“Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” error.

Yeah I've been having same problem and have scrounged the forums looking for issues. There are many who have the same issue. I've done clean install of windows 7 and everything. The only fix I have found that works is rolling back to windows vista.

I've been getting this issue from games that don't push the video card (Guild Wars 2, all CPU and very little GPU since its in Beta and it still isnt optimized). Finally, after reading this thread and taking some suggestions I think a couple of the workarounds paid off.

-Changed the Power Settings to High Performance

-Changed the GPU (Nvidia 470 GTX) settings to Best Quality, instead of "Let The 3D Application Decide."

Basically, as was mentioned in this thread, the GPU was going asleep if the game didnt push it. The work around is to keep the GPU busy, even if its artificially.

Thanks to the people who found a solution and posted it here. By keeping this thread going maybe others can finally work around this frustrating error.

My notebook is a Compaq Presario from HP, CQ40-714BR, 4gb ram. After working perfectly for almost 2 years, it began presenting this frustrating error.

I visited almost every forum and tried almost every solution and was impressed to see how many users had the same problem, with machines of all brands and makes.

Nothing worked for me.

I also did a lot of clean installs of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, the original system. Nothing worked. As soon as I tried to run Google Earth, or even Firefox, I got the black screen flicking and seconds later the freezing of the system.

It is not a problem with drivers, either. I've tried them all. Automatic and manufacturer replacing.

Then I remembered that my machine was still within HP warranty.

They sent me media to recover the system to factory standards. Nothing!

Then HP collected the machine to their technical assistance.

They simply replaced the motherboard, and restructured the HD.

Voilá!

So, although I've always used my notebook on a cooling table to avoid overheating, I guess the motherboard was overheating after all.

Another information: I never used it to play games, because I don't like games.

It was used only to write, navigate on the net, to use Google Earth and to watch movies. These are the only video consuming apps I used, besides an occasional enhancing of a picture on Photoshop.

I wanted to add my 'solution' to the mix as one more thing for anyone having this issue to try.

After about 2 days of diagnosing, I was able to resolve the problem by doing one absolutely stupid thing...

Unplugging everything from the 'Unpowered' slots on my USB hub.

I run an Asus Republic of Gamers Laptop with a Belkin 8 port USB Hub (separate power supply). Two of the ports are powered, the rest are not. After attending a part and snapping some photos, i plugged in my digicam and left it plugged in.

Issue started.

Chkdisk, memtest, driver reinstall, voltage tweaks, additional cooling/verified heat, reinstalled windows...still happened. Figured it had to be something new...thought...hrm, maybe the USB hub is eating too much power and the vid card isnt able to compensate. Unplugged everything.

Issue stopped.

Likely due to a power consumption issue but I figured I'd pass this along in hopes it helps someone.

Cheers-