Sometimes you may notice the display window suddenly flickers and becomes unresponsive for a second. And a pop-up window saying “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” will appear. Especially after upgrading to Windows 10 1809 or working with graphics-intensive applications such as 3D Max, Photoshop, and gaming.
The Display driver stopped working error mostly occurs when the Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) feature detects that the graphics card is unresponsive within the allotted time.
If you are facing the “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” error, your PC may be temporarily frozen and unresponsive. Here are some effective solutions you can apply.
Note:
First, check and make sure your PC has the latest Windows updates installed; those may contain a fix for this problem. To check for and install the latest updates, open Settings > Update and Security and click the Check for updates button.
Temporarily disable security software (anti-virus) if available. Perform a clean boot of Windows and check if the error appears again.
Reinstall display driver
This problem is most likely related to the display driver. If the installed display driver is damaged during the Windows 1809 upgrade or is not compatible with the current version of Windows, this will cause various problems, including the display driver stopping to work. Install the latest version of the display driver and check if the problem is fixed.
Press Win+R, type devmgmt.msc and click OK to open the Device Manager window.
Expand Display adapters.
Double-click display driver and select Uninstall.
After uninstalling the driver, restart the PC.
Now, go to the device manufacturer’s website and download the latest display driver software for your PC.
Install display driver. Restart Windows and check if the problem is resolved.
Note: If the problem is not resolved, try to install the driver in Compatibility mode.
- Download the driver from the manufacturer’s website.
- Right-click on the setup file.
- Click the Properties.
- Click the Compatibility.
- Check Run this program in compatibility mode for.
- Select Windows 8.
- In PrivilegeLevel, check Run this program as an administrator.
- Restart Windows and check if the problem is resolved.
Increase GPU processing time
Timeout Detection and Recovery is a Windows feature that can detect when the video adapter or driver hardware on the computer is taking longer than expected to complete an operation.
When this happens, Windows tries to recover and reset the graphics hardware. If the GPU cannot recover and reset the graphics hardware within the allotted time (2 seconds), the system may become unresponsive and display the error message “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered”. Giving Timeout Detection and Recovery more time to complete this operation by adjusting the registry value, can solve this problem.
To do this, follow these steps:
Press Win+R, type regedit, and click OK to open the Windows Registry Editor.
Backup the registry database and locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlGraphicsDriversOn the Edit menu, select New, then select the following registry value from the drop-down menu specific to your version of Windows (32-bit or 64-bit):
- For 32-bit Windows:
- Select DWORD (32-bit)
- Input TdrDelay into the Name.
- TdrDelay should be double-clicked, the Value data should be set to 8, and the OK button should be pressed.
- For 64-bit Windows:
- Select DWORD (64-bit)
- Input TdrDelay into the Name.
- TdrDelay should be double-clicked, the Value data should be set to 8, and the OK button should be pressed.
Close Registry Editor and then restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
Restart Windows and check if the problem is resolved.
Disable visual effects
You can also tune your PC for better performance by disabling some visual effects. Here’s how to adjust all visual effects for best performance:
Press Win+X and click Control Panel.
In the search box, type Performance Information and Tools, and then, in the list of results, click Performance Information and Tools.
Click Adjust visual effects. If you are prompted for the admin password, provide the necessary confirmation.
Click the Visual Effects tab, select Adjust for best performance, and then click OK.
Note: If accepting a less drastic option, select Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer.
