My laptop was working normally until I allowed Windows to install an update before leaving for work. When I came back, everything was noticeably slower, including logging in, opening applications, browsing, and watching YouTube. Some games also stopped launching.
The system has an AMD Ryzen 5 3550H processor, 8 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with 4 GB of VRAM, integrated AMD Vega 8 graphics, and a 64-bit operating system. The 445 GB drive has more than 50 GB free.
I have already tried running SFC, diagnostic tools, and driver updates without resolving the problem. During troubleshooting, both graphics adapters occasionally appeared disabled or showed errors, so I'm wondering whether the Windows update caused a graphics-driver problem. What should I check next, and would removing the recent update be a sensible test?
4 Answers
Try uninstalling the most recent Windows update temporarily and see whether performance returns. If it does, that points to an update or driver conflict rather than the hardware suddenly failing. You can check this under Settings > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates.
8 GB of RAM is fairly limited for current Windows use, especially with a browser, updates, and games running together. If you have compatible spare memory, upgrading is worthwhile. However, low RAM alone would not necessarily explain a sudden change immediately after an update, so I’d still investigate the drivers and recent update first.
Having 50 GB free should generally not make the computer unusably slow, though keeping more free space is helpful. Check Task Manager while the system is slow and look for unusually high CPU, disk, memory, or GPU usage. Also check whether Windows Update, antivirus scanning, indexing, or a background process is consuming resources.
The graphics driver may be the real issue. A normal reinstall sometimes leaves broken driver components behind, so completely removing the display drivers with a tool such as DDU in Safe Mode, then installing the latest drivers directly from NVIDIA and AMD, can help. Make sure the laptop manufacturer’s chipset and graphics drivers are considered too.
Windows usually doesn’t damage the graphics cards themselves, but it can replace or conflict with their drivers. Check Device Manager for warning icons and confirm which GPU is being used when launching a game.
I found some spare compatible memory and upgraded the system to 32 GB. That should help with multitasking, although I’m still checking whether the update or graphics drivers caused the original slowdown.