How To Weird issue with display driver

[NewSilkTurtle]

I'm running a Toshiba Satellite P770-D with the 1.40 gigahertz AMD A6-3400M APU with Radeon HD Graphics. Last time I tried to start it, the display driver didn't load. I restarted in Safe Mode and look for a driver update. I already had the latest. Restarted normally and the display works again. One time last week while I was using the machine the screen went black for a few moments, then came back with a message saying that the display driver had crashed and recovered.

I need to keep this machine running as long as possible. Can anyone recommend a fix, short of buying a new machine?

 

[VirtualLarry]

No.

You have a LLano / FM1-era APU laptop. There are no new (Edit: Windows) video drivers for it, and the last one made, crashes occasionally.

Live with it, upgrade the whole thing, or install Linux and use the open-source drivers.

 

[NewSilkTurtle]

Thank you, VirtualLarry. Would you think it's a little strange that after 11 years of almost continual use, this is happening for the first time?

In fact I've been thinking about buying one of those micro-PC boxes with no OS or hard drive, because I have a drive on standby and don't really need a laptop anymore, and installing Linux on it. Are there any you can recommend?

I need it to be as inexpensive as possible. I don't play games; the most graphics-intensive thing I do is watch movies.