Graphics Card problems and how to fix them

If your Graphics Card is giving you problems and you think that it may have been damaged, we give you some direction on how to diagnose it correctly and, if possible, how to fix it. After all your Graphics card may not be broken, and the problems may have a solution.

From video games to professional 3D work, a graphics card is an essential piece in any modern PC, be it a dedicated graphics card or an integrated graphics card (iGPU). Unfortunately, problems do happen and things break, so if your graphics card is giving you trouble and you think it's broken, we give you a few steps to follow to try to identify what's causing the problems and how to fix them.

Diagnosis and solution to graphics cards problems

The symptoms can be many and not all of them mean that the graphics card is failing, so we are going to talk about all the most common and frequent possibilities one by one so that you can identify exactly what is happening to your Graphics card.

The image freezes or Blue screen of death

The graphics card is, together with RAM, the component that causes the most blue screens of death, although the "crashes" can be various and diverse, since it may also be that the screen freezes (and the audio too, producing infernal noise) , or simply that the PC restarts or shuts down. Not all crashes are caused by the graphics card, but if you get blue screens of death and problems related to the GPU appear in the information, there you have a fairly clear clue.

Also included in this symptom is that the screen remains completely black. Likewise, there are various driver errors that we may have, including the famous Windows one that says "The display controller stopped responding and recovered", which is usually associated with the game we are playing getting blocked and force to close it forcibly.

How to fix it:

• Update the drivers: It's always a good idea to keep your graphics card drivers up to date, but when you're having trouble with it it's even more advisable and in fact it should be the first thing you should try. You can download the latest drivers for your graphics card directly from the manufacturer's website.
• Make sure everything is properly connected: The best way to do it is to disconnect everything and reconnect it. In other words, disconnect the cable from the graphics and also from the monitor. Disconnect the graphic from the power connectors if any, and remove it from the motherboard. Then, do the reverse process again.

Screen artifacts

This usually happens in games, and almost always the cause is precisely the graphics. The famous "artifacts" that cause bizarre images to be displayed, a sign that the GPU has not correctly processed the polygons, colors, or other shapes in the image. Another similar symptom is when "snow" is shown on the screen, or the entire screen is covered with "digital garbage".

This happens more frequently in older laptops, due to the fabricant doing a bad job while soldering the GPU to the motherboard. In this situation there are two fixes:

• Lazy, half assed solution: Laptops usually -if not always- have CPUs with integrated graphics cards, this means you can disconnect through software the faulty dedicated graphics card and keep working/playing with your CPU's integrated graphics, which is enough to play low requirement games (such as LoL) and do every-day tasks. To do this there are two ways:
  • Somewhat experienced users: Go to the BIOS and select iGPU as default. This might not always work as some fabricants restrict full access to the BIOS.
  • Inexperienced users: Open the Device Manager (Press windows key + x), Click the + or > symbol next to the Display adapter options in the list, Right-click the onboard video card and select the Disable device option. Then right-click again the onboard video card and select the Uninstall option. Restart your computer, it will be working with the integrated GPU.
• Professional, difficult but better solution: Reballing or reflowing the dedicated graphics cards. This means opening the laptop and applying heat to the GPU in order to solder it back correctly. This is not recommended for normal users, but rather send it to a technician that offers this specific service.

If the problem occurs with desktop GPUs, the first thing you should do is updating the drivers, as the cause of the problem may be software-related. If after updating the drivers the problem persists, then we are sorry to inform you that you should get a new graphics card.

Fans working at maximum

If the fans are running at full throttle from the moment you start a game, you probably have a graphics problem, either because the GPU is not cooling properly, or because the GPU is not giving the fans the right commands. Firstly you have to update the drivers, if that doesn't work, then you have to make sure of cooling the GPU properly:

Improve airflow: In order to achieve this you have to make sure you are drawing cool air from the front and pushing the host hair out the back. If this is not enough, you can add an extra fan at the top.

Clean the fans and heatsink: Some very basic dusting won't do any damage if you're careful. If you are a more experienced user you can try and change the thermal paste.

If nothing works: Buy a new Graphics card

This article's intent is to help you fix your graphics card, but if nothing works and/or its time the old GPU gets replaced, then we recommend reading about newer GPUs.