How to Restart Graphics Driver in Windows or macOS Computers
Are you wondering how to restart the graphics driver in your macOS or Windows PCs? You’re in the right place! Learn the best steps to reboot your graphics driver in leading PC operating systems and also for most graphics card manufacturers.
Why Do You Need to Restart Graphics Driver?
A graphics card is an important piece of hardware for a computer. It has dedicated graphics processing unit (GPU), video RAM (VRAM), CPU cooler, and a graphics driver.
The graphics driver controls these gears and also communicates with the device operating system for smooth operations. Resetting or rebooting a graphics driver solves various graphics rendering-related issues, such as:
- Encountering a black screen during gameplay.
- A frozen screen while streaming 4K video from YouTube.
- The pixelated screen while the PC is processing a game or video in web browsers.
- PC user interface (UI) font is blurry.
- Intermittent black screens while working on high-performance tools.
The aforementioned issues aren’t fully specific to the graphics driver malfunction. However, many users have found that the issues go away when they reboot the graphics driver.
How to Restart Graphics Driver in Windows 10 or 11
There is a one-click solution if you want to reset the graphics driver in your Windows 11 or 10 computer. Also, you can apply this solution to all of the graphics card brands. For example, there is a single step to reset the graphics driver of Nvidia, AMD, and Intel GPUs.
Moreover, whether you’ve got Nvidia or AMD GPUs from different manufacturers like ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Zotac, Sapphire, etc., the same troubleshooting steps will work.
Additionally, this step saves you from time-consuming PC troubleshooting like restoring Windows to a different time point, uninstalling and re-installing a game or software, or opening up the computer case and dusting off the internal parts.
Follow these quick steps to reboot the graphics driver on Windows 10/11 PC:
- Press Windows+Ctrl+Shift+B keys together for once.
- Depending on your computer’s hardware configuration, you may see simply a black screen for less than a second, hear a brief beep sound, the screen flashing once, or no change in the display.
- Pressing the above keys altogether re-initiates the graphics driver software that runs in the background.
You can perform this troubleshooting whenever you want. It won’t interrupt any software’s functioning or gameplay.
How to Restart Graphics Driver in macOS
If you want to reboot the graphics driver in macOS PCs, you need to reset the nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM) or Parameter RAM (PRAM). You need to follow these steps:
- Shut down the Mac computer.
- Locate these keys: Option, Command, P, and R since you need to press them all together.
- Turn on the PC and then quickly press and hold Option+Command+P+R.
- Release the keys after hearing the startup sound a second time or seeing the Apple logo appears and disappears two times.
Conclusion
Both the Windows and macOS operating systems come with intelligent error resolving programs. Therefore, in most cases, you’ll see that Windows or macOS automatically reboot the graphics driver to revive the video rendering operation.
However, sometimes you may need to try the step manually if your computer isn’t responding to graphics driver failures. Therefore, know how to restart the graphics driver and try the troubleshooting step once before panicking and buying a new gaming graphics card.
