# GPU Driver Issues

Vagon ships GPU drivers across the fleet on a regular schedule, so you do not normally need to manage drivers yourself. A driver update only becomes necessary in a narrow set of cases — most commonly when you upgrade to a Fire-series performance option and the existing driver does not support the new hardware tier. This guide covers when to update, how to update safely, and what to do if the update itself fails.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Avoid updating GPU drivers manually unless you are working through one of the failure modes below. Vagon's infrastructure is tightly coupled to specific driver versions, and a manual update can break the connection to your computer. If you have already updated drivers and lost access, contact support so they can help you recover the session.
{% endhint %}

## Signs You Need a Driver Update

Consider a driver update only when you see one of these patterns:

* The connecting screen hangs for more than a minute after you switch to a **Fire-series** performance option (Spark, Blaze, Fire, or Lava).
* A rendering, simulation, or game application crashes immediately on launch with an error referencing the graphics driver or OpenGL/Direct3D.
* An application refuses to recognize the GPU and falls back to CPU rendering even though the performance tier has a GPU.
* A vendor explicitly states that the installed driver version is below their minimum requirement.

If none of those apply, do not update the driver. Slowness, lag, or low FPS on their own are usually a connection or in-session performance issue, not a driver problem.

## Update GPU Drivers on a Fire-Series Computer

Use this flow only when the connecting screen hangs after switching to a Fire-series tier. Booting on Planet first is the most reliable way back into the computer because it is the most permissive performance tier.

1. Start the Vagon Computer on the **Planet** performance option and connect successfully.
2. Open **Microsoft PowerShell** from the Start menu.
3. Run the driver-download script provided by support to fetch the latest NVIDIA drivers into `C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\NVIDIA`.
4. Open the downloaded folder and run the installer (for example, `511.65_grid_win10_win11_server2016_server2019_server2022_64bit_aws_swl.exe`).
5. Choose **Custom** installation and make sure silent mode is disabled.
6. If the screen freezes around 30% of the installation, refresh your browser. The installation continues in the background and completes automatically.
7. Turn the Vagon Computer off, then restart it on the performance option you want to use.

{% hint style="info" %}
Run the driver update on Planet first because it almost always lets you connect when the higher tiers will not. After the driver is installed, you can switch back to the Fire-series tier you actually want.
{% endhint %}

## When the Driver Update Fails

If the installer fails partway through or the computer still does not connect on the Fire-series tier after a clean install:

* Restart the Vagon Computer and try the installation one more time on Planet.
* Confirm you ran the installer in **Custom** mode with silent mode disabled.
* If the installer reports a conflict with an existing driver, choose the clean install option when the NVIDIA installer offers it.
* If two attempts fail back to back, stop and contact support. Repeatedly running failed driver installs can leave the computer in a state that requires intervention to recover.

## Contact Support

When asking support for help with a driver issue, include:

* The performance option you tried to start on.
* Whether the Planet boot worked.
* The exact installer file name you ran.
* The percentage at which the installer froze or failed, if applicable.
* Any error message shown by the installer or by Windows.

## Next Steps

{% content-ref url="/pages/6qzIh39BHLN505DsYmIn" %}
[Computer Initialization](/computer/troubleshooting/computer-initialization.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/S5Y14Lj21Bxc3t1x2ka0" %}
[Computer Performance](/computer/troubleshooting/computer-performance.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/5eC8iMR1VM0vuyIqNBEN" %}
[Performance Options & Specs](/computer/features/performance-options-and-specs.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


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