How to Fix: DirectX Function “GetDeviceRemovedReason” Failed (DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG / DEVICE_REMOVED)

Quick Fix

Update or clean-reinstall your GPU driver first — this resolves the issue for most people.

1. Download the latest driver directly from NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel’s website (not just via GeForce Experience/AMD Software) for your exact GPU model.
2. Use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in Safe Mode to fully remove the old driver, then install the fresh one.
3. Restart your PC and relaunch the game. If it still crashes, lower in-game graphics settings (especially anything GPU-heavy like ray tracing, DLSS/FSR, or antialiasing) and try again.

Step-by-Step Guide

What this error means

The message ‘DirectX function GetDeviceRemovedReason failed’ shows up when a DirectX 11/12 game calls a function to check why its connection to the GPU (the ‘device’) was lost, and the answer comes back as DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG or DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED. In plain terms, Windows’ Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) system noticed your graphics driver stopped responding to commands in time, so it reset the driver — which kills the game.

As one description puts it, This error is usually caused by the graphics driver crashing: try installing the latest drivers. The error indicates the graphics driver crashed on your system. Community troubleshooting also notes A DXGI error is associated with your graphics card and occurs when your graphics card stops working properly or loses connection with your computer. There are many reasons for DXGI error, like overclocking of GPU, GPU overheating, corrupted GPU driver, etc. Some users found that faulty RAM can also cause this error. It is a very common crash in modern PC games (recently widely reported in Battlefield 6, but also seen in Need for Speed, FIFA/FC, PGA Tour, and many DX11/DX12 titles).

Step 1: Update (or clean-reinstall) your graphics driver

This is by far the most reported fix. Go to NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel’s official site and download the latest driver for your exact card, rather than relying only on Windows Update or bundled software. If updating doesn’t help, do a clean install:

1. Boot into Windows Safe Mode.
2. Run Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to fully wipe old driver files and registry leftovers.
3. Reboot normally and install the freshly downloaded driver package.

Some users have also found the reverse helps — rolling back to an older, more stable driver version if the crash started right after a driver update, since one player noted the error code kept referencing whatever driver number was currently installed as the culprit.

Step 2: Restart the display driver / reboot

Press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B (Windows only) to force a quick display driver restart without rebooting the whole PC — your screen will blink briefly. This can clear a temporarily hung driver. If that doesn’t help, a full restart of the PC is worth trying next.

Step 3: Reduce GPU load and check for overheating/overclocking

Because TDR crashes are often triggered by the GPU being pushed too hard, try these:

1. Lower in-game graphics settings (resolution, texture quality, ray tracing, DLSS/FSR/frame generation).
2. If you or a utility (like MSI Afterburner) has overclocked the GPU, revert to stock clocks. Some Battlefield 6 players specifically reported that Using MSI Afterburner to lower my power threshold to 90% resolved these issues for me… initially I was getting this precise error upon freeze and CTD with error box.
3. Check GPU temperatures under load with a monitoring tool; clean dust from fans/heatsinks or repaste if temps are excessive.
4. Close overlays and recording/monitoring software (GeForce Experience ShadowPlay, Afterburner, RivaTuner, Discord overlay) while playing, since overlay conflicts have been linked to this crash in some reports.
5. Try toggling Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling off in Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics settings — one user reported i went to my windows settings and turned off hardware-accelerated gpu scheduling… and its worked ever since.

Step 4: Adjust the TDR registry timeout (Windows, advanced)

If the crash happens specifically during long/heavy GPU operations, you can try lengthening or disabling the timeout Windows uses before it resets the driver. Back up your registry first, then:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, press Enter.
2. Navigate to ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlGraphicsDrivers.
3. Right-click empty space, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it TdrLevel, and set its value to 0 (or try increasing TdrDelay instead of disabling entirely).
4. Restart your PC and test.

Note: disabling TDR only stops Windows from resetting a hung driver quickly — it does not fix the underlying driver crash, and a fully frozen system may still require a hard reboot.

Step 5: Repair or reinstall the game, and check DirectX/system files

1. In Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps (or Apps & features), find the game, choose Advanced options (or the ‘…’ menu), and click Repair if available.
2. Run Windows Update and install any pending updates, since DirectX itself is delivered through Windows Update rather than as a standalone download.
3. Run dxdiag (Win + R, type dxdiag) to confirm DirectX is installed correctly and check the Display tab for driver issues.
4. If the game ships its own DirectX redist installer (often in a folder like the game’s install directory under a ‘directx’ or ‘_CommonRedist’ folder), run its setup executable to reinstall the runtime.
5. As a last resort, fully uninstall the game (using a proper uninstaller), delete any leftover data in its AppData/Documents folder, reboot, and reinstall.

Step 6: Check RAM and other hardware

A few reports tie this crash to faulty RAM or other hardware instability rather than the GPU alone. If the above steps don’t help, run Windows Memory Diagnostic (search Start menu) or MemTest86 to rule out bad RAM, and stress-test your GPU with a benchmark tool to confirm it’s stable outside of the game.

When to seek further/official help

If you’ve updated drivers, adjusted settings, checked temperatures, and the crash persists only in one specific game, this is likely a game-specific bug rather than a Windows problem — for example, one Microsoft Q&A responder noted about a similar case: The problem is in the game and not in Windows. In that situation:

1. Contact the game’s official support/forum (e.g. EA Help, Steam community, or the publisher’s forums) and attach your dxdiag report and, if available, crash dump files from the game’s CrashDumps folder.
2. Check the game’s official forums or subreddit for a pinned/megathread on this exact error, since large multiplayer titles often get server-side or patch-level fixes for widespread TDR crashes.
3. If the crash also happens outside of games (e.g. during normal desktop use or other GPU-heavy apps), or GPU benchmarks also fail/crash, this points to a hardware or driver-level problem worth taking to your GPU manufacturer’s support or a hardware technician, rather than the game developer.