A Windows 10 desktop began displaying a blue screen with the stop code "VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE" and immediately reboots whenever normal mode is selected. The user states a new graphics-card driver was installed from the manufacturer's website earlier in the day. The system will start successfully in Safe Mode with networking. Which action should the technician take first to restore normal operation?
Disable TDR (Timeout Detection and Recovery) by editing the registry
Use Device Manager in Safe Mode to roll back the display adapter driver
Run the command DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Physically replace the graphics card with a known-good unit
The VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE stop code is almost always produced by an unstable or incompatible video driver. Because the system will boot in Safe Mode (which loads a basic Microsoft display driver), the quickest non-destructive fix is to roll back the recently installed driver in Device Manager. DISM and other file-repair tools target corrupted system files, not bad drivers, and replacing hardware or editing the registry should be attempted only after confirming the driver itself is not the cause.
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What is the role of Device Manager in troubleshooting drivers?
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When should DISM be used instead of rolling back a driver?