When you restart your computer or wake the system from sleep mode, you may encounter a Blue Screen of Death “Driver Power State Failure”. Sometimes, you may even get the BSOD when running some program. Although there could be multiple reasons for this, there are some fixes to try. Let’s see what we can do as follows.

  1. Scan for malware or virus infections
  2. Update your graphics driver
  3. Roll back your graphics driver
  4. Run Driver Verifier
  5. Run an SFC scan

Before we start troubleshooting, please disconnect the external devices such as USB speakers or something, as they may be one of the reasons for the Driver Power State Failure error. Also, close any background applications for less interference. Then, proceed with the steps below.

1. Scan for malware or virus infections

Checking for malware or virus infection is the first thing you need to do when you get a BSOD and the Driver Power State Failure error. It’s necessary to run a deep scan throughout your whole system.

You can use Windows Defender to do the scan, but it’s also recommended to use a third-party antivirus (like McAfee) as a supplement.

If there is no malware or virus found and your computer is completely healthy, then try the next method.

2. Update your graphics driver

When you see the Driver Power State Failure error, another thing you should do is to update your graphics card driver, since an up-to-date graphics driver always ensures the best gaming performance and fewer bugs.

To update your display card driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then right-click your graphic card driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software.
  4. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
  5. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  6. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

If Windows says that it’s already found the latest driver for you, so no newer drivers are found, then you should consider updating your graphics driver in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the Driver Power State Failure error, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

3. Roll back your graphics driver

If you have recently updated your graphics driver and the Driver Power State Failure popped up afterward, you should try to roll back your graphics driver to the previous version, as it may be incompatible with your devices.

To do so:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then double-click your graphic card driver to view the driver Properties.
  3. From the top menu, select the Driver tab. Then, click Roll Back Driver.
  4. Click OK and then restart your computer for changes to take effect.

Check if the issue persists. If so, try the next tip.

4. Run Driver Verifier

Some corrupted or missing driver files can also cause the Driver Power State Failure error. To test your driver and detect problematic files, you can run the Driver Verifier, a powerful built-in tool in Windows operating system. Here are the steps:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt. Type cmd and press Shift, Ctrl, and Enter together to open the Command prompt as an administrator.
  2. Type verifier and press Enter to open the Driver Verifier Manager.
  3. On the pop-up window, select Create standard settings and then click Next to continue.
  4. Choose Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer, then click Finish to continue.
  5. Click OK if you’re prompted to restart your computer for changes to take effect.

Once a problematic driver is identified, you can uninstall it through Device Manager first, and then use Driver Techie to reinstall the driver.

To uninstall a driver:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and X together and select Device Manager.
  2. Look for the previously identified problematic driver, right-click it and select Uninstall.
  3. Click Yes to confirm the uninstallation.

To reinstall the driver, Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it and click the Scan Now button. After that, reboot your computer and see if the error persists. If so, move on to the next solution to do an SFC scan.

5. Run an SFC scan

Another possibility is that there are corrupted or missing files on your system that lead to the Driver Power State Failure error. In this case, doing a System File Checker scan would help. Here’s what we can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt, type cmd, and press Shift, Ctrl, and Enter together to launch the Command prompt.
  2. Paste the following command lines and press Enter to execute:
    sfc /scannow
  3. Wait until the verification is 100% complete. The scan results will be shown after this process is finished.

Now, the problematic files should be detected and fixed.

So, these are the five tips we recommend to resolve the Driver Power State Failure error on Windows 11. If you have any other workarounds, please feel free to share them with us in the comments below.