Direct3D Initialization Failed

Hi George

My name is Andre Da Costa; an Independent Consultant, Windows Insider MVP and Windows & Devices for IT MVP. I'm here to help you with your problem.

First, try restarting your graphics driver:

Press Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B

If that does not work...

Press Windows key + X

Click Device Manager

Expand Display adapters

Right click the current display adapter

Click Properties

Click Driver tab

Click Rollback driver if the option is available

If not

Right click the current display adapter

Click Uninstall

Check the box that says, "Delete the driver software for this device.”

Exit Device Manager

Restart

Go to Start -> Settings -> Update & security, then Check for updates and install any available updates.

You might need to update the display driver from the manufacturer of your computers website.

If you have an nVidia, AMD ATI video card or Intel HD graphics installed, you can download the latest drivers from their website.

First, determine what type of graphics you have installed.

Press Windows key + X

Click Device Manager

Expand Display adapters

Once you have determined the graphics driver, go the vendors website and search for the driver in the download section:

Intel - Downloads for Graphics Drivers - Drivers & Software - Intel

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/80939/...

nVidia - http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx

AMD ATI - Download Drivers - AMD Support

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

Some of these sites offer autodetect options.

Information in the above link is sourced from a trusted Microsoft MVP Blog.

• What game are you having a problem with, and what version of Win10 are you using currently

  ( Click on About in Settings>System at bottom of list) ?

• Have you verified Direct Play is enabled in ...

Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features On or Off...  Scroll down to and tic the box next to Legacy Components & Direct Play.

You may need to log off (not re-start) and back on again.

• If the driver is at fault, one at a time is good.

Start with the Nvidia driver, as this is the processor that gets used (or should, if your system is set-up correctly) by games.

Uninstall the driver via Programs and Features, and restart your machine.

Then install the most recent driver provided by the mfg of your laptop. The driver provided by the mfg of the

machine is the most suitable driver for laptops.

If the game is an old 2D or point and click type game Windows may try to run it on the Intel UHD620, which should work too.

If the Intel HD graphics driver needs to be reinstalled also use the one from the mfg of your laptop if you want the one best

optimised for your machine.

• Hardware acceleration is found in your browser settings. I use Firefox, but other browsers will have a similar setup.

In Firefox the option to enable\disable Hardware Acceleration is found in...

Options>General . Scroll down to Performance where there is a tic box next to the hardware acceleration option.

"Display Settings can be found by right clicking on the desktop.This all makes me very nervous."

• Yes, and you do need to learn how it works. All settings can be changed back to default. Make any changes one at a time,

and write down what changes you make if you are worried about forgetting what you have done.

• The review below shows a number of game benchmarks that you may find useful. Compare the system requirements for games

you want to run with the games in the review to get an idea if your MX250 can run the games you are interested in.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-MX250-Graphics-Card.382341.0.html

.

Should I uninstall both drivers, one after the other, or go through the process individually?  Thanks.

Rolling back the driver or uninstalling will not make your system inoperable. All that will happen is it will either reinstall the drive or default the class VGA driver which you can then update to the full driver.

Thanks so much for getting back to me.

I tried the first step, Windows key + ctrl + shift + B, first by holding them all down at once.  All that did was highlight the up arrow in the task bar that says "show hidden icons".  I also tried just pressing them sequentially.  That pulled up the Bang and Olufsen Audio Control.  I saw nothing about graphics.

Going to Device Manager, I found the Current Display Adapters.  There are two.

     NVIDIA GeForce MX250

     Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620

Under their properties tabs they both say the device is working properly.  Going to the Driver tabs, there was nothing in either about any kind of Rollback, but there were Uninstall buttons in both.

If I uninstall both of them, and restart, isn't there a danger none of my displays (like desktop) will function?  I'm really concerned about that, because a lot of instructions for Windows 10 have included a description of something I was supposed to be seeing, but which isn't there.  It's like the people are describing a different version of Windows 10!!

For instance, I can find nothing about any Hardware Accelerator, which was mentioned in the Error Message.  And there is no Display icon in Control Panel, which one suggestion for finding the Hardware Accelerator referred to.  Display Settings can be found by right clicking on the desktop.  This all makes me very nervous.  Sorry.