Due to many reasons, Windows 10 users may encounter the blue screen of death. To fix driver power state failure, you will get some effective ideas in this post.
Usually, Windows 10 laptop users face driver power state failure more. It has a reason. This stop error is caused by the faulty drivers or power management on your computer. But, Troubleshooting this error is not a big deal.
This error may appear on your PC. For example, While using Photoshop or AutoCAD, playing games, browsing websites, etc. Even sometimes, It appears when you are not doing anything. Sometimes, you may see additional things like an error code 0x0000009F or specific driver names like ndis.sys, nvlddmkm.sys or even ntoskrnl.exe. The actual reason is related to the power management for specific devices on your PC. Usually, the driver power state failure occurs when your PC calls a device to awake from a low power or idle state but the driver doesn’t respond.
There might be many other things that can bring this BSOD on your computer. Whatever the reasons are, you always can know how to fix driver power state failure. Fixing it is not that complex. See the next part of the article for the troubleshooting guide.
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Fix Driver Power State Failure on Windows 10
Before trying the actual methods, I recommend you to disable antivirus or firewall to see what happens. Because sometimes, these security programs may cause this problem. If you can’t access your PC normally, try the solutions in Safe Mode. Here are the most effective methods to solve driver power state failure blue screen of death.
1. Tweak Power Settings
As the error is related to power management, we should focus on it first. If we can disable power savings for specific devices, it may help to get rid of this problem. The wireless adapter and GPU are the most related devices with this BSOD. So, From power settings, we should disable the power savings for them and see if it helps. Here are the instructions.
- First of all, you will have to open power options. To do it, you can open the start menu, type powercfg.cpl and press enter.
- Now, Click on the “Change plan settings” option next to your selected power plan. For example, The option next to the “Balance (Recommended)” plan.
- Then, Click on Change advanced power settings.
- After that, Find “Wireless adapter settings” and expand it.
- Then, Expand power saving mode and set it to maximum performance.
- Now, Find PCI Express and expand it.
- Now, you will see the option “Link State Power Management.” Just expand it.
- Turn off the power savings for it.
- After that, Restart your computer.
It should fix driver power state failure. If not, follow method 2.
2. Update Drivers
Sometimes, This problem occurs when you have one or more incompatible drivers installed on your PC. Why suddenly the drivers become incompatible? It is because you regularly update Windows 10 and other software, not the drivers. As a result, existing drivers may become incompatible with the newer Windows build or software. So, Suddenly, Blue screen of death may appear on your computer. If this is the case, to solve driver power state failure, you will need to update the drivers. Especially, Update wireless adapter, graphics card, etc.
There are actually, two ways to update drivers. The easier way is to use third-party software like Driver Booster or Driver Easy. By the way. After updating the drivers, restart your PC. It should resolve your problem.
3. Roll Back or Re-Install Drivers
It is rare. But, It may happen that you update driver regularly. But, after installing the latest update of a driver has caused “driver power state failure.” In this case, you will have to roll-back the driver or re-install with an old version. Here are the relevant instructions.
- At first, Open the Windows Device Manager. To do it, you can open the start menu, type devmgmt.msc and hit enter.
- Then, You will see a list of drivers. Just expand each category and find the recently updated driver.
- Double-click on it and go to Driver Tab.
- After that, Click on Roll Back and follow onscreen instructions.
If you have driver booster, driver talent or Ashampoo driver updater, you can use them to restore the old version of the drivers. By the way, if roll backing doesn’t work, re-install them.
- At first, You can uninstall the driver using device manager.
- Then, Install them manually or by using the mentioned drivers.
It should fix your problem.
4. Tweak Power Management for Specific Drivers
Another effective thing you can do in order to fix driver power state failure is tweaking power management for specific drivers. This BSOD may occur when there is something wrong in power management for specific hardware for any reason. So, This method can save your day if you are lucky. If you don’t know how to do it, follow these instructions.
- At first, Open the device manager like before.
- Now, Double-click on the driver you want.
- Go to the Power Management tab and uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
- Do it for Network adapters, USB devices, etc.
- Restart your computer.
It works for many people. So, You may be one of them.
5. Undo Recently Changes
In some cases, you may encounter this BSOD after installing specific software. If it happens to you, just uninstall the recently installed programs. Or if you don’t remember what changes have taken place on your computer, you can perform a system restore. To do it, open start menu, type system restore open it and restore. It may repair driver power state failure.
6. Tweak Power Settings in NVIDIA Control Center
If you have an NVIDIA graphics card and encountering this problem, you may try this method. Your NVIDIA control center has a power management option. Tweaking that setting may help you to get rid of this blue screen of death. Here are the details.
- At first, Open the NVIDIA control panel.
- Now, Expand 3D Settings and go to Manage 3D Settings.
- Then, From Global settings, find Power Management mode and set it to “Prefer Maximum performance.”
- After that, restart your computer.
It may fix driver power state failure.
7. Uninstall Antivirus
Sometimes, Your antivirus software can cause this blue screen of death. So, Temporarily, You can uninstall your antivirus program completely. In this case, you can follow the instructions from the antivirus provider website. However, you also can use Revo Uninstaller or IObit Uninstaller to remove any programs from your PC completely.
8. Update BIOS
Sometimes, This method can save your day. To fix driver power state failure, you can update the BIOS. If there is any incompatibility issue or bugs, it will solve it. However, To know how to do it, read: How to Update Motherboard BIOS/UEFI
9. Repair Corrupted System Files
Windows OS has a very bad reputation for being slow and corrupted over time. We use many software and tools on our PC. Sometimes, Any of these may affect the whole system’s stability. However, to resolve driver power state failure, you can take steps to repair corrupted system files.
10. Identify the Actual Reason and Take Steps
If none of the above suggestions help, maybe the actual reason behind driver power state failure is beyond your assumption. So, To fix this problem, you will have to identify the problematic driver. To do it, you can analyze the dump file. It will help to identify the problematic driver. After identifying, update, uninstall or reinstall that driver to solve your problem.
These are the best ways to fix driver power state failure. In addition, you can try to make a repair installation or reset Windows. If you know any other methods, you can include it in your comment below.
