Quite a few factors affect the operation of Windows computers but few prove as influential as drivers. If the drivers work as expected, they should allow devices to perform to their full potential. On the other hand, if the drivers act up, everything could go haywire and Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is one of the consequences. Read to the end if you keep seeing BSOD and the Stop code says “DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 00000000`00000003”.
An Analysis Of The Situation
Symptoms
When this error happens, your PC will display the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) either upon booting or at random points during usage. Similar to all BSOD errors, the stop code that indicates where the problem lies will be shown on the screen. The stop code reads “DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 00000000`00000003”.
Definition
“DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 00000000`00000003” usually means that a driver is in either inconsistent or invalid power state. As a result, the error usually occurs after it comes back from Sleep or Hibernation mode. When things go south, the computer automatically enters BSOD mode to avoid sustaining damages caused by driver issues.
What Might Have Gone Wrong
Drivers
Overall, regarding “DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 00000000`00000003”, it’s prudent to think about drivers. Some of the drivers could be incompatible with your device or their installation is incomplete. Corruption of the drivers is another possibility as well.
System Corruption
For your information, a lot of Windows functions depend on system files to work. If the system files run into problems, it’s only natural that the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) appears every now and then.
Power Saving Settings
As mentioned above, “DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 00000000`00000003” tends to emerge as computers exit from Sleep/Hibernation mode. Hence, there is a good chance that some of Power Saving settings could be the culprit.
A Few Fixes
Remove Non-Essential Hardware
In the beginning, before you fiddle with anything, you should try removing unnecessary external hardware. Afterward, see if you still encounter the BSOD after a while. If it no longer appears, you may conclude that one of the removed hardware had a faulty driver. In that case, you should reconnect the devices one by one, identify which driver is causing the problem and update/replace it accordingly.
Remove Recently Installed Drivers
If your computer only started having this issue recently, it would be wise to take recently installed drivers into consideration. The most logical action here would be to uninstall all of those drivers from your computer. Doing so may get rid of the faulty driver and therefore get rid of the source of the problem. Rest assured that the devices themselves will still work as uninstalling a driver only means returning to the default version.
Note: since you may encounter BSOD upon boot or at random times, it is recommended to get into Safe Mode.
- Step 1. Turn off the computer then turn it on again. When the computer is booting up, hit the F8 key on the first screen to bring up a list of boot options.
- Step 2. Select Safe Mode or Safe Mode with networking from the list.
- Step 3. After you boot into Safe Mode, hit Windows key + R to open Run, type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
- Step 4. In Device Manager, uninstall all drivers of devices marked with an exclamation mark. If no device is marked, recall the last drivers that you updated and uninstall them.
- Step 5. After you finish, reboot your PC and see how things turn out.
Update Drivers
Once drivers on your PC don’t work as expected, you should consider updating them. Driver updates often contain bug fixes as well as increased compatibility and performance. Hence, it is recommended to keep your drivers up-to-date to avoid driver problems. That being said, it can be difficult to identify for certain which driver needs to be updated.
One approach is to update each and every driver but that will take a lot of time and effort. For ease of convenience, you should give driver managers a go.
Once you have downloaded and installed the driver manager of your choice, run a scan. The driver manager will then show you all the available driver updates and update everything for you.
Run SFC And DISM scan
System Files Checker is a built-in Windows feature that allows you to scan the system files for errors and fix them. Since DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE could be caused by corruption in system files, SFC works wonders at times.
- Step 1. Type cmd into your Search bar, right-click Command Prompt and pick Run as administrator.
- Step 2. In Command Prompt (Admin), type “sfc /scannow” and press Enter.
- Step 3. Wait until the process finishes and see if the issue persists.
In case the SFC scan did not yield favorable results, the next step is to run DISM scan.
- Step 1. Run Command Prompt as administrator if you don’t have it open already.
- Step 2. Type “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /scanhealth” and press Enter.
- Step 3. The moment the process completes, type “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” and press Enter. When the scan wraps up, reboot your computer.
Change Power Saving Settings
If you commonly encounter this BSOD as the computer exits sleep mode, you will be able to fix it by tweaking some power saving settings.
- Step 1. Open Control Panel via Start Menu.
- Step 2. Go to Hardware and Sound > Power Options.
- Step 3. Click “Choose what the power button does”.
- Step 4. Click “Change settings that are currently unavailable.
- Step 5. Uncheck the boxes next to “Turn off fast startup (recommended)”, “Sleep” and “Hibernate”.
- Step 6. Click “Save changes” and see how things turn out.
Which Device Is The Most Likely To Suffer Driver Issues?
The most commonly reported device to experience driver issues is the GPU. GPU manages how things are displayed on the computer screen. Thus, it stands to reason that if the driver of GPU won’t work, all sorts of hassles ensue and BSOD is not an exception.
What Should I Do If Pressing F8 Won’t Get Me Into Safe Mode?
If you cannot get into safe mode by pressing F8, that means the settings for the F8 key have been turned off. This is common in Windows 10 as it is the default setting. To enable the F8 hotkey, go through the steps down below:
- Step 1. Type cmd into your Search bar, right-click Command Prompt and pick Run as administrator.
- Step 2. Run the command bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy in Command Prompt (Admin).
- Step 3. Press Enter and reboot your PC.
If the above method didn’t work for you, or if you can’t boot Windows normally, you can find additional ways to enter Safe Mode here.
Are Driver Managers Trustworthy?
Naturally, the use of third-party programs always carries certain risks. However, all of the driver managers mentioned in this article have been thoroughly tested. Hence, there is no need to worry about a thing.
