Sounds like you need to update your graphics drivers.  Does it happen in any other imaging programs like paint and such?  There are a lot of reasons for why this may occur. 

Is the system stable without using picture it 9? 

Any icons appear in the tray area just prior? 

Any system events that are logged? Right click on My comp->Manage->Event viewer.

These can all give clues as to the reason this is occuring. 

crstacy, thank you for your help.  There is no blue screen error message in any other imaging programs.  System is stable without using Picture It 9.  No icons appeared in tray before event.

The event viewer (applications) shows an error: Faulting application picture viewer.exe, version 6.5.0.48, fault address 0x000dcd5a.

Help and Support Center reports that http://microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp cannot be displayed because the server it resides on does not respond.

Ace High

 

 

Well, this is a hard one.  I still think its a graphics driver issue, but not a lot of useful information on picture it!

I would suggest using a different graphics app in the short term if the drivers dont work.

It has me scratching my head.

Another thing to try is right click on the exe file and selct compatability for windows 98 and see if that helps.

Microsoft Online Crash Analysis reports  "that a device driver on your computer caused the problem; however, we cannot determine the precise cause".  Guessing that it was the graphics card (32MB NVDIA GeForce Go5200) I first uninstalled MS Picture It 9; then down loaded and installed upgraded drivers for the graphics card from Dell suppport.I then reinstalled MS Picture It 9.  Same old story, it did no good.  I still get the blue screen.

Sir,

I just had another wild idea.  Shortly before this problem I had installed a Google mapping application that I did not like. I uninstalled it all but a google tool bar that I could not delete so I shredded it.  The google tool bar had a file extension of dll.  Could that be causing the problem.

You could work in Dell Tech support! What do you mean by shredded it?  I would run a system restore to before those apps were installed and see if that works for ya.  Always a give away if problems start occuring after a program change or hardware install.

Personally if it were me I would have used the latest driver from Nvidia.  Dells listed drivers are often a few revisions older.  Other than that Its a case of weeding out the drivers used for Picture it! 9.  Its a program i'm not even familiar with.  Some programs work better than others with older drivers, some work better with new drivers.  Some new drivers fix issues and others cause em.

Also you shouldnt need to uninstall the app everytime you look for drivers.

Another thing to try is look in the device manager for any conflicts for your hardware.  If there is one, diable the device.  you can also test if its your graphics card by disabling it in the device manager and connecting your monitor to the onboard graphics.  Try the app and see if you still get the error.  If you do its the app that is to blame.  If its fixed its your graphics card. 

Me being me would have just given up using the program by now and got another one.  Kudos for sticking with it.  Just too bad nobody else has any other ideas.

I thank you for your help; I am going to drop the subject for several days and hopefully later get a different perspective on the subject.