Your pc has run into a problem and needs to restart

Your pc has run into a problem and needs to restart on your thinkpad laptop.

I have a thinkpad yoga laptop.

I get that message with a frowny face symbol and a blue screen ever few hours. It is slightly more common when I have 3 displaylink USB monitors plugged in but still happens when I have no monitors plugged in.

What are some things that you would try to figure out why this happening and prevent it?

It's not overheating. I have a fan nearby
No, it's not blowing towards the vents so it is not trapping heat in so that is not it. And the laptop stays very cool.

 

If it happens often, you should do a system refresh.

 

You may have faulty drivers. You can try updating to more recent drivers with Lenovo Update.

 

Lenovo update says for recommended updates

lenovo quick control
lenovo shareit

optional updates
synaptic ultranav driver
thinkpad hotkey features integrationpackage setup
intel wireless lan driver
password manager
intel HD graphics driver
intelr proset wireless software for bluetooth
covexant audio drive
thinkpad bios update

I am slightly afraid to install any of these and am unsure which of them relates to the system crashing. Which are relevant? What type ofsystem backup would I need to do if things went awry? I have tried "backups" in the past and alot of times they were little more than saving some files in the C drive or documents or whatever. What is the terminology?

Can we use the fact that the plugable dock increases the risk of crashing?

 

Update all of them. As a tech person, you should be keeping your system up to date. I have the dock and it doesn't increase crashes. I can dock and undock my laptop many times and I would not have that message ever displayed.

 

You don't need Lenovo shareit, and I've never heard of quick control. The most relevant update is the graphics driver - Intel HD Graphics. However, all the "optional" updates can be helpful unless you have a specific reason not to install them. Synaptic Ultranav is for your touchpad, Thinkpad Hotkey Features is for improved function of the special keyboard buttons for your system (mostly Alt+Fn key combinations), Intel Wireless driver is (obviously) your wifi, Password Manager can be useful if you use it but is otherwise optional, Intel HD Graphics is your video driver, and is the most likely cause of your bluescreens, Intel Proset Wireless is the extra software Intel includes with their wireless cards & drivers, conexant audio is your sound driver (I didn't update mine because the update breaks Dolby Home Theater v4), and the BIOS update could fix a number of hardware issues (read the description for specifics). The only one that has the potential to catastrophically kill your system is the BIOS update, although I've done lots of them and never had any problems. If you want to make a backup, creating a restore point in System Restore should cover it. Nothing will affect your personal data or documents.

 

Okay. Some of them are useless. I did skip a few that didn't have anything to do with the hardware and you should do the same.