[Hardware] How to Fix Graphics Card Error and Video Issues

𝐌𝐑-𝐀𝐇𝐌𝐄𝐃 体 · May 5, 2024

Graphics cards are a fine piece of technology responsible for handling and outputting images on your system's screen. While they enhance your computer's graphics by speeding up the overall graphics processing time, they may not be necessary if you do not carry out activities that require heavy graphics processing (such as modern gaming or 3D modeling) on your device.

Graphics card errors could cause your device to periodically malfunction –especially while playing heavy games. You may have experiences of your computer freezing, hanging, crashing, and abnormal screen color display or weird color patterns on your screen. These are some symptoms to take note of: Driver crashes Computer's screen going blank while other lights on keyboard or CPU are on (indicating a working computer) Loud fan sounds (which may be from your system's motherboard or the graphics card's cooling system) All these are symptoms of a bad graphics card. This guide provides several ways of fixing these errors, but before jumping into the fixes available for bad graphics cards, here are a few things you should know: 1. What's Graphics Card A graphics card is a graphics-enhancing technology; It may be a display adapter or video card within a computer's motherboard or installed and connected to the motherboard externally. The graphics card is a piece dedicated to providing very clear or high definition graphics data. In most cases, large games or software for 3D modeling will require a high GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), which may not come originally built into your device. In such cases, a graphics card will be required for optimal user experience. 2. What Can Cause a Graphics Card to Fail? Numerous errors can cause your graphics or video card to fail. Here's a summary of what leads to a broken graphics card: Poor ventilation Device overheating Dead graphics card fans Blown capacitors Outdated drivers Insufficient power supply to GPU The causes of graphics card failure are numerous, but those listed above are usually the case. Generally, overheating and power supply issues are the major causes. The effects of overheating can be severe and immediate (usually the cause of the video card error 43). Your graphics card is an electronic device made of tiny electronic components such as resistors and capacitors; an increase in temperature beyond your card's limit can result in these components physically damaged. Your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) requires a constant and sufficient power supply, especially when playing games that heavily utilize your GPU. 3. Symptoms of Bad Graphics Card The symptoms of graphics or video card errors are numerous. It would help if you were mindful of your graphics card whenever you notice any of these symptoms. Here's a summary: Distorted visuals or weird patterns displayed on the screen Periodic driver crashes The loud noise made by fans Black screen Blue screen appearing during gaming Unexpected system reboots 4. Graphics Card Errors VS Video Errors There's no distinction between graphics cards and video cards –they mean the same things. However, there's a distinction between the symptoms of graphics card errors and video errors, and this is not to be mistaken for normal video errors. Symptoms of graphics card errors have been listed above under the 'Symptoms of Bad Graphics Card' while symptoms of video errors as a result of bad graphics card includes: Strange colors displayed while watching videos Jerky and stuttering videos Screen freezing while playing videos Part 2. How to Fix Graphics Card Errors Okay, let's dive straight into the various known ways of solving graphics card errors without wasting more time. Before running to a technician or disassembling it yourself to go real technical on it, here are a few things to try to fix your graphics card errors the easy way. First, recall that there are some symptoms of bad graphics card errors, as mentioned earlier in this post. Recalling these symptoms may make it easier for you. A poorly ventilated graphics card, for instance, may need good ventilation to work again. So, try these things:

Overheating is one of the most common causes of graphics card errors. Whether the graphics card came with its cooling system or depends on the main device's cooling system requires proper ventilation. One way to know if your motherboard or graphics card is overheating is if you hear a sudden roaring fan sound in your device after launching a video game that utilizes lots of your GPU. Always use your device in well-ventilated places –especially when playing games. All the heat generated by your computer's motherboard needs to be dissipated. 2. Update The Drivers Apart from the possibility that your graphics or video card drivers are outdated, it is always good to check and update your drivers. Updating your graphics card drivers is a good way to keep up with the ever-changing gaming technologies. Check the link that corresponds to your graphic card's manufacturers; NVidia AMD Intel Better still, you can automatically update drivers on Windows using the following steps: Step 1. Launch Device Manager Hold down the Windows Key + R on your keyboard, type cmd into the dialogue that pops up, and launch the Windows command prompt. Step 2. Type 'devmgmt. msc' into the window and hit the Enter key on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can click the Windows icon at the bottom left corner of your screen and type "Device Manager" into the search box to find and launch it.
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