I know this error is infuriating. You're in the middle of a game or video render, and suddenly the screen freezes or goes black. The error 0xC0262001 pops up, and all you get is "the driver needs more DMA buffer space." I've seen this on Windows 10 and 11 with both NVIDIA and AMD cards. Here's how to fix it.
The Quick Fix: Increase TDR Delay
The most common cause of 0xC0262001 is the Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) watchdog. Windows has a built-in timer that stops a driver if it takes too long to finish an operation. When your GPU runs out of DMA buffer space, the driver hangs, and TDR kicks in. So the fix is to give the driver more time.
Step-by-step registry edit
- Press Win + R, type
regedit, and hit Enter. - Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers. - Right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name it
TdrDelay. - Double-click the new value. Set it to
8(that's 8 seconds). Click OK. - If you're on a laptop with hybrid graphics, also create
TdrDdiDelayand set it to8. - Close regedit and restart your PC.
That's it. After the restart the TDR watchdog will wait 8 seconds instead of the default 2 seconds. This gives the driver enough time to finish its DMA operations. I've used this fix on a Dell XPS 15 with an RTX 3060 and a custom desktop with a Radeon RX 6700 XT. Both worked.
Why Did This Work?
The error 0xC0262001 isn't about your GPU being slow. It's about the driver asking Windows for more DMA buffer space, but the system doesn't have any left. DMA buffers are chunks of memory the GPU uses to talk to the rest of the system. When a game or app demands a lot of textures or compute operations, the driver might grab all available buffers. Then the next operation fails with this error. By increasing TDR delay, you let the driver wait longer for buffers to free up instead of crashing.
Think of it like a delivery truck waiting at a loading dock. If the dock is full, the truck waits. But Windows has a strict schedule — it tells the truck "you have 2 seconds, or you're gone." The registry tweak extends that wait to 8 seconds, so the truck can actually unload.
Less Common Variations
Disable GPU Memory Remapping
Some motherboards, especially older ones with PCIe 4.0, have a feature called memory remapping. It's meant to help with large RAM sizes, but it can mess with DMA buffer allocation. For example, on an ASUS Z690 board with an Intel i7-12700K, disabling this in the BIOS fixed 0xC0262001 for a friend who edits 4K video in Davinci Resolve.
- Restart your PC and enter the BIOS (usually F2 or Del).
- Look for a setting called something like Above 4G Decoding, Memory Remap Feature, or MMIO above 4GB.
- Disable it. Save and exit.
If you can't find it, check your motherboard manual. On Gigabyte boards it's under Peripherals. On MSI it's in Settings > Advanced > PCI Subsystem.
Clean Install Graphics Drivers
Sometimes the driver itself is corrupted. I've seen this after a Windows update that half-upgraded the driver. Use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in Safe Mode to remove all traces of the old driver, then install the latest one from NVIDIA or AMD. This alone fixed the error on a Lenovo ThinkPad P1 with a Quadro T2000.
Try a Different PCIe Slot
If you have a desktop, move your GPU to another PCIe x16 slot. A loose connection or a slot with fewer lanes (like x4 instead of x16) can restrict DMA buffer availability. Check your motherboard manual to find a slot that runs at x16 speed.
How to Prevent This in the Future
The TDR delay fix is a one-time thing. But to prevent the error from coming back:
- Update your motherboard BIOS. Newer revisions often fix DMA handling bugs. For example, ASUS released a BIOS update in March 2024 that addressed DMA buffer allocation for RTX 40 series cards.
- Don't overwork your GPU. If you're mining, rendering, or gaming for long sessions, give the card a break. The DMA buffer can get fragmented over time.
- Check your power supply. A weak PSU can cause voltage drops that make the GPU driver misbehave. If your PSU is 3+ years old and under 600 watts, consider upgrading.
Most users only need the registry tweak. The other steps are for when that doesn't work. Try the TdrDelay first — it's saved me hours of debugging on multiple machines.