Losing your computer due to a blue screen error is incredibly frustrating. Since the advent of Windows, Blue Screen of Death (also known as “blue screen” or BSoD) has caused more problems than we can imagine.
One of these blue screen errors is the TRD video error. This error occurs when you try to play a video file or game, or when you do anything related to video output on your computer.
Instead of playing properly, your computer returns a blue screen with the error message “VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (atikmpag.sys)”.
It will then restart, but the problem never goes away.
Depending on the brand of your video card, you may also see a different error name:
- For an NVIDIA graphics card, the error will appear as nvlddmkm.sys.
- With an Intel graphics card the error will show up as igdkmd64.sys.
- With AMD or ATI graphics cards the error is displayed as atikmpag.sys.
Reinstall or update the default graphics drivers
Since you can’t start your computer successfully, you have to enter safe mode to do the job.
After entering safe mode, perform the following steps to update the drivers:
- open the Device Manager.
- Expand the Graphics Cards section.
- Right-click on the display device. 4.
- Select Delete.
- Select the Uninstall software driver for this device check box when the following window appears.
- Tap Uninstall.
Finally, you can restart your computer to see if it starts normally. If the computer starts properly, you can use the Check for Hardware Changes option in the Device Manager to update the driver to the latest version.
You can also download and install the latest driver version manually from the manufacturer’s official website.
Adjust energy and sleep settings
Some users report that simply adjusting the power and sleep settings in Windows 10 actually fixed the problem http://windowsbulletin.com/windows-10-video_tdr_failure-error/. Since this is the easiest way to potentially fix the VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE error, let’s start there. Right-click the desktop background and select “Display Options.”
Now go to “Power and Hibernate” in the left pane and change the screen and hibernation settings to “Never”. See if this solves the problem.
Install old drivers
If reinstalling or updating your drivers did not resolve the VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE error, we recommend that you install an older version of the graphics driver. To do this, open the Device Manager by right-clicking on the “Start” button and again selecting the “Device Manager” result from the context menu. In Device Manager, find “Graphics Cards”, expand it, right-click on your graphics device and select “Update Driver” from the context menu.
You will be asked if you want to automatically search for updated driver software or search for driver software on your computer. Select the “Find drivers on my computer” option.
Now click on the “Allow me to choose from the list of drivers available on my computer” option.
Select an older version of the driver and click “Next”. Windows will begin installation. If necessary, restart your computer and see if this solves the problem and resolves the “VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE” error.
Hopefully at least one of the methods solved the problem and fixed the “VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE” error. If there is another method that worked for you, feel free to share it with us and the rest of the world by leaving a comment in the comments section below.