“Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” error.

Anonymous
2009-10-13T16:38:34+00:00
  • 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

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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
2012-01-27T00:10:30+00:00

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This error can happen because of an outdated video driver, to many programs running at one time or even high CPU activity.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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  1. Anonymous
    2011-03-20T19:56:35+00:00

    My computer had no problems for the last 1.5 years. In the last month I am getting that same error on my Lenovo laptop with Win 7, 64 bit and nvidia GT 130.  I tried the latest video drivers and no change.  I think it has to be either indows updates or some other application.  Mine happens mostly when surfing web with ie 9.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-03-26T03:27:13+00:00

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-04-03T06:47:23+00:00

    Try disabling hardware acceleration in flash

    1. Right click (or ctrl click on a Mac) on the flash panorama.
    2. Choose settings

    3. Make sure the hardware acelleration box is unchecked

    4. Click close to save the settings. 5. Please exit full-screen mode, and refresh your page.

    Thank you so much for this post.

    This solved my problem

    Can anyone explain why this fixed the issue and what the "hardware acceleration" actually does?

    Can my Radeon HD 5870 seriously not handle enabling the hardware acceleration? or is it just a bug with the flash player?

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-04-05T23:46:55+00:00

    Same problem here. Brand new HP ProBook 4520s running Windows 7 32-bit, all up-to-date drivers and Windows Updates. Very frustrating - do not expect issues like this from a brand new computer.

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