Windows
Illustrator crashes traced to the NVIDIA driver; driver updated
The laptop was crashing after a crash report in Event Viewer pointed to the NVIDIA driver. The newer NVIDIA driver was downloaded and installed, and testing showed programs opened and an Illustrator file could be saved without crashing.
Killed once by someone from XL.net, on 2026-03-17.
Affects
Apps
- Adobe Illustrator
What you see
- A crash message appeared before the laptop crashed.
- Illustrator work could be lost because the laptop crashed before files were saved.
Why it happens
Likely The crash report in Event Viewer was attributed to the NVIDIA driver, and a newer driver version was available.
When it shows up
A Windows laptop crashes while using Illustrator and Event Viewer shows a crash report tied to the NVIDIA driver.
You are in this case if:
- Event Viewer crash report referencing the NVIDIA driver
- NVIDIA display driver
1 fix below
The steps that killed it
The steps are behind a quick check
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Someone from XL.net killed this on a Windows computer on 2026-03-17. It is written up from that one repair, so it cites no outside page.