Member Avatar for shredder2794

Hello all,
Whenever I get on my laptop running Windows XP SP3 I get that pesky message that says "Windows has recovered from a serious error" and the buttons that say "send error report" and "dont send". Whenever you click either the message goes away for about 2 seconds then comes up again. I have rebooted the system and taken the battery out but to no avail... any ideas?
also I have ran Microsoft update but that didn't help either....

Edited by shredder2794 because: n/a
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This thread shows the common pattern: the pop-up is silenced (as did) by turning off Windows error reporting — a perfectly valid quick fix — but, as noted, that only hides whatever is crashing. The right diagnostic move (suggested earlier by ) is to collect the crash evidence and fix the faulty component rather than leave reporting disabled.

The practical diagnostic sequence that reliably narrows the culprit:

  • Examine the system’s error logs for entries that happen at the same time as the dialog. Note the event type, timestamp, the process name, the reported “faulting module” and any exception code (for example, 0xc0000005 is an access violation).
  • Look for application crash output (DrWatson/minidump or Windows Error Reporting files) to get module and stack hints.
  • Isolate with a clean boot or Safe Mode: disable non-Microsoft services/startup items and restart to see if the dialog reappears.
  • If the logs point to Explorer, suspect a shell extension; if they point to a third‑party app, reinstall or uninstall that app. For drivers or services shown in the logs, update or roll back the driver.
  • Run integrity checks and scans: System File Checker, chkdsk, and a full anti‑malware scan.

A note on tactics: suppressing the dialog stops the annoyance but is a symptom-suppression step only. After correcting the underlying fault, re-enable error reporting so genuine future crashes can be reported and diagnosed. Before editing services or the registry, create a restore point and back up important data.

Key takeaway: the single most useful clues are the Event Log entries and any “faulting module” strings or minidump/DrWatson output — those point quickly to a third‑party program, driver, or corrupted system file that should be repaired or removed.

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Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

See if this helps:

Right click "My Computer" and choose "Properties" from the context menu.
Go to the "Advanced" tab
Click the "Error Reporting" button near the bottom right
Select "Disable Error Reporting"

I don't know why the message keeps popping up but this may disable it.

Member Avatar for flagstar

See if this helps:

Right click "My Computer" and choose "Properties" from the context menu.
Go to the "Advanced" tab
Click the "Error Reporting" button near the bottom right
Select "Disable Error Reporting"

I don't know why the message keeps popping up but this may disable it.

The solution above will correct the issue but it would just stop the error reporting issue, not the real problem inside your computer.

Did your problem comes just recently and would you describe your problem in more details?

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

I presumed the problem was not that an error kept repeating because that message is only supposed to display once after a reboot. A problem that causes the generation of that type of message would take down the entire system so it doesn't appear that the problem is recurring, just that the message keeps popping up.

Do you know how to check the event logs? The quick way is to run EVENTVWR.MSC. Perhaps this will indicate the source of the error message.

Member Avatar for shredder2794

Thanks everyone! All the input helped A LOT and I resolved the issue.

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

Care to share your solution?

Member Avatar for flagstar

Doesn't need to. He simply follow your solution to correct his problem...

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

The solution above will correct the issue but it would just stop the error reporting issue, not the real problem inside your computer.

I believe your point was that the issue should be corrected rather than masked. I agreed with you. That's why I was curious as to which approach shredder took to resolve the problem.

Member Avatar for shredder2794

Well the only problem was the error message popping up so I used Reverend Jim first method of hiding the message.

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