XP Identifying hardware for driver updates

I have never knowingly updated the drivers on my PC since it was refurbished (if that's the word) some two years ago.
Over the last year I have had 'blue screens' which have disappeared after a reboot.
I just had another and it appears that updating the drivers on my PC may help to solve the problem. Is that correct and, if so, can I identify the manufacturers without taking the PC apart?
Knowledgeable advice would definitely be appreciated.

 

Hi Knowsum,

This is possible. Sometimes software or hardware updates can cause driver conflicts.

Have a look in C:Windows\Minidumps to see if your system is saving minidumps. If it is please attach them to your reply and we can debug them to help identify the problem.

If there are none there follow the steps below

1.Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2.Click the Advanced tab, and then under Startup and Recovery, click Settings (or Startup and Recovery).
3.Set Write debugging option to "Small Minidump"

Next time it crashes a minidump file will be written which you can attach to your reply

 

Tueur thanks for the advice. No dumps so I followed your advice. There was no "Small Minidump" in the drop down list but it did have "Small memory dump (64KB) so I selected that. OK?

 

Spot on. Now you just have to wait for a blue screen!

 

I had a BSD today and tried uploading the "minidump" file but the forum does not appear to allow .dmp files.
I also have a BSD reader program which I copied into a MS Word .doc but it seems it exceeds the file size allowed by the forum.
Any useful suggestions on how to proceed?

Many thanks in advance.

 

Source: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=86880
try zipping the dmp file do not change it into a document.

 

The error messages are explanatory but how do I proceed to get the information on to the forum?

 

Add the dump file to a zip.archive and attach the zip to a reply

 

Eventually I have created and attached a zip file containing a MS Word doc showing the results of the mini dump.

Does this give a clue to the problem?

 

not really. you need to upload the minidup files