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Solved Error

How to Fix DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED Game Crashes

Quick Fix

Clean-install the latest GPU driver, turn off every overlay (NVIDIA App/Alt+Z, Steam, Discord), and undo any CPU/GPU overclock or RAM XMP/EXPO profile. These three cover the large majority of confirmed fixes for this crash.

What this error means

DXGI (DirectX Graphics Infrastructure) is the Windows component that hands frames to your GPU. DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED means the game asked the GPU to render a frame and the GPU driver had already crashed or been reset, so Windows tells the game "the device has been removed" and the game crashes to desktop. Community reports across Intel, HP, NVIDIA and EA forums describe it the same way: the GPU loses contact with the game, usually because the driver hit a fault, timed out, overheated, or was pushed too hard by an overclock or a heavy overlay. It shows up as a generic Windows/DirectX error, but the actual trigger is almost always something specific to your driver, overlay software, or hardware stability rather than a broken game install.

Likely Causes

  • Unstable or corrupted GPU driver. Multiple forum threads describe DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED as the driver crashing outright, which Windows then reports to the game as the device being removed.
  • Overclocking or aggressive memory profiles. Users on the EA and NVIDIA forums traced the crash to GPU or CPU overclocks and to RAM overclocked via XMP/EXPO; resetting to stock clocks or disabling the memory profile fixed it for them.
  • Overlay and background capture software. Steam, NVIDIA App/Alt+Z, Discord, and third-party monitoring tools like MSI Afterburner or RIVA Statistics Tuner have been reported to trigger or worsen this crash by adding extra load on the rendering pipeline.
  • Corrupted shaders or game files. Community threads for several DirectX 12 titles report the crash going away after verifying game files and manually deleting the shader cache so it rebuilds from scratch.
  • Overheating or failing hardware. An Intel Community thread notes overheating as a possible trigger, and other reports trace persistent crashes across multiple GPUs back to RAM, PSU, or motherboard problems.

Step-by-Step Guide

Fix 1: Update or clean-reinstall your GPU driver

  1. 1Install the latest driver. Multiple sources agree this error is usually caused by the graphics driver crashing, so start by installing the latest driver through the NVIDIA App, AMD Adrenalin, or Intel Driver & Support Assistant.
  2. 2Roll back if the crash started right after an update. If the crash began after a driver update, roll back to the previous version. In Device Manager, right-click your GPU under Display adapters, open Properties, go to the Driver tab, and select Roll Back Driver.
  3. 3Do a full clean uninstall and reinstall if problems continue. One HP Support Community thread recommends uninstalling drivers in Device Manager, using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to remove all remnants, then reinstalling the latest driver directly from NVIDIA or AMD instead of Windows Update.

Fix 2: Turn off overlays and background capture/monitoring tools

  1. 1Turn off the NVIDIA App overlay. GeForce Experience has been replaced by the NVIDIA App, and ShadowPlay is now built into its overlay, opened with Alt+Z. Open the NVIDIA App, go to Settings > Features, and turn the in-game overlay off, since one Steam Community fix guide for a DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED crash has users open the NVIDIA App and turn off everything under Features.
  2. 2Disable the Steam overlay. Right-click your game in your Steam library, select Properties, and in the General tab toggle off Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game.
  3. 3Close Discord, MSI Afterburner, and other overlays or monitoring tools. One long-running NVIDIA Forums thread on this exact error reports that what finally fixed it was closing MSI Afterburner and RIVA Statistics Tuner. Also close Discord's overlay and any other recording/monitoring software before launching the game.

Fix 3: Undo overclocking and aggressive memory profiles

  1. 1Reset GPU and CPU clocks to stock. A user on the Battlefield 6 EA Forums thread reported this exact error was caused by GPU overclocking, and the game worked fine after resetting it to default values. Undo any overclock in the software you applied it with, or reset it in BIOS.
  2. 2Disable RAM XMP/EXPO and test at JEDEC speed. Reports on the Apex Legends EA Forums thread describe testers disabling their RAM's EXPO profile and stress-testing memory as part of chasing this error. Restart into BIOS, find the memory settings, and turn off the XMP/EXPO profile to run RAM at its default speed.

Fix 4: Clear the shader cache and verify game files

  1. 1Verify game files. On Steam, right-click the game, select Properties, go to Installed Files, and click Verify integrity of game files. On the EA app, go to Installed games, click the game, then MANAGE and Repair — this is listed as a standard step in multiple game-specific DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED threads.
  2. 2Delete the game's shader cache. Community fix threads for games hitting this exact error recommend deleting the shader cache file so the game rebuilds it from scratch; for NVIDIA cards the DirectX shader cache is typically stored under C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\NVIDIA\DXCache, and some games also keep their own shader.cache file in the install folder.
  3. 3Disable upscaling features like DLSS/FSR/XeSS as a test. Several reports say disabling AI upscaling features such as DLSS, FSR, or XeSS in the game's graphics settings resolved the crash, since these place extra demands on the GPU and driver.

Fix 5: Adjust the Windows TDR timeout (advanced)

  1. 1Understand what you're changing. Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) is the Windows feature that resets the GPU driver if it stops responding for a few seconds; that reset is what shows up to the game as DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED. Only try this if the fixes above don't help, since it changes how Windows recovers from a real driver crash rather than fixing the underlying cause. Do not set TdrLevel to 0 — this disables Windows' GPU crash recovery entirely and can freeze your whole PC instead of just crashing the game.
  2. 2Open the Registry Editor and go to the GraphicsDrivers key. Press Windows key + R, type regedit, press Enter, then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers.
  3. 3Add or increase TdrDelay. Users on forums for The Elder Scrolls Online and HP Support have added a TdrDelay DWORD (Value data 8-10, decimal) to give the GPU more time before Windows assumes it has hung, with one player noting this cleared part of their DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED crashes.
  4. 4If a TdrDelay QWORD already exists, try deleting it instead. Some users report the opposite fix works for them: right-click an existing TdrDelay value, select Delete, confirm, and restart to test.
  5. 5Restart your PC after any registry change. Registry changes to GraphicsDrivers only take effect after a reboot. If your system becomes unstable afterward, revert the value back or delete it.

Fix 6: Rule out overheating and failing hardware

  1. 1Check GPU temperatures. An Intel Community thread on this exact error notes that overheating might be a cause, so monitor GPU temperature under load and improve cooling/airflow if it's running hot.
  2. 2Disable a second/integrated GPU if you have hybrid graphics. An HP Support Community thread traced this error to a conflict between an integrated Intel GPU and a discrete NVIDIA GPU; disabling the lower-performance adapter in Device Manager's Display adapters, or disabling hybrid graphics in BIOS, resolved it for that user.
  3. 3Test your RAM. Testers on the Apex Legends EA Forums thread ran MemTest86 on their RAM while troubleshooting this error. Run Windows Memory Diagnostic or MemTest86 overnight to rule out faulty memory.
  4. 4Suspect the motherboard, PSU, or storage if it follows you across GPUs. If the crash persists across different graphics cards and games after all software fixes, the underlying issue is likely the motherboard, RAM, PSU, or the drive the game is installed on rather than the GPU itself.

When to seek further help

If a full clean driver reinstall, disabling every overlay, resetting all overclocks/XMP, and a memory/stress test all fail to stop the crash across more than one game, this points to failing or overheating hardware (GPU, VRAM, PSU, or motherboard) rather than something fixable in software. At that point, contact your GPU manufacturer's support or a repair technician with the exact DirectX error line (for example the DeviceRemovedReason code), and note the games and drivers you tested — several affected users report the crash following them across GPU swaps, which points to the motherboard, RAM, or PSU instead. This fix applies to Windows PCs; it does not apply to consoles, which handle GPU recovery differently.

Sources:

Heads up: this guide was drafted with AI assistance from the real sources listed below, and structured by our team for clarity. It may not cover every possible cause — if it doesn't fix your issue, let us know and we'll take a closer look. See how we create our fixes.

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