Video TDR Failure Error and Solutions

Few things terrify Windows users as much as a blue screen also known as the "screen of death." A color, blue, which in these cases does not bode well. But there are many errors that are announced in this way, some worse than others. One of these errors is Video TDR Failure that is registered from the Windows 7 version and whose origin is related to failures in the video card driver.

Is it a serious error? Not at the beginning. In most cases this failure is associated with “atikmpag.sys” file. Common sense tells us that the first thing to do is update the card driver. Unfortunately, this remedy does not always work, so you have to look for other solutions.

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Update graphics card drivers

As we pointed out at the beginning, most of the time the origin of the problem that causes the Video TDR Failure error is in the graphics card drivers. What you have to do in these is to proceed to update them. Depending on the graphics card, the error may have different names: nvlddmkm.sys in case of an NVIDIA card, atikmpag.sys for AMD or igdmkd64.sys for Intel HD users.

In any case, to update the graphics card drivers, this is how to proceed:

1. First, we press the keys Windows + R to open the run command.
2. Then we write devmgmt.msc and the Enter key.
3. On the screen Device administrator, we select the option of Display adapters.
4. We right-click and choose the option Update Driver.
5. The next step is to select the option Search automatically for updated driver software.

From here it will be our computer that starts the update automatically. Once completed, you will have to restart the computer and check that the error message has disappeared.

Reinstall display drivers

If the above solution didn't fix the error, then reinstalling the drivers is what you will need to do. The steps are very simple, but the most important thing is reinstall with Windows in safe mode:

1. First you have to press the keys Windows + R to open the run command.
2. There we write msconfig and press the Enter key.
3. In the window of System configuration let's go to the option start.
4. Then we check the Safe Mode box and restart the computer.

Already in safe mode, we can start the process of reinstatement of the controllers:

1. In the start menu we write Device administrator.
2. After opening it, we look for Display adapters.
3. Right click and choose the option Uninstall device.
4. There we check the box Delete the driver software for this device.
5. We restart the computer.
6. Finally, we install the new drivers.*

(*) Previously, they will have to be downloaded from the manufacturer's official website: AMD, Intel, Nvidia...

PC clean boot

If the above method has not worked, you can try what is known as a "clean boot" of the system. This procedure will serve to rule out that there is a background program that could be causing this and other errors.

For this boot it will be necessary to start the computer in safe mode with the same steps that we have seen before.

1. We press the keys Windows + R, thus opening the run command.
2. In it we write msconfig and press Enter.
3. In the window of System settings we are going to Services.
4. We look for the box Hide all Microsoft services, located at the bottom of the screen, where we select Disable all.
5. In the Program initialization we click on Open Task Manager.
6. There, within the Initialize option, we deactivate all non-Microsoft software options.
7. To finish, we close the Task Manager window, click OK in the System Configuration window and restart the computer.

Repair system files with SFC

The tool SFC It is very useful for any Windows user. With it, it is possible to scan and repair damaged system files, which can be the source of many errors such as Video TDR Failure. To run SFC we do the following:

1. In the start bar we write cmd.
2. Then we right-click on the command prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. In the console, we write the command SFC / scannow and press Enter. That will start the scan and repair process.

When the process finishes, we will have to restart the computer and check that the error has been solved.

Check hardware components

If the error persists, you may ask yourself this question: What if the problem is in the hardware? The best way to check is physically remove the graphics card and reboot the computer. If everything works normally, the solution will be as simple as replacing said card.

If our computer has the integrated graphics, you will have to deactivate them by following these steps:

1. First you have to press the keys Windows + R to open the run command.
2. There we write devmgmt.msc and press the Enter key.
3. At device manager we look for the option of Display adapters.
4. We search and select the option of Deactivate device.

It only remains to restart the computer and verify that the problem no longer exists.

Restore the system

If everything we have tried so far has not worked, we always have as a last resort the system restore to a period prior to the last installation of Windows Update. This is how you do it:

1. First we go to the Windows search box and there we write Create restore point.
2. We select the first result that is displayed, which corresponds to the closest restore point in time. This is the option recommended by Windows, although the final choice is ours.
3. Then, at the bottom of the window, select System Restore.

Importantly, the restoration process it does not affect the documents, images and other personal data that we may have stored. After completing it, we will have eliminated the error at a stroke Video TDR Failure.