WHY WOULD YOU NEED TO RESET YOUR GRAPHICS CARD DRIVERS?

If you’re experiencing graphics related issues such as your screen flickering, crashing, displaying error messages, or a lower graphical performance, then resetting your graphics card drivers would be one of the first troubleshooting steps to take to try and resolve the issue. This is also useful if a recent Windows update has caused issues with your graphics card settings.

There are a several different ways to reset your graphics card drivers, such as:

Resetting Your Graphics card Driver via Keyboard Shortcut

  1. The simplest method to reset your graphics card drivers would be to press the Windows+Ctrl+Shift+B keys on your keyboard at the same time.
  2. Once done, your monitor will flash / flicker and then return to normal.

Resetting Your Graphics Card Driver via Task Manager

  1. To access Task Manager, you will want to press Windows+Ctrl+Esc keys at the same time.
  2. Once Task Manager has opened, open the “Processes” tab and then scroll down until you locate the “Background Processes” category.
  3. Locate the processes that relate to your graphics card manufacturer, which will either be Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD.
  4. Go down the list of the Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD processes, right clicking on each one and selecting the “End Task” option.
  5. Once all the processes have been closed, the graphics card driver will reset.

Resetting Your Graphics Card Driver via Windows Powershell

Another method would be to reset your graphics card driver via Windows Powershell.

  1. This can be done by accessing Windows Powershell by pressing Windows+X keys at the same time and then choosing “Windows Powershell” within the generated list.
  2. Paste the following command and press enter for it to show you the driver information: “pnputil /enum-devices /class Display”
  3. Select the entire string of numbers and letters to the right of “Instance ID” and copy this.
  4. Now type in “pnputil /restart-device” and then paste the string of copied Instance ID afterwards.
  5. Press Enter and your monitor will go to a black screen for a couple of seconds and then return to normal.

Resetting Your Graphics Card Driver via Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA Software

You can also reset your graphics card drivers via Intel HD Graphics Control Panel, AMD’s Adrenaline Editon Software or the NVIDIA Control Panel.

Intel HD Graphics Control Panel

  1. Right Click on your desktop and choose from “Graphics Properties” from the context menu.
  2. Choose from the “3D” cube icon, which will be the second option along.
  3. Click on “Restore Defaults” towards the bottom left and then click on apply within the pop-up window.
  4. Once done, restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

NVIDIA Control Panel

  1. Right Click on your desktop and choose from NVIDIA Control Panel from the context menu.
  2. Click on Manage 3D Settings within the 3D Settings drop down menu.
  3. You should then see “Restore Defaults” within the top right corner, which you will want to click.
  4. Once done, restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

AMD Adrenaline Software

  1. Right Click on your desktop and choose from AMD Software Adrenaline Edition from the context menu.
  2. Click on the settings cogwheel icon in the top right corner
  3. Select the Factory Reset button within the left side options and select “Perform Reset”.
  4. Once done, restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

HOW TO UNINSTALL AND REINSTALL YOUR GRAPHICS CARD DRIVER

If you have an NVIDIA or AMD graphics card, then you may have to do additional steps to uninstall and reinstall your graphics card drivers.

This method can also be useful if you’re going from an AMD graphics card to an NVIDIA graphics card, or vice versa. This will remove any AMD / NVIDIA settings that are still attached to your system.

  1. First you will want to download the 3rd party software known as Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) - https://www.guru3d.com/download/display-driver-uninstaller-download/
  2. Once you’ve downloaded and extracted the folder, it’s suggested to run the program whilst your PC is in “Safe Mode” which can be done by holding down the “Shift” key when selecting “Restart” within Windows.
  3. Once the PC reboots, it will show a blue screen with multiple options. You want to choose “Troubleshoot”, then “Advanced Options”, and then “Startup Settings”.
  4. Within the next screen, choose from option “4) Enable Safe Mode”, to which the PC will reboot into Safe Mode.
  5. Now launch DDU and select your relevant graphics card manufacturer towards the right side of the window.
  6. Select the “Clean and Restart” button towards the left side of the window.
  7. DDU will then run the driver uninstaller and confirm the reboot once done.
  8. Once your PC has started, go to your graphics card manufacturer of choice and download the latest driver for your graphics card, whether this be Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD.
  9. Once your graphics card driver has been downloaded, run this and follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver. You may need to restart your PC once the driver has installed, so the changes can take effect.

WHAT IF MY GRAPHICS RELEATED ISSUE PERSISTS?

If you’ve gone through resetting as well as reinstalling your graphics card driver and the issue is still occurring, then you can try:

  • Updating and/or Reinstalling Windows.
  • Revert to an older graphics card driver.
  • Update your BIOS to the latest version.
  • Test your PC with an alternative monitor and/or video cable, or try your PC with an alternative graphics card, if you can.

If you’ve gone through these additional steps and the issue is still present, then the issue is more than likely hardware related and could be down to a defective graphics card.