Running Windows 7, 32-bi,t on a Lenovo W500. Display Driver: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650. The error message (“display driver stopped responding & has recovered”) follows a system freeze, a short blackout. Then everything works fine. Downloaded the most current driver from the company's Web site. Seeemd to work for a day, but now I'm getting the same behavior. Crabby Office Lady

Dear Dravus, I'm an old guy who knows 'not much' about computers. I've got the 'display driver crashed and doesn't want to play because Bill has developed paralysis counting all of his cash' message in the dialogue box down the bottom on the right. Is there a simpler way to correct the problem for someone like me who only does word processing? I've got a little Samsung netbook. When I type the cursor and letters take a bit of time to catch up. It's driving me nuts. Best regards.....Robin

I am back, it has only given me the "display driver stopped working.... " message once since making the changes, so it seems better but it is not completely resolved. I guess I am on to trying the TDR change next. Similar to Robin who posted just before me, I am not doing any gaming with this pc, just basic word processing, browsing, email, etc. So frustrating when it blanks out right in the middle.

I posted much earlier in this thread, but contrary to the previous postings I have an NVIDIA card not ATI...

Microsoft introduced a feature called Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) since Windows Vista. Basically it is a timer that counts how many seconds the video card has stopped responding to the OS (2 seconds by default) and it assumes the video card or driver has crashed. It restarts the video subsystem in an attempt to prevent a crash. Why this happens is anyone's guess. Maybe some system files related to video get corrupted, or the video drivers are poorly written, or the video card has a hardware fault. It could also be a program that drops the frame-rate too low, like a high-end (or buggy) game. Either way it's Windows reacting to a problem. The following is a way to extend the time Windows waits before it restarts the video. It doesn't "fix" the original issue, but it should prevent most, if not all, of the TDR's from happening. It's like disabling airbags in a car because they keep randomly deploying- it's not really a fix, but at least you can drive again :) Note: If you are not familiar with editing the registry, I wouldn't recommend changing the TDR. It involves creating new keys and values, which have to be exactly the same as the instructions, even the capitalization. Click Start, Run, and type "regedit" Navigate to: HKey Local Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ Locate the "GraphicsDrivers" key, and right-click on it. Click "New" and "DWORD Value" (it will say 32-bit if you are on a Windows 64-bit) Label the new value "TdrDelay" Double click on TdrDelay, and enter the number of seconds you want Windows to wait before timing out. The default is two seconds, so start out with 6, and you can make it a few seconds longer if it doesn't fix the issue. Close the registry editor and reboot the computer. This applies to any video card, Nvidia, ATI, or other. More info here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx (they say Vista but it also works with Windows 7 32/64) and a forum post here: http://forums.amd.com/devforum/messageview.cfm?catid=328&threadid=100142

“Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” error.

Anonymous

Running Windows 7, 32-bi,t on a Lenovo W500. Display Driver: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650.
The error message (“display driver stopped responding & has recovered”) follows a system freeze, a short blackout. Then everything works fine.
Downloaded the most current driver from the company's Web site.
Seeemd to work for a day, but now I'm getting the same behavior.

Crabby Office Lady

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

Hello Crabby Office Lady,

This error can happen because of an outdated video driver, to many programs running at one time or even high CPU activity. There is a link to a KB article on the following post that gives more info on the issue and helps to fix it, see:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/error-display-driver-stopped-responding-and-has/1b6c2b8b-b0a7-49d9-bc3b-e9cc98d51004

L.D.

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334 additional answers

Anonymous

2011-01-26T17:25:30+00:00

Dear Dravus, I'm an old guy who knows 'not much' about computers. I've got the 'display driver crashed and doesn't want to play because Bill has developed paralysis counting all of his cash' message in the dialogue box down the bottom on the right.

Is there a simpler way to correct the problem for someone like me who only does word processing? I've got a little Samsung netbook. When I type the cursor and letters take a bit of time to catch up. It's driving me nuts.

Best regards.....Robin
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Anonymous

2011-01-26T18:19:15+00:00

I am back, it has only given me the "display driver stopped working.... " message once since making the changes, so it seems better but it is not completely resolved. I guess I am on to trying the TDR change next.

Similar to Robin who posted just before me, I am not doing any gaming with this pc, just basic word processing, browsing, email, etc. So frustrating when it blanks out right in the middle.
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Anonymous

2011-01-26T21:30:37+00:00

I posted much earlier in this thread, but contrary to the previous postings I have an NVIDIA card not ATI...
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Anonymous

2011-01-26T22:59:56+00:00
Microsoft introduced a feature called Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) since Windows Vista. Basically it is a timer that counts how many seconds the video card has stopped responding to the OS (2 seconds by default) and it assumes the video card or driver has crashed. It restarts the video subsystem in an attempt to prevent a crash. Why this happens is anyone's guess. Maybe some system files related to video get corrupted, or the video drivers are poorly written, or the video card has a hardware fault. It could also be a program that drops the frame-rate too low, like a high-end (or buggy) game. Either way it's Windows reacting to a problem.

The following is a way to extend the time Windows waits before it restarts the video. It doesn't "fix" the original issue, but it should prevent most, if not all, of the TDR's from happening. It's like disabling airbags in a car because they keep randomly deploying- it's not really a fix, but at least you can drive again :)

Note: If you are not familiar with editing the registry, I wouldn't recommend changing the TDR. It involves creating new keys and values, which have to be exactly the same as the instructions, even the capitalization.
1. Click Start, Run, and type "regedit"
2. Navigate to: HKey Local Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\
3. Locate the "GraphicsDrivers" key, and right-click on it.
4. Click "New" and "DWORD Value" (it will say 32-bit if you are on a Windows 64-bit)
5. Label the new value "TdrDelay"
6. Double click on TdrDelay, and enter the number of seconds you want Windows to wait before timing out. The default is two seconds, so start out with 6, and you can make it a few seconds longer if it doesn't fix the issue.
7. Close the registry editor and reboot the computer.
This applies to any video card, Nvidia, ATI, or other.

More info here:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx

(they say Vista but it also works with Windows 7 32/64)

and a forum post here:

http://forums.amd.com/devforum/messageview.cfm?catid=328&threadid=100142
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