windows

Vista display driver takes a break

289 Comments

I’m seeing an annoying error on my Portege M400 running Vista. The thing is almost clear of beta drivers now, after numerous downloads from Toshiba, including the display driver. The graphics chipset is a Mobile Intel 945GM, and I have a production release driver dated 13th December 2006, version 7.14.10.1151, though I saw the same problem with earlier releases.

Specifically, from time to time the display blanks out and an error 4101 is logged. Sometimes I get this supposedly reassuring toast pop-up:

The warning message is:

Display driver igfx stopped responding and has successfully recovered

The error is worse than it sounds. The screen blanking is irritating, and sometimes causes the current application to crash (I’ve seen this with games). I’ve also seen it when working with multiple displays. Fortunately it only seems to occur with the display is being stressed in some way – I can work all day in Word and Excel, and not see the problem.

I’ve tried turning off Aero and it makes no difference.

A bug in Intel’s driver I suppose (I never get this on my Vista desktop), though it is not exclusive to Intel; this user reports the same problem with a GeForce 7900.

This is the kind of thing that spoils Vista right now. I think this OS will work much better six months from now.

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289 thoughts on “Vista display driver takes a break”

  1. I see all these complaints and yes mine is the same Sony VGN-250E with the same chip 945gm. But what I’m looking for here is a solution to the problem, any one got one yet?

  2. I have the same problem with GTA: SA. How can I fix it? Is there any drivers or patches to fix it???

  3. So I had the same problem and used the version mentioned in the wow forums (it’s the only version that seems to work smoothly – newer versions bring back the bad behavior)

    WOW works perfect, but my Gateway laptop now shows a jumbled square in the upper left hand corner whenever I use of the the built-in laptop functions (volume up, adjust brightness, etc) Previosuly it showed icons indicating the function button I just pressed. Any ideas on how to get these working again (instead of the jumbled mess)?

  5. Yeah, I did exactly what you did Colby and it didn’t seem to work. The games still crash constantly, after maybe a few minutes of gameplay. Are there any other solutions available?

    I bought the HP Pavilion Entertainment Laptop…is anyone else having problems with this particular model?

  7. Hey all! First I want to say thank you for this thread. I just purchased a new HP system with Vista and am running into all the compatability challenges mentioned here. Now I see all the humor in the Mac commercials!

    More importantly, some of you mentioned having to manually install the driver upgrade because using the automatic installation kicked back a “contact your computer’s manufacturer” notice. If you have an HP, go to their website first and download thier driver upgrades. Then go to Intel and download theirs. When I did this, I did not get that pesky “contact your computer’s manufacturer” and the Intel update automatically installed fine.

    I hope this helps! I would hate to be one of the privilaged few to get my Vista system to operate the Blizzard games we love so much!

    Cheers!

  8. Hey Rich,I just bought an HP Pavilion laptop too and AOE3 isn’t functioning on it…and I keep getting a message saying the program needs 64MB video card to play….HELP!

  11. help please just bought first laptop hoping to play age of empires but i cant driver igfx stopped responding and has recovered.
    dont know what to do going throw it in the canal if you cant help.
    its a intel core duo ert2250 advent
    pls help. email. pauljordan79@hotmail.co.uk

  12. dont know what to do going throw it in the canal if you cant help.

    Everything you need to know is in this thread.

    Tim

  13. Im also having this rediculous prblem in WoW, black sreen for like 5s, but heres my problem-
    im worried that if i uninstall this driver that i might make an irriplaceable error, if i d/l this new intel driver is it easily able to be returned to the stock driver?

    Im not extremely computer orientated, and i cant afford to ruin anything 😉 i hope i can get some sound advice

    thanks

  14. if i d/l this new intel driver is it easily able to be returned to the stock driver?

    Can’t answer in your specific case, but it’s highly likely that the driver specific to your system is available for download from the vendor’s site.

  15. well appreciate it , all in all this site is extremely helpfull, keep up the good work

  16. ok, i just got this new gateway labtop and i’m pissed… i don’t understand all of this technichal stuff you guys are talkin, and all i want to do is play wow. but every few seconds i get the black screen and the error message. someone please email me and tell me how to fix it (english please) lol Lukewarm07@hotmail.com

  17. Colby I thought your solution would help me, but no can do, and I have the same computer you do.

    I have Tiger Woods 2006, and for the first two weeks everything worked fine, and then when I downloaded the new drivers I started to get the IGFX problem. I have downgraded to the old drivers, upgraded to the new drivers, used every driver in between, and still I can’t get this thing to work.

    It only happens when I play Tiger Woods, and I know it works, because I played it for two weeks with no problems. ANy hints suggestions, anything

  18. It only happens also when I use try and use my created golfer on the Rivals mode or PGA Mode, and I always used create a golfer. ERRRR

  20. So, for the flickering issue with Windows vista and Intel 945 GM, please install the driver from intel win2k_xp142550.

    It works just fine now !!!

  21. Cornel, could you post the URL of the win2k_xp142550 you just mentioned?

    thanks.

  22. ermm, abit of a problem. It doesnt flicker no more thanks to Cornels solution, instead its just crashes when i try to get on World of Warcraft.. Help! i look on device manager, and i have 2 of the same drivers.. im guessing this is bad?

  23. well i uninstallled the driver, when i did that to one of them the other went with it.. slightly confusing but carrying on, i tried colbys way, downloaded and saved into my documents, then restarted the computer and tried to set it up, but every time i tried there was an error and cancelled instalation. tried a few times, and then went to windows updater, i think it the inatalation worked… the screen just went off and wasnt coming back on, what i think happened is that because it was already in the ‘fall back mode’ it had nothing to fall back on THIS time, i may be talking complete rubbish but thats just what i think. any way after about 5 minutes a paniced and switched the laptop off and on again now its bk as it was with the ‘Display driver stopped responding and has recovered Display driver igfx stopped responding and has successfully recovered’ also the chip is now called Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Controller 0 (Microsoft Corporation – WDDM)
    and its different to what it used to be, the end bit i think. If someone has a method of fixing this please tell me, i have tried everyhting listed above!

  24. tried to set it up, but every time i tried there was an error and cancelled instalation

    I imagine you need to troubleshoot this error, whatever it is. It sounds like you’ve reverted to the original buggy driver.

    Tim

  25. ok have a plan, uninstall the drivers on device manager, then download win2k_xp142550 and then theroticly it should be ok.. what do you think? im asking because the last time i downloaded win2k_xp142550 i didnt uninstall the other drivers, and there was to of the same drivers listed was this making it crash? its either that or the driver was making it crash? im not all sure…

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