A method and apparatus for supporting a self-refreshing display device coupled to a graphics controller are disclosed. A technique for setting the operating state of the graphics controller during initialization from a deep sleep state is described. The graphics controller may set the operating state based on a signal that controls whether the graphics controller executes a warm-boot initialization procedure or a cold-boot initialization procedure. In the warm-boot initialization procedure, instructions and values stored in a non-volatile memory connected to the graphics controller may be used to set the operating state of the graphics controller. In one embodiment, the graphics controller may determine whether any changes have been made to the physical configuration of the computer system and, if the physical configuration has changed, the graphics controller may set the operating state based on values received from a software driver.