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Nvidia's new GeForce hotfix driver 576.26 is its second in a row - and it's still giving users issues

Nvidia's recent driver woes have been prevalent for the last few months, and two consecutive hotfix driver releases are a big indication of serious issues.

Apr 29, 2025 - 14:45

Nvidia's new GeForce hotfix driver 576.26 is its second in a row - and it's still giving users issues

Nvidia has released another GeForce hotfix driver to address several issues
The new hotfix driver 576.26 comes right after hotfix driver 576.15
Issues of black screens and BSODs remain

Nvidia's RTX 5000 series GPU launch has seemingly set off a barrage of driver issues, with reports of black screens and cases of the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) ever since the first Game Ready Driver 572.16 for the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 was released. Unfortunately, six drivers later, similar problems remain.

Nvidia now has released a new GeForce Hotfix driver 576.26, available on its support page, which includes fixes for several games and crash-related issues. Its arrival comes almost immediately after a previous hotfix (576.15) for the mainline Game Ready Driver 576.02, which was released to address a major temperature sensor bug and other display hiccups.

However, users are still voicing complaints about issues such as black screens when installing new drivers. In some cases, this prevents users from accessing the Windows login screen; instead, they're met with a loading cursor and a black screen. Many beleagued PC gamers took to Reddit to voice their concerns, as you can see:

Comment from r/nvidia

It's clear that Team Green is working hard to address these issues, and consecutive hotfix releases are one indication of that. However, it's not exactly a good look as far as consumers are concerned - especially those looking to obtain a new RTX 5000-series GPU (like the RTX 5060 Ti or the upcoming RTX 5060), as new Game Ready Drivers are often released specifically to support newer GPUs.

While drivers released since 572.16 have been stable for some users, it isn't the case for everyone. RTX 5000-series owners are currently advised by Nvidia to install 572.xx drivers that add official support for their functionality, so rolling back to older drivers isn't really possible for users with these GPUs. I’m currently reviewing an RTX 5000-series laptop, and I’ve been lucky enough to not experience any issues, but judging from the Reddit comments above, many have not been so lucky.

An Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 GPU on a green patterned background. — (Image credit: Nvidia)

I've stuck with Game Ready Driver 572.47 for months, and I don't regret it

To put it simply, this is the worst series of GPU driver release issues I've seen, as users have been reporting troubles for months. I understand that Team Green is working hard to address these issues, and I applaud that, but gamers spending their hard-earned money on GPUs won't be pleased at all.

I was lucky enough to dodge the bullet of recent driver-related complications. As I highlighted previously, attempting to install a new driver left me with a black screen, forcing a restart, which then left me stuck at another black screen with a loading cursor.

I initially thought this was caused by the problematic Windows 11 24H2 update, so my solution was booting Windows into Recovery Mode and uninstalling the latest quality update, which finally let me back into my system. It was only later, when I realized that other Nvidia GPU users were reporting the same issues, that I rolled back to driver 572.47 - and I’ve been free of major problems since.

There's nothing more that I can suggest other than finding a driver that is stable for your system and avoiding any new version until there's absolute certainty that these hiccups have been resolved. Let's hope that time comes soon...