How to correct a critical event

Question

How to correct a critical event

Rockface 40

Yesterday afternoon whilst using Audacity and Excel i took my eyes of the screen for a few minutes, when i turned back my screen was blank and any attempt to try ESC,CTRL+ALT+DEL, Space or return just gave me a beep. So eventually i resorted to pressing and holding down the power key.

On rebooting i found just one critical event in the event viewer but in the reliability report i found 4 error messages. Attached is the reliability report and four messages in order.

Any advice on how to proceed would be most welcome.

Rgds

R

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1 answer

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Answer 1

DaveM121 930.3K Independent Advisor

Most likely the graphics drivers crashed on your system.

Your screenshots indicate your system is producing Watchdog dump files, please upload any small Watchdog dump files, I will check those to see if they provide any insight into a potential cause of the system crashes.

Open Windows File Explorer.

Navigate to C:\Windows\LiveKernelReports

If there are any Watchdog dump files in the sub-folders of that folder, copy the files onto your Desktop, then zip those up.

Upload the zip file to the Cloud (OneDrive... etc.), then choose to share those and get a share link.

Then post the link here to the zip file, so I can take a look for you.

Rockface 40 Reputation points

2026-09-12T11:25:17.68+00:00

Hello

I cannot seem to access that folder. It does not give me any errors of beeping. The properties 0 files, 0 folders. In each of these four reports there is a link to access the dump file. I have zipped these four and uploaded it to my OneDrive public folder. here is the link. Apologies if this is not correct?

https://1drv.ms/u/c/4ed0c045ba5c609c/IQDh9EcLRpdJSq1aFNcuaE6SAUut60juws_DtC0ThpTBq_o?e=pS5jbs
DaveM121 930.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-12T11:30:28.1+00:00

Your dump file data does indicate that it is the graphics drivers that is causing your PC to crash.

The best option is to go to the support page for your PC on the manufacturer's website to download and install (not update) their recommended version of the graphics driver.
Rockface 40 Reputation points

2026-09-12T11:34:24.4166667+00:00

Will do. Thanks for now.
DaveM121 930.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-12T11:35:16.3166667+00:00

Glad to help!
Rockface 40 Reputation points

2026-09-13T12:37:58.7266667+00:00

But..

Ad you know I'm a newbie so I may need to come back to clarify. The finish line is still a long way off.
DaveM121 930.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-13T12:44:26.05+00:00

If you have any difficulty locating that support page, click your Start Button, then just type msinfo and press Enter, please provide a screenshot of the resulting System Information window.