The “Display Driver has Stopped Responding and has Recovered” error is probably one of the most annoying PC problems I’ve ever bumped into in the past few years. After researching this unsolved problem for several days, I believe I finally found how to fix it.

There are several ways to handle this issue, but these are quite complex for the average PC user and are suitable for advanced PC users (involves editing your registry system, or messing with other Windows configurations…).

In a minute I’ll demonstrate a quick way that enables any PC user at any level to easily handle and repair this problem.

First of all, here is some important information about this error:

‘Suffering’ platforms:
Windows 7 32bit/64bit, Vista

‘Involved’ graphic cards:
Can be any card from any manufacturer, but here are known ‘involved’ graphic cards:

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650/X1300/3870
Nvidia GTX 470/8600GT/QUADRO FX800M
NVidia GEForce 9800/GT 200/GT 220

But again, it can happen with any graphic card.

Typical problems:
You’ll usually get a ‘nice’ “Display Driver has Stopped Responding and has Recovered” error message together with a system freeze that may typically last anywhere between a few seconds up to 30 minutes, and afterwards everything will work fine. In some instances it even results with a BSOD crash (blue screen of death).

Causes:
It is still impossible to pinpoint the exact source to that error, but one thing is certain – it's a DRIVER problem! One of your drivers is either outdated/incompatible/obsolete.

And don’t get it wrong!

It isn’t necessarily your graphic card driver…it can be a motherboard driver, or any of your system or device drivers, or a combination of several drivers.

It is known for example that Windows Vista and Windows 7 automatic third party drivers update aren’t that successful and accurate, and known for causing all kinds of errors.

What to do?
You need to track down the problematic driver or drivers that cause this “Display Driver has Stopped Responding and has Recovered” error and replace them immediately.

In order to do that, download the following drivers repair tool:

(1) Click ‘Driver Manager’
(2) Wait until it detects the problematic drivers…
(3) Replace them with their latest and compatible version
(4) Restart your PC

I've added this quick video to demonstrate how it is done:

Let me know what you think of this video and this post.
Feel free to add and post comments, tips, and suggestions reading this error.