What are the Reasons For Resetting The Graphic Card?

Suppose you have recently built a gaming computer. In that case, you probably have a powerful graphics card powering your system that allows you to play high-end games on your system, or run resource-heavy applications on the system without a sweat. Right now, there are a lot of great GPU options available out there that allow you to build a powerful gaming computer without spending a fortune. And because of that, almost everyone prefers a high-end GPU for their build as it not only makes the system capable of heavy use but also makes it future-proof.

But just like every other PC component, the GPUs are also prone to show some problems every now and then. In most cases, a simple graphics card reset might solve your problems. But in order to do so, you need to carefully go through our guide where we will explain step-by-step procedure on how to reset your graphics card. BY resetting your graphics card, you can easily get the best performance from your GPU and avoid any problems caused by improper software installation.

But before that, let us first talk about some common instances where one would need to reset their graphics card. If you are also facing any of the issues described in the following section, you may also need to reset your graphics card to see if it fixes your problems.

What Are The Reasons For Resetting The Graphic Card?

Resetting a graphics card is a basic troubleshooting step that can help resolve various issues related to its performance, stability, and compatibility with your system. Some common reasons for resetting a graphics card include outdated or corrupted drivers, overclocking problems, power issues, or even system upgrades. By resetting the graphics card, you can clear any existing settings and restore it to its factory state.

This can help ensure that it is functioning correctly with your system. If you are experiencing any issues mentioned below with your system’s graphics performance or stability, resetting your graphics card can be a useful step to try.

1. Screen Glitches

Screen glitches, such as flickering or lines on the screen, can be caused by driver issues, overclocking, or hardware failure. You will start noticing such problems when the GPU is under heavy stress, which is pretty common, especially if you use an older GPU model. But, the problem can be severe if you are seeing this problem quite frequently, even if there are no graphics-heavy applications running on your system. By resetting the graphics card, you can clear any settings that may be causing these glitches and restore the card, helping you to resolve the issue.

2. Stuttering

Stuttering is one of the root causes of rage in the gaming community. Especially in competitive games where a single moment can decide the difference between winning or losing a battle. Basically, you will start noticing stuttering in your games when the GPU fails to keep up a uniform frame time. Stuttering or lag in games or other graphics-intensive applications can be caused by a wide range of issues such as driver problems, insufficient power, or overheating. Resetting the graphics card may help resolve these issues by clearing the software preferences and bringing the GPU back to its factory settings.

3. Blue Screen

Another horrible error that almost all of us have faced at least one is the BSOD or Blue Screen of Death. This is a common error on Windows operating systems that abruptly restarts the system, irrespective of what’s happening on the system at that very moment. The blue screen error can be caused by various issues, including driver conflicts, hardware failure, or software errors. In most cases, it is observed that BSOD is mostly caused when the drivers are updated when the GPU is under heavy load. Updating the driver in such cases causes the GPU to stop functioning momentarily, causing BSOD.

4. Game Crashes

If your graphics card is not functioning as expected, you may also notice frequent game crashes. It is the worst thing to happen in an online game since you cannot join back to your match in most games such as battle royale games. So, you may even face a game crash right before you are about to secure the victory. Driver issues, hardware stutter, or compatibility issues can also cause game crashes. So, a simple solution would be to reset the graphics card before you start the game and see if that helps with your problem.

5. Strange Fan Noises

Almost all GPUs come with a dedicated cooling fan, or a set of fans if we are talking about high-end options. As these fans increase in speed, you will start to notice more noise from coming out of the GPU. But, uniform noise from the fans simply indicates that the GPU is under heavy load and fans are operated at high speeds to maintain its temperature levels. However, Strange fan noises can be observed if the fans are rapidly increasing in RPM and slowing down. This can also be a software error where the GPU driver is not getting correct feedback from the sensor, or when it is unable to process the data in order to maintain the optimal fan speed.

6. Computer Freezing

Even if the GPU does not cause BSOD, there is a state right before that where the computer simply freezes and there is nothing you can do except hard reboot your system via the power button or the restart button on your cabinet case. This is a similar condition as BSOD as you don’t get a chance to save your game or work and have to lose on the progress if the computer freezes. Similar root problems like driver problems, hardware failure, or insufficient power supply to the GPU can cause computer freezing.

7. Artifacting

Artifacting is a rather rare instance on a system, and it usually indicates hardware failure. Basically, artifacts mean that there are visual distortions or glitches in rendered frames, or skipped frame renders, which cause the resulting video feed to stutter. It can also be caused by driver issues, overheating, or hardware failure. Resetting the graphics card can also be a brilliant solution in this case since the problem may lie in improper driver configuration. Resetting the GPU, in this case, would be like replugging the GPU to your system and avoiding problems that may be caused by faulty driver installation.

8. GPU Performing Abnormally Poorly

Last but not least, a lot of us start to notice inefficient performance from the GPU after some time. While it may not be noticeable for many users, a typical gamer can surely notice when their high-end GPU starts to struggle to maintain a stable FPS in a year-old game. If your GPU is performing abnormally poorly, it could mean that the GPU is overheating, or the power supply is not as stable as it used to be. Alternatively, this can be the driver of the GPU causing the problems as it is the only program that communicates with the GPU and acts as a bridge between your processor and GPU.

How To Reset Your Graphics Card?

Now that you have understood how graphics cards work and what are some of the most common symptoms that you may notice with abnormal software settings, let us focus on the part where we discuss the solution to the problem. As we discussed before, resetting your GPU might be an easy fix to most of these problems since the root cause for most of these issues lies within the driver configuration. Therefore, we will suggest trying out the methods specified here before you decide to make any permanent changes in your system to see if that fixes your problems.

1. Using the Keyboard Shortcut

If you are using Windows OS, you can simply use a keyboard combination to quickly reset the GPU. This is probably the easiest method of all as all you have to do is press the Ctrl + Shift + Win + B key combination on your keyboard, and that’s it. This will instantly reset your graphics driver and potentially resolve any issues you are experiencing. Once you do that, you will hear a small beep from the system, ensuring the process has been completed. This simply resets your GPU state and it’s like replugging the GPU to your system. Also, you should note that any running programs will not be affected by it and you will not notice any data loss.

2. Using the Device Manager

You can also reset your graphics card using the Device Manager. The device manager is a very useful tool on Windows OS that gives you direct access to all connected hardware connected to your computer. So, you can enable, disable, reset, and even update drivers directly from this window.

To do this, simply follow the steps provided here:

1. Right-click on the Start menu and select “Device Manager.”
2. Find your graphics card under the “Display Adapters” section. You can identify the GPU by the name of the manufacturer and your GPU model listed in the device list.
3. Right-click on your GPU and select “Disable device.”
4. Wait a few seconds and then right-click on it again and select “Enable device.” This should reset your graphics card.
5. You can also attempt to reset the graphics driver from the device manager, but it is recommended to do so from the manufacturer-provided program such as Nvidia Geforce Experience, or AMD Adrenalin.

3. Uninstall and Reinstall Graphics Driver

Suppose none of the above methods have worked out for you yet. In that case, it indicates that there is a major fault with the driver installation and configuration and you should directly uninstall the driver to get rid of the problematic configuration. You can uninstall the graphics driver directly from the device manager. To do this, go to the Device Manager, right-click on your graphics card, and select “Uninstall device.” As for reinstallation, it is recommended to head over to the official support page of your GPU’s manufacturer and download the latest driver from the website. It is quite a straightforward process and does not cause any trouble in terms of data loss or hardware problems.

4. Using BIOS Settings to Reset GPU Configuration

Another software that may interrupt the performance of your graphics may be the one controlling your motherboard and not the GPU itself. Yes, we are talking about the BIOS which gives you direct access to the motherboard without having to boot your system. Some graphics cards allow you to reset the GPU configuration through the BIOS settings, bypassing the restrictions or the restrictions put in place by the driver itself.

1. To do this, restart your computer and press the appropriate key to enter the BIOS settings. While it is F2 or F12 in most cases, you should look up the BIOS key shortcut for your motherboard to make sure.
2. Here, you will find either the traditional legacy UI or a new and fancy UI designed by the motherboard manufacturer to make navigation easier.
3. Here, you need to find the option to reset the GPU configuration.
4. Once you do it, click on save and exit to save the changes and exit the BIOS settings.

5. Disable Overclocking

Overclocking is usually a bad idea for a graphics card, especially if you don’t have a powerful cooling system paired with the GPU. Overclocking can sometimes cause instability or crashes in your system due to excessively high-temperature levels, or imbalance voltage input. Therefore, you must reset the overclocking settings to see if that is the root cause of your problems. To reset your graphics card and disable overclocking, you can go to the manufacturer’s software, such as the Nvidia Control Panel or AMD Catalyst Control Center, and reset the overclocking settings to their default values. If you are using a 3rd party software for overclocking the GPU, we will strongly recommend you get rid of these programs and stick with the official recommended software.

6. Clear Graphics Cache

Clearing the graphics cache can help resolve issues related to graphics performance and stability. The cache is simply the data collected by your system and stored in case it requires access to the data quickly. However, the cache storage may increase in size over time, making it difficult for your GPU to access important data quickly, causing the issue. To resolve that, you can simply delete the cache files.

1. For that, press “Win + R” and type ” %temp%” in the Run dialog box.
2. This will open the temp folder to see the collection of cached files on your system.
3. Select all the files in the folder and delete them.
4. You may get an error deleting some folders saying the folders are currently in use. Feel free to skip these folders and delete the rest of the cache.

7. Using Powershell

Windows Powershell is also a powerful tool available in Windows OS that allows you to perform a lot of tedious functions via simple command lines. Fortunately, you can also reset your graphics card by following a few lines of commands explained below.

1. Open Powershell as an administrator and type pnputil /enum-devices /class Display. This command will retrieve the display adapter details, or your GPU in this case.
2. Then, you need to copy the instance ID of your graphics card for the next command. You can easily detect which instance ID is for your GPU as it is located right above your device’s description.
3. After that, you can use the instance ID with the pnputil /restart-device *instanceID* which will reset your GPU.

8. Reset via Task Manager

Finally, you can also reset your graphics card using the Task Manager. Press “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” to open the Task Manager, find your graphics card under the “Processes” tab, right-click on it, and select “End task.” This will reset your graphics card and potentially resolve any issues you are experiencing.

Reasons for Resetting the Graphic Card? – FAQs –

Conclusion –

Hopefully, you now know everything you need to know about resetting your graphics card to its factory state to ensure that there aren’t any software glitches causing problems with your GPUs performance. If you are facing some common GPU problems as we specified in this guide, you should always try resetting the GPU before making any decision. However, keep in mind that though this is a rather simple solution, there is very little chance that this can be the end of your troubles. If you are using a rather older GPU, then it may simply be time for you to upgrade as older GPUs are not able to keep up with the high requirements of new-gen software and games.