also be related to other configurations . For example, some gamers have encountered situations where the texture filtering function is enabled in a certain game, but disabled in the video chip settings themselves. To troubleshoot, you need to merge all configurations.

Compare the performance in a specific toy or graphic editor;
Log into the NVIDIA Control Panel and go to Global 3D Settings;
It remains to set the filtering parameters (trilinear, anisotropic) and anti-aliasing, setting them similarly to the settings in the game or program;
Now check if you managed to get rid of computer freezes.

Power management

Sometimes the graphics adapter simply does not have enough power. A simple solution, but sometimes it helps:

Again, use your operating system's Start menu and navigate to Control Panel.
In the upper right part of the window, activate the search bar and write the word “Power Supplies” in it. When the desired result appears, click on it.

Switch the computer to maximum power consumption mode as shown in the screenshot. When this is done, click the “OK” button, thereby saving the changes.

Well, if you have a problem again and the problem is not solved, move on to a more effective method. There are several of them, and we will look at each in detail below.

Running hardware acceleration in the browser and Windows

If a malfunction often occurs when surfing the Internet or on the Windows XP, Vista and higher desktop, follow the instructions below.

What to do if you find problems on your desktop?

Open the “Control Panel” and go to the “System” item;
On the left side of the screen, select the “Advanced system settings” section;
A window with properties will open, click the “Advanced” tab;
Just below the “Performance” subsection, click on parameters;
Find the tab for setting up visual effects and check the box next to “Ensure the best performance”;
We confirm the request to make changes.

If a crash occurs when the browser is running

Most often, the notification pops up when playing Flash content and videos. Let's take a look at the guide for Google Chrome.

The mechanism of action in other browsers is practically the same.

Launch the browser and click the icon in the form of three horizontal lines located in the upper right part;
Open the “Advanced” tab;
Find the item “Use hardware acceleration”;
If it is turned off, activate it; if it is on, turn it off;
Press the reset button;
After restarting, try to see if the video clips load correctly;
If nothing crashes and the media content is played without warning about problems, then everything worked out for you.

If the above method does not help, your version of Adobe Flash Player is probably outdated . Visit the flash player official website and download the latest update for Adobe Flash Player.

Disabling visual effects

Sometimes simply turning off the visual effects of Windows 7 helps solve the problem. These can be, for example, animations, transparency, shadows of icons on the desktop, and so on. To turn it all off, take a few simple steps:

Open the Start menu and launch Control Panel.
Go to the “System and Security” section, and then “System”.
On the left side of the window that opens, select “Advanced system settings.”

In the new window we find the “Performance” section and in it click the “Options” button.
Switch the trigger flag to the position that provides the best performance. When this is done, click the “OK” button to save the changes.

As a result, our operating system will start to look worse, however, the crash related to the NVIDIA graphics card video driver error can be resolved. If this does not happen for you, move on to the next option.

What to do if your video card overheats?

If you notice that your device is overheating while running resource-intensive games and 3D programs, the essence of the problem may lie in the large amount of dust collected inside the case. You can restore full functionality of the cooling system by cleaning the internal components.

Before starting cleaning, we recommend that you test the temperature of the video card and other components using one of the following utilities: MSI Afterburner or FPS Monitor.

If the overheating theory is confirmed, you should clean the “insides” of the computer. Don't forget that all components need periodic cleaning, including: graphics adapter, motherboard, processor, coolers, RAM stick, built-in connectors, slots, heatsinks, etc. Gently clean all components with a brush or cotton swab and wipe the contacts with a paper eraser. You can also replace the thermal paste.

If you are not confident in your own skills, it is best to contact a service center.

Cleaning the NVIDIA video card

If none of the options listed above helped you, try simply cleaning your system unit from the dust that has probably accumulated inside. In particular, clear the radiators and video card cooler of anything unnecessary. Often, dirt that accumulates there prevents proper cooling or even the rotation of the fan blades.

You should work carefully, be sure to turn off the power and unplug the system unit from the outlet. Use a small brush or blower to direct air flow onto the fan blades and aluminum radiator fins. Using these simple tools, you can literally get the cooling surface of your graphics adapter perfectly clean in just a few minutes.

Now let's talk about the most unpleasant reason that can give an error when the video driver has stopped responding and has been restored.

Solving the problem with the video card after unsuccessful overclocking

Often, the proper operation of a video chip is hampered by its incorrect overclocking. The use of overlocking does not always have a beneficial effect on the performance of a PC or laptop. You can correct the situation by returning the basic settings.

Depending on the specific model of your video card, visit the developer’s website and look at its default configurations in the “Specifications” section;
Download one of the utilities suitable for your video chip;

For NVIDIA cards, NVIDIA Inspector is suitable. The software will allow you to find out the clock frequency of the video card and configure its basic configurations.

Launch the application;
We look at the GPU Clock field, it shows the current frequency of the video adapter;
Press the Show Overclocking key;
In the top line we indicate Performance Level 3 P0, the option will help remove changed characteristics and reset all default values;
Now adjust the desired values to those indicated on the manufacturer’s website by moving the sliders “-1”, “-10”, “-20 MHz”;
After completing the manipulations, click “Apply Clocks/Voltage”;
If you have tried all possible options and did not notice any positive results, repeat the same steps with the Base Clock indicators.

For AMD cards, use the AMD Overdrive utility or Catalyst Control Center. In addition, a universal option for resetting a video card is the MSI Afterburner program.

Regarding failures in the BIOS, it is better to contact specialists, since the lack of appropriate knowledge can lead to the appearance of a “blue screen of death” and the emergence of more serious problems.

Overclocking a video card as the cause of the problem

If you have overclocked a video card yourself, then most likely you know that the problem in question may be caused by overclocking. If you haven’t done this, then there is a chance that your video card is factory overclocked; as a rule, the name contains the letters OC (Overclocked), but even without them, the clock frequencies of video cards are often higher than the base ones provided by the chip manufacturer.

If this is your case, then try setting the base (standard for this graphics chip) GPU and memory frequencies; you can use the following utilities for this.

For NVIDIA video cards - free NVIDIA Inspector program:

On the nvidia.ru website, find information about the base frequency of your video card (enter the model in the search field, and then on the page with information about the video chip, open the “Specifications” tab. For my video card it is 1046 MHz.
Launch NVIDIA Inspector, in the “GPU Clock” field you will see the current frequency of the video card. Click the Show Overclocking button.
In the box at the top, select "Performance Level 3 P0" (this will set the frequencies to the current values), and then use the "-20", "-10", etc. buttons. reduce the frequency to the base one, which was indicated on the NVIDIA website.
Click the "Apply Clocks and Voltage" button.

If it doesn't work and the problems are not fixed, you can try using GPU (Base Clock) frequencies lower than the base ones. You can download NVIDIA Inspector from the developer’s website https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html

For AMD graphics cards, you can use AMD Overdrive in Catalyst Control Center. The task will be the same - set the base GPU frequencies for the video card. An alternative solution is MSI Afterburner.

Installing an older version of the video driver

If the problem still persists, download one of the older versions of the video adapter driver.

New graphics drivers may have compatibility issues with Windows, so installing an older driver will often help resolve the issue.

Step 1. Press “Win+R”, type “appwiz.cpl” and click “OK”.

Press “Win + R”, type “appwiz.cpl” and click “OK”

Step 2. Find the video card driver in the window, select it by clicking and click “Delete”, having done this operation with all driver components.

Remove all video card driver components

Step 3. Restart your PC.

Reboot the PC

Step 4. Go to the advanced driver search page: https://www.nvidia.com/download/find.aspx.

Go to the advanced driver search page

Step 5. Set your video card model in the menu and select “Recommended/Certified” drivers in the “Recommended...” window. Click "Search".

Set your video card model in the menu and set the driver to “Recommended...”

Step 6. Download the old, stable version of the video card drivers.

Loading the old, stable version of video card drivers

Step 7. Proceed in accordance with Steps 3-8 of the section “Installing a video driver for an Nvidia video card.”

Following the steps listed above usually helps in resolving the said video driver issue on your PC.

DirectX problem

If the error appears only in some applications, then the reason may be DirectX. Modern software uses only the latest drivers. Try downloading DirectX from the Microsoft website.

Some games, including Rust, have the ability to select the DirectX version, use it.

Flash hardware acceleration

Hardware acceleration in Flash can also play a role - the error occurs when trying to play Flash content.

To disable acceleration, we perform the following set of actions:

We open a special video prepared by the manufacturer for testing, then right-click on the content and go to “Options”.

We're filming o.

Restart the browser and try to play any video.

It is also recommended to update Adobe Flash Player itself - the component is free and can be downloaded from the company’s official website.

Elimination methods

There are many solutions to the problem “The video driver has stopped responding and has been repaired.” Therefore, some of this will work, and the main thing here is not even to try everything, but to conduct an investigation into the changes that have occurred in the system before an error occurs.

The main methods will be discussed below, but here it is worth noting those that are not so popular, but worth knowing about:

Video card overheating. Here you need to check the cooling system, thermal paste and cooler, and what condition the equipment is in - it’s more difficult for the card to work with a layer of dust.
Cleaning the board contacts. They may be damaged, so it is worth checking their integrity.
Using a different power supply scheme with better performance. This is enabled from the Control Panel, from the item about power supply.
Disable Aero if enabled.
Editing the registry using software that is installed from the Windows website.
Enable Windows updates (Figure 6).

Sometimes removing the video card and installing it in the same place helps fix the problem, but more often this is a temporary solution. So sooner or later you will still have to do something more significant.

Figure 6. Possible methods to solve the problem

Video driver update

Despite popular belief, driver updates are not always beneficial. Therefore, the final versions are far from guaranteed to be better than the previous ones. For this reason, before each driver update it is worth making a system restore point, and then checking whether everything is working stably.

If an error occurs on a PC or laptop after an update, then the driver needs to be rolled back to the build on which everything worked. If there have been no updates for a long time, and the game is new, then the video card drivers should be updated to the latest current version. This can be done through the Properties menu or through Device Manager.

Typically, Nvidia owners experience driver-related errors, so they should be especially careful. Drivers for Nvidia are available on the official website and are easy to install.

Installing new DirectX

This solution is only suitable for cases where the error occurs during gameplay. Moreover, regardless of what software is indicated in the error, because just for games it is necessary for Direct X to be the latest version. In other cases, it is unlikely to be the cause. But for prevention, you can update, especially since it’s easy - updates for Direct X are on the Windows website, which are easily accessible through browsers and the Internet.

Moreover, DiretcX is on disks with games, and if they are launched from the media, you can look for this program there, and the restored DirectX will start working stably (Figure 7). Often the folder is called Redist.

Figure 7. Reinstalling DirectX drivers

For the error “Video driver amdkmdap has stopped responding and was successfully restored” when mining and playing some games, this method will not work, here it is worth referring to the physical state of the card.

Resetting your video card

Of course, the video card may not be configured correctly. For example, functions that are disabled on the video card are enabled in the game, and because of this conflict, an error occurs.

To reset settings on Nvidia, you need to:

Click on the Nvidia icon on the tray (near the clock).
Select "Open Control Panel".
Select the item about managing 3D parameters.
At the bottom right of the window that opens there will be a Restore button.
You can also set the highest performance mode here. Then you should turn it on in the settings, in the section about computer power supply.

This is enough to reset Nvidia settings. It's also worth looking at the resolutions for anti-aliasing, texture filtering and triple buffering.

But for AMD the algorithm will be as follows:

Click on the AMD icon on the tray.
Open Catalyst Control Center.
Find the Games item.
Open 3D application settings.
Check all the boxes about using application settings.
Click "Apply".

After all these manipulations, in both cases, you will have to reset all settings in games on your computer or laptop and set them again.

The above methods will also help solve the problem of improper overclocking of the video card. It can cause many problems, including the error described in this material.

Updating the version of Adobe Flash player

If the computer writes about restarting the video driver while surfing the Internet, then the problem may lie in the malfunction of the Adobe Flash Player program. Often problems arise precisely because the wrong version of this software is installed, so it is worth checking its relevance, updating it periodically, or reinstalling it from a USB flash drive or other media.

Figure 8. Installation process for the latest version of Adobe Flash player

If the problem is not solved, you can stop hardware acceleration of the flash player. This is done in the parameters of any web page object that is launched using Flash player.

It is also worth mentioning here that this advice will soon no longer be relevant, because Adobe will no longer support the Flash player and it will become part of other software, so the problem with it may also disappear.

In conclusion, it remains to mention two more methods for resolving the problem “The video driver has stopped responding and has been restored.” This is reinstalling Windows and repairing the video card or hard drive. They are extreme and should not be resorted to, but since the material touches on all solutions, these options are also worth mentioning. However, only a few users reach them, because the rest are helped by the other methods presented in this article.

Why does it occur

This is a rare case on Windows where the error message contains at least a hint of what exactly happened. Moreover, its text is basically meaningless and describes what happened. So, if the video card or drivers have not done their job, then they stop responding to user requests.

If the response does not occur within two seconds, then Windows itself repeats the request and restarts the driver, so the user does not have to restart the computer each time. So it turns out that the video driver actually stopped responding and was restarted, that is, restored.

A video card is complex equipment, so despite the fact that the cause of errors lies within it, it is difficult to immediately assess which part of it did not work correctly. After all, problems turn out to be in the drivers, the quality of the connection, the graphics chip or contacts. Therefore, this article talks about the reasons and solutions that are suitable for most users.

Nvidia Windows 7

The “NVIDIA Windows Driver has stopped responding” problem has many causes, so most of the methods below will work.

Most often, an error here means problems with the firewood - its version or some settings may not be suitable. So it's worth checking these two methods first and then moving on to others. Also, an error with Nvidia often triggers due to excessive heating of the video card or its poor installation, so the second step will be to get into the system unit (Figure 3). Additionally, it is worth finding out how RAM is used.

Figure 3. Updating drivers via the official website

AMD Windows 7 x64

“The AMD driver video driver has stopped responding and has been restored” appears if the AMD driver is not the version required. That is, it needs to be either updated or rolled back to the previous version.

So usually with AMD, as opposed to Nvidia, driver rollback works, and only then you can try other methods described below. It is also worth noting that sometimes it is the game that the user launches that matters (Figure 4). Therefore, owners of AMD video cards should also read reviews of other users about this game - perhaps their problem is not unique.

Figure 4. Appearance of AMD video driver error

Additionally, as in the Nvidia example, hardware can matter. Therefore, in the case of AMD, it is recommended to open the system unit and see what condition the video card is in, since overheating is possible.

Intel

The “Intel Drivers video driver has stopped responding” problem also appears more often when launching games. It is the most serious, since in the vast majority of cases it occurs due to video card failures, and occasionally due to hard drive failures (Figure 5).

Of course, if you're lucky, these elements may not be connected well enough. But if not, they will have to be either repaired or replaced, because the methods presented below will not work, even if no one forbids using them for prevention.

Figure 5. Intel video driver error when starting the game

It's about Windows updates

Operating system updates are also an important thing, which eliminates many problems. If you haven't updated your computer in a while, it's recommended to do so. In Windows 10, you should go to Settings and then go to Update & Security. Check for updates and download them.

This is interesting: How to disable Windows 10 update in Windows 7 and 8.1?