How to fix it

DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE is a blue screen that means a driver failed to finish a power-state change within the time Windows allowed. "Power state" covers things like putting a device to sleep, waking it, or responding to a power request. Windows waited for the driver to respond, it didn't, and Windows stopped the machine. The good news: this is almost always a driver problem, not a hardware failure — the screen even tells you which driver, in the technical line.

What it means

Every driver has to respond to the system's power requests (sleep, wake, device on/off) within a deadline. If a driver is buggy, stuck, or incompatible, it misses the deadline and Windows raises DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. The parameter line on the blue screen names the offending driver module — that's your starting clue.

Where you'll usually see it

  • Putting the PC to sleep or hibernate, or waking from it
  • After a driver update (especially graphics, Wi-Fi/network, or storage)
  • When a USB device is connected/disconnected
  • Randomly on laptops with battery power-saving enabled

Common causes

  • A graphics driver (GPU) that doesn't handle sleep/wake correctly
  • A network/Wi-Fi driver with power-management enabled
  • A storage or chipset driver that's outdated or corrupt
  • A USB device or its driver that hangs on power events
  • An aggressive power plan that turns devices off

Quick fixes (try these first)

  1. Note the driver name on the blue screen (the line that says something like ...DriverName...). That's the one to update or roll back.
  2. Update the graphics driver to the latest from the GPU maker (NVIDIA/AMD/Intel) — graphics drivers are the most common cause.
  3. Disable USB selective suspend — Control Panel → Power Options → Change plan settings → Change advanced power settings → USB settings → USB selective suspend setting → Disabled.

Detailed fixes

Roll back or reinstall the offending driver. In Device Manager, find the device type the blue screen named (display adapters, network adapters, or USB controllers). Right-click → Update driver (let it search online), or → Roll Back Driver if one exists. If updating doesn't help, Uninstall device (tick "remove the driver software for this device") and reboot so Windows reinstalls a clean copy.

Rolling back vs updating: if the problem started after a driver update, Roll Back Driver is the fastest fix. If the driver is old, Update first. Both are non-destructive to your files.

Adjust the power plan. Set the plan to Balanced or High performance temporarily and see if the crashes stop — an aggressive power-saving plan that switches devices off is a known trigger. You can also, under advanced power settings, set Hard disk → Turn off hard disk after → Never as a test.

Repair system files (in case a corrupted driver store is involved). From an admin prompt:

`` sfc /scannow ``

If it reports files it couldn't fix:

`` dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth ``

then run sfc /scannow again and reboot. Both are non-destructive to your personal files and apps.

Check the crash dump for the exact module. If you can boot, open Event Viewer → Windows Logs → System and find the crash — the failing module name is listed. The minidump in C:\Windows\Minidump read with BlueScreenView or WinDbg will name the precise driver.

When it's safe to ignore

A single DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE after a rough sleep cycle can be harmless. It becomes a real problem only when it recurs, especially around sleep/wake — that's when the driver fix above matters.

Related errors

  • CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED — a core process stopped
  • 0xC000021A — system process terminated
  • BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO — boot configuration missing