How to Fix Driver Power State Failure on Windows 11

Is your computer crashing due to a driver power state failure? Here’s how to fix a driver power state failure on Windows 11.

We’ve all experienced the strange sensation of part of our body going to sleep. When your entire body is asleep, everything is fine, but when you’re awake, and your foot has gone to sleep, it feels very weird indeed.

Your computer can go to sleep too, to save power. Software is suspended, and hardware may be disabled or put into a low-power mode. As long as your entire computer is asleep, all is well. What happens if the rest of your computer is awake, and one part of it remains asleep?

Well, one possible result is that you get a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) informing you that something has gone wrong with your computer. Specifically, you get a driver power state failure BSOD. As with any BSOD, this could lead to you losing data or hours of your hard work. The good news is that there are some steps you can take to stop this error from occurring again. Here’s how to fix a driver power state failure on Windows 11.

What is the Drive Power State Failure Error on Windows 11?

When your computer crashes and you see the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) you’ll see a small bit of text at the bottom of the screen indicating the cause of the crash. One such error code is DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. This error is caused by problems with devices not waking from sleep when you’re using your computer and is because of issues with the device drivers or the power settings. There are a few fixes that you can try to fix this error.

Update Drivers

Your drivers are one of the most likely causes of the driver power state failure error. In particular, the drivers for your network adapter and display adapter are likely to be the culprits, but you should also update any other drivers that are marked as being problematic.

Right-click the Start icon in the taskbar.
windows 11 start button

windows 11 start button

Select Device Manager.
windows 11 device manager

windows 11 device manager

Click the arrow next to Display Adapters to expand it.
windows 11 display adapters

windows 11 display adapters

Right-click the display adapter and select Update Driver.
windows 11 update driver

windows 11 update driver

Select Search Automatically For Drivers.
windows 11 search automatically

windows 11 search automatically

If updated drivers are found, you can install them. If not, you’ll see a notification that you’re already using the best available drivers. Repeat the process for all of your Network Adapters.
windows 11 network adapters

windows 11 network adapters

If any other devices have a yellow warning triangle, repeat the steps above to update those drivers. You’ll need to expand each device type to see the symbols. Repeat until there are no more devices with warning symbols. Restart your computer.

Roll Back Drivers to Address a Driver Power State Failure

If your display and network adapters were both found to be up to date, you can try rolling them back to previous versions instead. It may be that the drivers have recently updated, and that the current versions are the cause of the problem.

Right-click the Start icon in the taskbar.
windows 11 start button

windows 11 start button

Select Device Manager.
windows 11 device manager

windows 11 device manager

Click the small arrow next to Display Adapters.
windows 11 display adapters

windows 11 display adapters

Right-click the display adapter and select Properties.
windows 11 driver properties

windows 11 driver properties

Select the Driver tab.
windows 11 driver tab

windows 11 driver tab

Click the Roll Back Driver button.
windows 11 roll back driver

windows 11 roll back driver

Select the reason you want to roll back and click Yes.
windows 11 why are you rolling back

windows 11 why are you rolling back

The current driver will be replaced with the previously installed version. Restart your computer.

Turn Off Sleep Mode

Since the driver power state failure error is caused by devices failing to wake from sleep, turning off sleep mode for your computer may be able to fix the problem. You can change your settings so that your computer never goes to sleep unless you manually put it in sleep mode. Changing this setting does mean that your computer will use more power, however, as it won’t go into a low-power sleep mode.

Right-click the Start icon in the taskbar.
windows 11 start button

windows 11 start button

Select Settings.
windows 11 settings

windows 11 settings

In the left-hand menu, select System.
windows 11 system settings

windows 11 system settings

Click Power.
windows 11 power settings

windows 11 power settings

Under Power, select Screen and Sleep.
windows 11 screen and sleep settings

windows 11 screen and sleep settings

Change When Plugged In, Put My Device To Sleep After to Never.
windows 11 never sleep

windows 11 never sleep

If you’re using a laptop, change On Battery Power, Put My Device To Sleep After to Never. Your computer will no longer go to sleep unless you manually put it to sleep.

Change the Power Settings

Windows 11 also has some more advanced power settings that relate to specific components of your computer. You can change the power settings of some of these components to stop them from going to sleep. This may fix your driver power state failure error, although it will mean that your computer uses more power.

Type Control Panel into the search field in the taskbar.
windows search for control panel

windows search for control panel

Select the Control Panel app from the results.
windows control panel search result

windows control panel search result

Click Hardware and Sound.
windows 11 hardware and sound

windows 11 hardware and sound

Under Power Options click Change Power-Saving Settings.
windows 11 change power saving settings

windows 11 change power saving settings

Click Change Plan Settings next to your current power plan.
windows 11 change plan settings

windows 11 change plan settings

If you already turned off sleep mode as described in the section above, Put The Computer to Sleep should read Never. If it doesn’t, you can change it to Never here to stop your computer from sleeping if you wish.
windows 11 sleep never

windows 11 sleep never

Click Change Advanced Power Settings.
windows 11 advanced power settings

windows 11 advanced power settings

Click the + (plus) icon next to Wireless Adapter Settings and then expand Power Saving Mode.
windows 11 wireless adapter settings

windows 11 wireless adapter settings

Click the current setting.
windows 11 power saving settings

windows 11 power saving settings

Select Maximum Performance from the drop-down.
windows 11 power saving maximum performance

windows 11 power saving maximum performance

Expand PCI Express by clicking the + (plus) icon.
windows 11 pci express

windows 11 pci express

Click the current setting.
windows 11 pci power management settings

windows 11 pci power management settings

Select Off from the drop-down to stop the device from going to sleep.
windows 11 pci power management off

windows 11 pci power management off

Click Apply to save your changes. Restart your computer.

Remove External Hardware

If you’ve recently added any new external hardware to your computer such as a webcam or external hard drive, you can try removing this device temporarily. Restart your computer and see if the driver power state failure error stops. If it does, you know that the issue is with your external device; you can either leave the device disconnected or try to troubleshoot the problem with the external device.

Run System File Checker

System File Checker (SFC) is a Windows utility designed to find problems with system files on your computer. If any corrupt files are detected, the tool will download and replace the affected files.

Right-click on the Start icon.
windows 11 start button

windows 11 start button

Select Terminal (Admin).
windows 11 terminal admin

windows 11 terminal admin

Grant Terminal the ability to make changes to your computer. Type sfc /scannow. You should ensure there is a space after sfc or the command won’t work.
windows 11 sfc scannow to fix driver power state failure

windows 11 sfc scannow to fix driver power state failure

The System File Check scan will start. It can take a while to perform. Eventually, you’ll see a message reading Verification 100% Complete. Type exit and press Enter to quit the tool.
windows 11 sfc complete

windows 11 sfc complete

Restart your computer.

Reset Windows

Another possible fix is resetting your computer. This performs a clean install of Windows while keeping your files and folders intact. Since everything is restored to factory settings, this may help to solve your driver power state failure issues.

Right-click the Start icon in the taskbar.
windows 11 start button

windows 11 start button

Select Settings.
windows 11 settings

windows 11 settings

Click System in the left-hand menu.
windows 11 system settings

windows 11 system settings

Scroll down and click Recovery.
windows 11 recovery settings

windows 11 recovery settings

Click the Reset PC button.
windows 11 reset pc

windows 11 reset pc

To ensure your files aren’t deleted, select Keep My Files.
windows 11 keep my files

windows 11 keep my files

Decide if you want to install from a Cloud Download or a Local Reinstall. Click Reset.
windows 11 reset

windows 11 reset

Your computer will be reset.

Fixing the Driver Power State Failure Error on Windows 11

Learning how to fix driver power state failure on Windows 11 can help reduce the number of frustrating crashes that your computer might experience. Hopefully, one of the fixes above will solve your issue. If you find any other useful solutions, please let us know in the comments.

Sadly, BSODs are part of living with a PC. The best advice is to save regularly and back up important files and folders so that if the worst happens, you don’t lose everything.

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(Originally posted by Adam Davidson)