Crashing computer

Advise please - over the last few days my pc has been shutting down and restarting, with a message saying its recovering from a serious error. Not sure what is going on. Have sent the error report to MS and got the following

Error caused by a video device driver

Error report summary

Error type Windows stop error (A message appears on a blue screen with error code information)
Solution available? Yes
What does this error mean? You received this message because a device driver installed on your computer caused the Windows operating system to stop unexpectedly. This type of error is referred to as a "stop error." A stop error requires you to restart your computer.
Cause A video adapter device driver
Computer symptoms A message appears on a blue screen with error code information:

STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER
- or -
STOP: 0x100000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER_M

Action for you to take

We have analyzed your error report and there are two solutions for this problem for you to choose between.

+ Solution 1: Install the most current driver for your video card
Go to the Microsoft Update website to see if there are any updated drivers for your video card. A driver is software that enables hardware or devices (such as a printer, mouse, or keyboard) to work with your computer. Every device needs a driver in order for it to work. If there are any drivers listed, you should install them.
If there are no updated drivers at Microsoft Update, and you know the manufacturer of the video card, contact the card manufacturer's product support service for assistance.
If there are no updated drivers at Microsoft Update, you don't know the name of the manufacturer of the video card, and you need more help diagnosing and resolving this problem, contact your computer manufacturer's product support service.

+ Solution 2: Manually decrease Hardware Acceleration for your video adapter
This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings higher than None to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration turned off.

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
Click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.
Click the Troubleshoot tab, move the Hardware Acceleration slider to None, and then clear the Enable Write Combining check box.
Click OK, and then click OK.
Note: This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings higher than None to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration off.
Article ID : 11
Last Review : February 28, 2006
Revision : 1.0

Additional Technical Information

Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)

Whilst I assume that I have a video card within the box - its not something I have ever used, so I have no idea what is going on. Should I follow Solution 2????

 

PS - after two further crashes - implemented Solution 2. Has crashed once more, but so far everything seems to be working?. Haven't the faintest idea what is going on. Have you please?

Unfortunately I spoke to soon. PC is still repeatedly crashing, sometimes with a stop error message, sometimes with nothing - and its a bit noisy - which worries me.

[ 28. August 2006, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: Fran ]

 

The video card is what makes the monitor work.

The moral here is never click 'Send Error Report' you will be more confused than ever.

If your hard disk is so noisy it could be on its way to a complete crash Do you have a back up?

Try a friendly teenager. Or failing that get it to a PC doctor.
Good luck
B

xx

 

Thanks for the explanation that clarifies that bit - though goodness knows what it means when it says there is a thread stuck in the driver.

Yes I have a backup - one backup on a second hard drive, and my documents etc on an external drive though whether the gremlin has been backed up too, I don't know. The noise made me think that the hard drive is gonna go phutt which would ****** me off, as its only just over a year old - but it sounds more like the processor is working hard at something - than the noise I had on previous pc when the drive went phutt.

It seems to be working albeit noisily at the moment - but still crashing with this darn video thingy. I'll give my provider a try tomorrow.

 

The problem with your pc is only a driver problem......

get someone who knows how to uninstall the video graphics driver and install an up to date one either via microsoft windows update.......or your video card manufactures website.....

 

Thanks John - they talked me through uninstalling the ATI Display drivers, and then reinstalling them firstly from disc and then from Hardware Wizard.

Everything appears to be working - only problem is that all text - web, word etc seems to be quite a lot lighter. So not so easy to see - but no doubt I will adjust to that. Just nice to have the pc quiet and everything working

 

:D