DirectX 11 / GPU problem - DX11 not supported

[Noodz]

I've got a bit of a weird problem and I can't find a solution anywhere, hoping one of you may be able to help.

The problem started with GTAV, the game wouldn't load up and I'd receive an error message saying that my graphics card doesn't support DX11, I have a GTX 960 (which supports up to DX12) so I know this isn't true.
The same problem occurred with The Witcher 3 and with Arkham Knight.

Here's the bit that is puzzling, if I reinstall my graphics card driver then then the games work fine, they load up with no error messages. However, the next time I boot up my computer the error is back and I have to reinstall the driver again to get the games to work.

Does anybody know what the problem could be and maybe know of a permanent fix?

 

[Frag Maniac]

Have you updated your GPU recently? It may be that the default GPU device listed for the games you're playing is still shown as the prior GPU in the game files.

In GTA V, go to Documents/Rockstar Games/GTA V, and open settings.xml with Notepad. Do a search for the line <VideoCardDescription>.

If anything but the GTX 960 is listed, copy and save the settings.xml file somewhere else. Now launch the game and it will create a new settings.xml file.

If all goes well it should now detect the GPU you're using as the default card.

If this is a new build and this problem occurs, make sure you have DirectX updated. If that doesn't work, it may be a problem with your actual GPU BIOS.

 

[Noodz]

Have you updated your GPU recently? It may be that the default GPU device listed for the games you're playing is still shown as the prior GPU in the game files.

In GTA V, go to Documents/Rockstar Games/GTA V, and open settings.xml with Notepad. Do a search for the line <VideoCardDescription>.

If anything but the GTX 960 is listed, copy and save the settings.xml file somewhere else. Now launch the game and it will create a new settings.xml file.

If all goes well it should now detect the GPU you're using as the default card.

If this is a new build and this problem occurs, make sure you have DirectX updated. If that doesn't work, it may be a problem with your actual GPU BIOS.

Thanks for the reply, I have updated my GPU recently (when I got The Witcher 3), but the problem was already happening with GTAV before I upgraded. I checked the settings file for GTAV anyway but it does list the GTX 960.

As mentioned, I can play the game if I reinstall the drivers, but there's something in the install that I guess doesn't 'stick' and the problem comes back when I reboot the PC.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I can play the game if I reinstall the drivers, but there's something in the install that I guess doesn't 'stick' and the problem comes back when I reboot the PC.

Almost makes me wonder if you have some 3rd party software messing with the display driver or have missing or corrupt system files somewhere.

Do you have a lot of startups, and have you tried disabling them one at a time? Also, have you tried checking the drive for errors?

 

[Noodz]

I can play the game if I reinstall the drivers, but there's something in the install that I guess doesn't 'stick' and the problem comes back when I reboot the PC.

Almost makes me wonder if you have some 3rd party software messing with the display driver or have missing or corrupt system files somewhere.

Do you have a lot of startups, and have you tried disabling them one at a time? Also, have you tried checking the drive for errors?

I've done all the scans and disc checks I can think of and have never had any errors come up.
I don't have a lot of programs running on startup but I'll check them again and see if anything strange has appeared.
The problem only seems to occur with these 3 particular games, all my older games run with no problems.

I was going to do a fresh Windows install today but thought I'd post here before I do. I'll probably do that next weekend if I can't find another solution.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Do you have all Windows and DirectX updates?

Also, when you do your driver install, do you choose Custom (Perform clean install), or overwrite?

Also, are any of these older games you mentioned actually running on Dx11, or an older version? If the latter, that is probably why they are not a problem.

 

[Noodz]

Do you have all Windows and DirectX updates?

Also, when you do your driver install, do you choose Custom (Perform clean install), or overwrite?

Also, are any of these older games you mentioned actually running on Dx11, or an older version? If the latter, that is probably why they are not a problem.

Windows, and DX are both up to date.

I've done both clean installs if the GPU driver and overwritten it, same results every time (i.e. the game will work until I reboot).

I thought it was just these games that the problem happens with, but it actually seems that it might be all games that use DX11, I tested Alien Isolation, AC: Black Flag, DA: Inquisition, and Far Cry 4, all of them have the same type of error. and all have previously worked fine.
The problem only started occurring the day after I installed GTAV so I'll uninstall that and see if that fixes the issue.

 

[Frag Maniac]

The problem only started occurring the day after I installed GTAV so I'll uninstall that and see if that fixes the issue.

Let us know how that goes, also, what exact brand and model of 960 are you using?

...Just an update, I found a thread on the GeForce forums indicating many are having this same problem.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/810916/geforce-900-series/gtx-960-crahes-to-black-screen-after-just-a-minute-of-gajme-play/1/

It looks like either a lot of them are unstable or have certain compat issues.

If you have a factory OCed model I would try clocking it down to reference speed with Afterburner as a possible temporary workaround.

Quite frankly though I'd be tempted to go for a full refund if you bought it from a place like Newegg or Amazon and haven't had it very long. They usually offer full refunds for cases like this within 30 days of purchase.

 

[Noodz]

The problem only started occurring the day after I installed GTAV so I'll uninstall that and see if that fixes the issue.

Let us know how that goes, also, what exact brand and model of 960 are you using?

...Just an update, I found a thread on the GeForce forums indicating many are having this same problem.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/810916/geforce-900-series/gtx-960-crahes-to-black-screen-after-just-a-minute-of-gajme-play/1/

It looks like either a lot of them are unstable or have certain compat issues.

If you have a factory OCed model I would try clocking it down to reference speed with Afterburner as a possible temporary workaround.

Quite frankly though I'd be tempted to go for a full refund if you bought it from a place like Newegg or Amazon and haven't had it very long. They usually offer full refunds for cases like this within 30 days of purchase.

Uninstalling GTAV didn't help unfortunately.

It's a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960, but I don't think it's a problem with the GPU as the errors began before I even had this card (previous card was a 550 ti). Everything worked fine until the first reboot after installing GTAV.
If a corrupt install of GTAV caused the problem then unfortunately it's not something that can be fixed by simply uninstalling the game and it must have caused an issue with something else.

I'll try a fresh install of Windows next weekend, hopefully that will fix the problem.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I'll try a fresh install of Windows next weekend, hopefully that will fix the problem.

I would try checking for disc errors before committing to that, esp if you're on W7, which can take a lot of time updating.

 

[saurabhkumarshs]

The problem only started occurring the day after I installed GTAV so I'll uninstall that and see if that fixes the issue.

Let us know how that goes, also, what exact brand and model of 960 are you using?

...Just an update, I found a thread on the GeForce forums indicating many are having this same problem.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/810916/geforce-900-series/gtx-960-crahes-to-black-screen-after-just-a-minute-of-gajme-play/1/

It looks like either a lot of them are unstable or have certain compat issues.

If you have a factory OCed model I would try clocking it down to reference speed with Afterburner as a possible temporary workaround.

Quite frankly though I'd be tempted to go for a full refund if you bought it from a place like Newegg or Amazon and haven't had it very long. They usually offer full refunds for cases like this within 30 days of purchase.

Uninstalling GTAV didn't help unfortunately.

It's a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960, but I don't think it's a problem with the GPU as the errors began before I even had this card (previous card was a 550 ti). Everything worked fine until the first reboot after installing GTAV.
If a corrupt install of GTAV caused the problem then unfortunately it's not something that can be fixed by simply uninstalling the game and it must have caused an issue with something else.

I'll try a fresh install of Windows next weekend, hopefully that will fix the problem.

Please update whether the fresh installation of windows helped you or not. Also if u found any solution to the problem. I have the same problem as you but the little different, in my case i cannot open any good games like crysis 3, BF 4, FC 4 etc. they all show the error saying i need a DX11 capable gpu.

 

[Noodz]

The problem only started occurring the day after I installed GTAV so I'll uninstall that and see if that fixes the issue.

Let us know how that goes, also, what exact brand and model of 960 are you using?

...Just an update, I found a thread on the GeForce forums indicating many are having this same problem.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/810916/geforce-900-series/gtx-960-crahes-to-black-screen-after-just-a-minute-of-gajme-play/1/

It looks like either a lot of them are unstable or have certain compat issues.

If you have a factory OCed model I would try clocking it down to reference speed with Afterburner as a possible temporary workaround.

Quite frankly though I'd be tempted to go for a full refund if you bought it from a place like Newegg or Amazon and haven't had it very long. They usually offer full refunds for cases like this within 30 days of purchase.

Uninstalling GTAV didn't help unfortunately.

It's a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960, but I don't think it's a problem with the GPU as the errors began before I even had this card (previous card was a 550 ti). Everything worked fine until the first reboot after installing GTAV.
If a corrupt install of GTAV caused the problem then unfortunately it's not something that can be fixed by simply uninstalling the game and it must have caused an issue with something else.

I'll try a fresh install of Windows next weekend, hopefully that will fix the problem.

Please update whether the fresh installation of windows helped you or not. Also if u found any solution to the problem. I have the same problem as you but the little different, in my case i cannot open any good games like crysis 3, BF 4, FC 4 etc. they all show the error saying i need a DX11 capable gpu.

Turns out that the problem was with every Dx11 game. The only thing that helped my problem was a fresh install of Win 7, haven't had a problem since.

 

[saurabhkumarshs]

Thanks. i'll follow you by doing fresh install of windows

 

[Frag Maniac]

Turns out that the problem was with every Dx11 game. The only thing that helped my problem was a fresh install of Win 7, haven't had a problem since.

You may have been able to accomplish the same end result just by deleting all D3D entries in Windows/System32, then reinstalling Dx. At least you got it working though.