diff --git a/src/gpu_backend.rs b/src/gpu_backend.rs
index ad16e13ab..8b5141cd1 100644
--- a/src/gpu_backend.rs
+++ b/src/gpu_backend.rs
@@ -357,7 +357,12 @@ fn crash_report_blames_the_device(sentinel: &str) -> bool {
     else {
         return false;
     };
-    crate::sys::crash_log::report_for_pid(pid)
+    let armed = sentinel
+        .lines()
+        .find_map(|line| line.strip_prefix("t="))
+        .and_then(|value| value.trim().parse::<u64>().ok())
+        .unwrap_or(0);
+    crate::sys::crash_log::report_for_pid(pid, armed)
         .is_some_and(|report| crate::sys::crash_log::is_device_failure(&report))
 }
 
@@ -1129,7 +1134,14 @@ mod tests {
 
         let reports = crate::sys::crash_log::directory().expect("a config directory");
         let _ = std::fs::create_dir_all(&reports);
-        let report = reports.join(format!("crash-1-{}.log", std::process::id()));
+        let now = std::time::SystemTime::now()
+            .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)
+            .map(|d| d.as_secs())
+            .unwrap_or(0);
+        // A report older than the run, left by another process that once
+        // had this id, blames nobody.
+        let stale = reports.join(format!("crash-1-{}.log", std::process::id()));
+        let report = reports.join(format!("crash-{}-{}.log", now + 1, std::process::id()));
 
         arm_sentinel("dx12");
         mark_sentinel_survived();
@@ -1138,6 +1150,16 @@ mod tests {
             crashed_backends().is_empty(),
             "with no crash report, a survived run blames nobody"
         );
+        std::fs::write(
+            &stale,
+            crate::sys::crash_log::report_from("Out of Memory", "wgpu-29.0.4/src/lib.rs:1:1", 1),
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+        assert!(
+            crashed_backends().is_empty(),
+            "a report from before the run belongs to another process"
+        );
+        let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&stale);
 
         // The run left a report, and it is the device's own failure.
         std::fs::write(
diff --git a/src/sys.rs b/src/sys.rs
index 52d27561e..9c0a9c757 100644
--- a/src/sys.rs
+++ b/src/sys.rs
@@ -435,17 +435,22 @@ pub mod crash_log {
     /// a process id from somewhere else — the GPU crash sentinel does — can
     /// ask what killed that exact run instead of guessing from the newest
     /// file, which on a busy machine may belong to a different one.
-    pub fn report_for_pid(pid: u32) -> Option<String> {
+    ///
+    /// Process ids are reused, so only a report written at or after
+    /// `not_before` (Unix seconds — when that run started) counts: an old
+    /// report from an unrelated run that once had the same id does not.
+    pub fn report_for_pid(pid: u32, not_before: u64) -> Option<String> {
         let directory = directory()?;
         let suffix = format!("-{pid}.log");
         let entry = std::fs::read_dir(directory)
             .ok()?
             .flatten()
             .find(|entry| {
-                entry
-                    .file_name()
-                    .to_string_lossy()
-                    .ends_with(suffix.as_str())
+                let name = entry.file_name().to_string_lossy().into_owned();
+                name.strip_prefix("crash-")
+                    .and_then(|rest| rest.strip_suffix(suffix.as_str()))
+                    .and_then(|when| when.parse::<u64>().ok())
+                    .is_some_and(|when| when >= not_before)
             })?;
         std::fs::read_to_string(entry.path()).ok()
     }
@@ -468,9 +473,11 @@ pub mod crash_log {
         }
         // The message wgpu panics with names the call, and the location names
         // wgpu itself; either alone is enough, since a stripped build can
-        // leave the message terse.
+        // leave the message terse. Plain words like "buffer" or "surface"
+        // are not: drawing code and the modelling kernel panic with those
+        // too, and that is no reason to give up a working backend.
         let haystack = format!("{panic_line} {at_line}").to_ascii_lowercase();
-        ["wgpu", "out of memory", "buffer", "surface", "device lost"]
+        ["wgpu", "out of memory", "device lost", "validation error"]
             .iter()
             .any(|needle| haystack.contains(needle))
     }