Driver power state failure is a problem that can cause BSOD error (Blue Screen of Death).
Usually, BSOD horrifies a lot of windows users and can be solved by following some steps.
Quick Overlook
What Causes Driver Power State Failure
This issue can be caused by your windows power settings, incompatible or crashed driver, and sometimes due to software issues.
In most cases, this issue comes when you try to login back after putting your PC to sleep. You can correct it with a simple restart or by following one of these alternatives below.
How to Fix Driver Power State Failure Error?
When you see Driver Power State Failure on a Windows PC, it could result in a BSOD. Here are some easy solutions of how to fix this error.
Check for Driver Updates
Sometimes incompatible or crashed drivers can cause Driver power state failure. To check the details about your connected devices and their drivers you need to go to Device Manager.
- Right-click on ‘This pc’
- Click on Manage
- From the left sidebar navigate to Device manager
- A list of all connected devices will be displayed
- Locate those who have a yellow warning sign beside them
- Right-click on the device with the warning sign and click on update driver
- You can update the driver by searching online or from a saved file on your computer.
Remove Recently Added Devices
Sometimes a recently installed hardware can cause Driver power state failure. In order to resolve the issue, check for the recent changes in your hardware.
If you have recently connected any external device then we suggest, remove those devices and restart your PC.
Run Driver Verifier
Driver Verifier is a Windows utility that allows you to test drivers and find corrupted files. You can fix driver power state failure by checking your drivers. To run Driver Verifier follow these steps.
- Press Winkey + R to open Run utility
- Type cmd and hit Run
- In Command Prompt, type verifier and press enter
- Driver Verifier utility will pop up on your screen
- Select ‘Create standard settings’ and click Next
- Select ‘Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer’ and click Next
- Close Driver Verifier utility
- Restart your PC
After the restart, your PC will check all drivers and tell you which drivers caused Driver state power failure.
Change Power Management Options
To adjust Power Management settings, follow these steps.
- Open Device Manager and locate ‘Network adapters’
- Right-click on ‘Network adapters’ and click on properties
- Network adapter properties window will open
- Click on Power Management Tab
- Check ‘Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power’ option
- Click OK to save changes.
Change Power Plan Settings
You can change or create your own Power Plan Settings. To do that follow these steps.
- Right-click on Windows in the Bottom
- Click on Control Panel
- Control Panel will open
- Find Hardware and Sound and click on it
- Choose Power Options and Continue
- Click on ‘Change advanced power settings’
- Locate PCI Express > Link state Power Management and click to expand it
- Set ‘On Battery’ and ‘Plugged in’ to off
- Locate Wireless Adapter > Power Saving Mode and click to expand it
- Set ‘On Battery’ and ‘Plugged in’ to Maximum Performance
- Click ‘Apply’ to save changes.
Run System File Checker
Driver power state failure can also occur if some file is missing. Luckily, you can fix these files using a simple Windows utility. It’s called Window’s SFC (System File Checker) tool.
To open SFC follow these steps.
- Press WinKey + R and type cmd
- Click on the Run button
- After the Command Prompt opens, type ‘sfc /scannow’ and hit enter
Updating the Bios
One can also encounter Driver power state failure error if there is any issue in the BIOS and the data flow is disturbed because of it.
In such cases, you can update the BIOS in order to mitigate the issue. Just make sure to plug your PC into a power source. Also, never turn off the PC during the process.
To update BIOS follow these steps.
- Hit Window Key + R to open the Run utility
- In Run dialogue box, type ‘msinfo’ and hit Enter
- A System Information window will show up
- Find the BIOS version/date from the info
- Go to your manufacturer’s support site
- Find the BIOS Update file
- Check the version, make sure it’s newer than the version on your PC
- Download the BIOS update file from the manufacturer’s site
- Put the file on some external device i.e. flash drive
- Restart your computer and access the BIOS page
- Make a backup of your recent BIOS, if possible
- Enable your BIOS update tool
- Update the BIOS using the BIOS update tool