# "Windows is checking for a solution to the problem" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954 "2012-01-09T19:12:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/1 "2012-01-09T19:12:40Z")
So this error message often pops up after a program stops responding for one reason or another. Quite often nowadays witht the prevalence of internet video embedded in web pages you’ll get this after a brief freeze of your browser. My question is this: Has windows EVER found a solution to the problem? Ever? Is it even really looking? Where? How? I’ve let it go before and it seems to be interminable and pointless. I usually give up and close the program manually around a few minutes into it, because in this day and age of high speed internet if it can’t find a solution to the problem quickly it’s not likely to be able to. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/2 "2012-01-09T19:15:13Z")
I agree. It has never found a solution in my experience (or, at least, within the limits of my patience). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/3 "2012-01-09T19:19:43Z")
It’s found one for me. Once. Not exactly a huge success rate in my experience, but it is possible. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/4 "2012-01-09T19:20:29Z")
Not to my knowledge. In fact, I had one program that crashed pretty often. If I cancelled the request for Windows to “find a solution”, I just went back to my desktop. If I let the “search” continue, I ended up with a blue screen and a reboot. This happened repeatedly – it wasn’t just a one-time fluke. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/5 "2012-01-09T19:24:28Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > It’s found one for me. Once. Not exactly a huge success rate in my experience, but it is possible. Details? If you remember of course. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/6 "2012-01-09T19:53:27Z")
Once for me, too. I think it had to do with a missing music codec. Or a program that needed updating. It was a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/7 "2012-01-09T20:08:09Z")
My favorite part of this is how, once no solution is actually found, one of the recommendations they give is (to paraphrase) “ask a friend what they think the problem is”. Awesome… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/8 "2012-01-09T20:08:28Z")
Never, IME. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/9 "2012-01-09T20:12:12Z")
I deal with this enough that I have actually seen about a dozen fixes from this. Usually is something to do with a known software conflict or missing driver/codec. I have seen a bunch of these citing conflicts between some software and Roxio CD burner software. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/10 "2012-01-09T21:03:05Z")
What version of Windows do you have? (You didn’t say… unless I missed it.) The dialog is pretty useless in XP, as that program was brand-new and the XP library of possible solutions is pretty tiny relative to the amount of software people use. Still, occasionally XP will find things-- usually video driver updates, from my experience. If you’re using Vista and Windows 7, it should have a much higher “hit rate”. Usually the solution is, “there’s a newer version of this driver/program which is likely to fix this error”. I’ve seen a few others as well. That said, if it’s a po-dunk program (like some app only a few hundred users use, or something written decades ago and never updated, etc) it’s not going to have anything in the solution database. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/11 "2012-01-09T21:48:57Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > It’s found one for me. Once. Not exactly a huge success rate in my experience, but it is possible. > [@echo6160](#): > > Details? If you remember of course. 🙂 I had a game that was crashing. It told me that the game crashed because of an outdated video driver. I updated the driver and the game stopped crashing. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/12 "2012-01-09T22:17:02Z")
Once. It figured out that I had turned off wifi. Windows 7. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Doctor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/13 "2012-01-09T22:18:21Z")
Never has found anything in my experience. I find it about as useful as Windows Help – it will only tell you about the obvious things that you probably already know unless you’ve never used a computer before. I find Googling problems to be much more fruitful. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/14 "2012-01-09T22:25:50Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > It’s found one for me. Once. Not exactly a huge success rate in my experience, but it is possible. I didn’t know Windows had that feature back in the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/15 "2012-01-09T22:26:26Z")
Since the OP is asking about personal experiences, let’s move this over to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator PS. In my experience, I can’t recall Windows of any version ever finding a solution to a problem. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/16 "2012-01-09T22:51:36Z")
I’ve had it find a few solutions. Often they’re “upgrade to version \_\_,” but occasionally they’re real answers like driver issues. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/17 "2012-01-09T23:30:32Z")
Well it’s nice to see that it has been effective in some limited instances. However there was a GQ goal to my post - I was also wondering how it “searches for a solution”? Does it just scan the whole intertoobs simultaneously? Does it access SkyNet? Is there a databank of possible solutions right here on my PC that gets updates when window updates? ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/18 "2012-01-10T03:17:11Z")
> [@Blakeyrat](#): > > What version of Windows do you have? (You didn’t say… unless I missed it.) The dialog is pretty useless in XP, as that program was brand-new and the XP library of possible solutions is pretty tiny relative to the amount of software people use. Still, occasionally XP will find things-- usually video driver updates, from my experience. … I don’t recall ever seeing this message in XP. I’m not sure it’s even a feature in XP. It’s occurred many time in Windows 7 for me, but never a fix. You can turn off the message in the _Action Center_. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/19 "2012-01-10T03:22:17Z")
> [@echo6160](#): > > I was also wondering how it “searches for a solution”? Does it just scan the whole intertoobs simultaneously? Does it access SkyNet? Is there a databank of possible solutions right here on my PC that gets updates when window updates? No. If you are a software developer, you can sign up with Microsoft and get error reports from them. You can then inform Microsoft’s database what the fix is for various crashes. More info on the program here: > **[Partner Center for Windows Hardware - Windows drivers](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/dashboard/?redirectedfrom=MSDN)** > > This article describes how to get started with the hardware submission process by using the Partner Center for Windows Hardware. Skynet is not involved, and there can be 40 bizillion posts about your problem on the net and Microsoft won’t be aware of them at all. Error reporting only knows what the developers tell it. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954/20 "2012-01-10T03:32:37Z")
No valuable input here…Just found the OP quite funny. I don’t know why. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-is-checking-for-a-solution-to-the-problem/608954.md?page=2)