So for a few weeks now i get random blue screens of death, after some research it leads me to believe i have GPU driver issues. Upon trying to update drives it prompts more errors and I"m willing to do a resfreh of windows.
My question is, does going through the Reset feature in windows update the drivers ?
Windows Reset or Fresh Reinstall?
![](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/g/38.jpg)
Comments
No the reset feature restores Windows to the factory default config.
Fresh install everytime.
I would completely wipe the hard drive and all partitions first via BIOS if needed then manually install windows
No point, just delete the partitions when installing Windows.
I would turn the computer off for the day and try again tomorrow then windows update
Big Jack is much better mate
GPU driver issues
that or your components might be starting to fail.
Get DDU, go to safe mode, run it and then re-install drivers after a restart.
if that doesnt work, then try a windows install
generally for GPU change DDU works, for CPU change its recommended to do a fresh install
If it is an older computer I would check whether the computer is overheating or not. I'd check whether or not there is a bios update. There will be a need for significant time for troubleshooting hardware.
could be the latest quality windows update i had nothing but problems with the sept update I think I blocked it for 4 weeks then installed, uninstalled it again and again, then the very latest 2h patch seems to have fixed it.
so basically undo latest sept win update and see if it stops bsod
Hold [Windows Keys] + [R]
A search box will appear. Type: perfmon /rel
Click on the latest red cross event.
Take a screen shot and upload.Most of the time it's better to just reinstall Windows and let windows update take care of downloading drivers. Most of the time, the drivers from Microsoft are newer than the ones uploaded on the manufacturers website.
I normally reinstall Windows every 3 months. Just to clear any bugs, space grabbers and hidden viruses.
When you get a BSOD what is the error message?
As Hybroid suggested I would clean reinstall GPU drivers using the following method:
Download DDU and drivers. Extract DDU somewhere.
Reboot into safe mode. If you don't know how to do this: hold Win key + R, enter "msconfig" without quotes, go to boot tab and tick "safe boot", press OK and then reboot.
Run DDU from where you extracted it. Choose Video drivers and AMD or Nvidia and click the button to remove the drivers.
-NOTE: We DO NOT want to boot normally again at this point so choose to not reboot.
Reboot into safe mode without booting into normal Windows again. (Use msconfig from step 2. again if you don't know how).
Install video card drivers.
Reboot to normal Windows. If you don't know how to do this: hold Win key + R, enter "msconfig" without quotes, go to boot tab and untick safe, OK and then reboot.
If this doesn't work then I would use fresh install. Reset probably works fine though.
Firstly thanks for the time.
I tried this, and on step 5, trying to install the driver it says “Error 192- Radeon software install cannot proceed as your system currently has restricted installation settings active”
Is it suggesting I can’t install it in safe mode?
Is it ok to restart PC with uninstalled gpu driver in normal (Not safe) mode?
Yeah so as long as you have backup all your data, you can just do all the step diji1 described in normal Windows mode. I've done this process at least 20 times in the past months in normal Windows mode without issue
Thanks everyone, i've updated the GPU driver and will see how i go. Appreciate all the responses.
You can reinstall GPU drivers as fresh install without re-installing Windows by the way. Give that a go first.