I know this one is infuriating because it usually hits mid-game or right when a video call starts, and Windows just reboots with zero explanation. Let's get it sorted.
The real fix: clean-install your GPU driver
Nine times out of ten, STATUS_GRAPHICS_DATASET_IS_EMPTY is the kernel-mode display driver (dxgkrnl.sys) trying to read a dataset the GPU already threw away. The GPU driver and Windows' graphics stack are out of sync. The clean reinstall is the fix — not a Windows reset, and definitely not "update driver" from Device Manager.
- Download Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) from Wagnardsoft. Grab the latest stable version; 18.0.7.8 or newer works fine.
- Download the current driver for your card from the vendor — NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel — and save the installer to your Desktop. Do NOT run it yet.
- Disconnect from the internet. Yes, really. Windows Update will try to sneak a generic driver back in before you finish.
- Reboot into Safe Mode. Hold Shift while clicking Restart, then Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart > press 4.
- Run DDU. Choose your GPU vendor, click Clean and restart. It'll wipe the driver, the registry keys, and the leftover shader cache folders Windows never cleans up.
- After the reboot, install the driver you downloaded. Choose Custom install and uncheck GeForce Experience or Adrenalin's optional stuff if you don't use it.
- Reconnect the internet only after the install finishes.
If you're on an older laptop with switchable graphics (Intel + NVIDIA, or Intel + AMD), run DDU twice — once for each vendor. Skipping that is the #1 reason this error comes back.
If you can't boot at all
Boot into Safe Mode via the WinRE recovery environment. From a working PC, use bcdedit on an install USB, or just mash F8 on older machines. Once you're in, DDU still works — it doesn't need a normal desktop session.
Why that fixes it
Windows' WDDM framework hands the GPU a dataset (a chunk of decoded frame data, shader constants, or a presentation buffer). The driver is supposed to keep that dataset alive until the kernel says it's done. When driver files get partially overwritten — say, by a Windows Update that half-replaced a DLL, or by a game overlay hooking into the graphics stack — the dataset pointer goes stale. dxgkrnl reads garbage, the bugcheck fires with 0x401E034B, and you get a BSOD instead of a usable screen.
DDU doesn't just uninstall. It removes the leftover C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_* entries (naming varies by vendor) and the stale registry keys under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} that Device Manager leaves behind. A clean install starts those from scratch.
Less common causes
Overlay software
Discord, MSI Afterburner, RivaTuner, Steam overlay, and the Xbox Game Bar all hook into the graphics pipeline. Any of them can hand the driver a bad dataset. Disable them one at a time — start with Afterburner, since it's the most aggressive.
Undervolted or overclocked GPU
If you've set a curve in MSI Afterburner or used AMD's Wattman, reset to stock. A too-aggressive undervolt on a 3080 or 6800 XT will pass a stress test and still corrupt datasets under specific loads. The error is the driver catching the corruption after the fact.
Bad RAM or VRAM
Run mdsched.exe for system memory and OCCT's VRAM test for the GPU. Rare, but if your machine crashes on this error even after a clean driver install, hardware is next on the list.
Windows' own graphics driver updates
Windows Update occasionally pushes a "recommended" driver over your vendor one. Block it: in the Group Policy Editor, go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage updates offered from Windows Update and enable Do not include drivers with Windows Updates. On Home edition, use the registry equivalent.
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /fStop it from coming back
- Stay on the Studio branch if you're on NVIDIA and do creative work. Game Ready drivers ship fast and break things.
- Don't chain driver updates. Uninstall, reboot, install. Every time.
- Keep at least 15% free space on your C: drive. The shader cache needs room to breathe and silently corrupts when it doesn't have it.
- If you use a laptop with hybrid graphics, set the app to use the discrete GPU explicitly in Windows' Graphics settings rather than letting the OS choose.
DDU plus a fresh install clears this error for most people on the first try. If it doesn't, the overlays and overclocks above are your next suspects — work through them in order and you'll find the culprit.