The THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER error indicates that a driver for a device, almost always the driver for the video card, is stuck in a loop, waiting for the hardware to go idle or do some other operation.
The error comes along with a Blue Screen of Death, and will require you to restart your computer. It usually happens when you’re doing something that actively uses the graphics processing unit of your computer. Both users with AMD and nVidia graphics cards have complained that the error happens with them.
There are two possible solutions for fixing this, and they’ve been both tried and tested, and work for different situations. The first one to try should be to update the BIOS, and if that doesn’t work, check the drivers for your graphics card.
Method 1: Set the Hardware Acceleration to None (Windows 7)
Even though it will reduce the functionality, as well as the performance of your video card, setting the Hardware Acceleration to None can fix this issue.
- Press the Windows key and type Display, then open the Display
- Go to Change Display Settings and click Advanced Settings.
- Go to Troubleshoot, and when inside, click Change Settings.
- In the troubleshooter, you will see a Hardware Acceleration heading with a Hardware Acceleration Drag it all the way to the left, towards None.
- Click OK, and restart your computer.
Method 2: Check for available BIOS updates, and if available, do them
If there’s a BIOS update waiting to be applied, it might give you this BSOD error. Identify which BIOS version you have at the moment first, and update if necessary.
- Press the Windows and R keys on your keyboard to open the Run Type msinfo32 and press Enter to open the System Information window.
![thread_stuck_in_device_driver-error-1]()
- Click on System Summary, and locate your BIOS version right under the processor speed. Note the version – you will need it.
![thread_stuck_in_device_driver-error-2]()
- Head to the website of your laptop or motherboard manufacturer, and check the drivers for your model. Be careful, downloading and applying a BIOS update for a different model might brick your computer.
- If there’s a newer version available than what you have installed, download it.
- Before installing, read the documentation. Those documents might tell you that you need a specific thing in order for the updates to be applied, such as a patch, or drivers for something above a certain version. Failing to do this might, again, brick your computer.
- Update your BIOS using the downloaded .exe file, and reboot. Make sure that you have enough battery if you’re running of it – your device shutting down will fail your update and you won’t be able to boot.
If this is the issue that caused a BSOD with the THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER error message, it is now resolved and you won’t face that problem again. If not, however, read on to the following method and see if that works for you.
Method 3: Update the video card drivers
If the BIOS update didn’t fix your issue, it is more than likely caused by faulty video card drivers.
- Press Windows on your keyboard, type Device Manager and open the result.
- From the list of devices, expand Display Adapters.
![thread_stuck_in_device_driver-error-3]()
- Right-click your graphics card and select Update Driver Software. Let Windows update your drivers and reboot at the end.
- Alternatively, you can choose Uninstall instead of update. When you’ve rebooted, head to your GPU manufacturer’s website, and download the latest available drivers for your GPU.
- Install the drivers you downloaded, and reboot.
Method 4: Change your GPU
If all else fails, that might mean that your graphics card is malfunctioning and you will need to get a new one. However, before doing that, borrow a graphics card from someone to test if it works on your system. If it does, and you stop getting the error messages, you should get a new one. There is now a lot of choice in that market, so see what your budget says and get the best GPU you can for the money.
At the end of the day, if it was a software issue, simply updating your BIOS or graphics card driver will solve the problem. The methods described above are dead simple to follow, so don’t hesitate to try them to solve your issue.
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