Black screen, then reboots---please help!

[Diane M]

Yesterday I was online and my screen suddenly turned black, then
rebooted, and in seconds my desktop was back. I got a message from
Microsoft that were was a serious error, which I sent in. They responded
that it was a unknown driver problem. That's what they always say, so
what's the point in sending it in??? Anyway, this morning I was looking
at newsgroups, and the same thing happened, but no error message from
Microsoft. They ignored me this time. My computer was recently updated
(new hard drive, new sound and video cards, new motherboard), so what
could possibly be wrong? I don't normally use IE as my browser, and was
in Mozilla when this happened. Any ideas please? Maybe a driver that
needs to be update?

Diane M

 

[SP Goodman]

Yesterday I was online and my screen suddenly turned black, then rebooted,
and in seconds my desktop was back. I got a message from Microsoft that
were was a serious error, which I sent in. They responded that it was a
unknown driver problem. That's what they always say, so what's the point
in sending it in??? Anyway, this morning I was looking at newsgroups, and
the same thing happened, but no error message from Microsoft. They
ignored me this time. My computer was recently updated (new hard drive,
new sound and video cards, new motherboard), so what could possibly be
wrong? I don't normally use IE as my browser, and was in Mozilla when
this happened. Any ideas please? Maybe a driver that needs to be update?

I've gotten the same upon booting up several times in the past week, with no
discernable cause. It happened before I replaced my video card, and
afterwards as well. Ultimately I get taken to a web page at
http://oca.microsoft.com//en/response.aspx saying "Error is being
researched." Which error, is the question. Startup seemed otherwise
uneventful before and after the 'error' happens. I always restart after
this.


--
Stephen Goodman
* Cartoons about DVDs and Stuff
* http://www.medialinenews.com
* http://www.earthlight.net/HiddenTrack
* http://www.earthlight.net/Gallery

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

Hi Diane,

When you send in the error report it either creates a new driver problem
in the database, or if it has been reported by other users it is added to
the running tally for that issue. Until someone is able to investigate that
issue it will show as an unknow driver error. If a lot of people are hitting
(and reporting) the same issue it will most likely get addressed quicker. If
you want to try these instructions below I can see if I can determine the
cause from a minidump from your system. To determine what driver is causing
the problem I need you to enable driver verifier.
Steps:
1) Windows Key + R
2) Type in 'verifier' and hit enter
3) Make sure 'Create Standard Setting' is selected and hit next
4) Click on 'Select all drivers installed on this computer' and hit Finish
5) Reboot

There is a possibility that your computer will crash on reboot. If this
occurs hit F8 when rebooting just before the windows logo screen and select
the safe mode boot option. Follow the same steps above but on step 4 choose
'Select driver names from a list'; hit next; check the box next to any
driver where the provider is not Microsoft; hit Finish; reboot.

This will slow the performance of you computer a little while enabled but
will hopefully catch the driver causing corruption. Next time you crash
the blue screen will hopefully say something like
"DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION". If this occurs please send the
corresponding minidump (by default it is at c:\windows\Minidump ) my way.
If you have any questions or I didn't explain something well enough don't
hesitate to e-mail me (remove "online") back. Good Luck,


Joshua Smith
OpenGL Test Lab
Microsoft