The Blue Screen of Death

It is one of the most hated and frustrating Windows error messages.  Not only it is fatal and leads to the computer crashing but it is can also be difficult for non-professional PC user to diagnose the problem. Cryptic error code is the only clue to source of the problem.  It affects all Windows system, even Windows 7 can show this error message if there is an issue.

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The Blue Screen of Death (aka BSOD) is a non-recoverable system failure. It is not specific to any part of your system, meaning that it is a general error caused by malfunction in your computer (software, hardware, registry,…).  It is difficult to generalize on what can cause BSOD.  There are many reasons why this fatal error might happen on your computer.

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Possible Reasons for Blue Screen Error Message

A virus can damage critical files on your system.  The corruption of these essential files can cause a fatal system error.  If a hardware device installation is not done properly, there can be a conflict with shared and installation files.  The reason why we mention Blue Screen of Death here on our site is because this error can be related to corrupt registry.  In some instances where critical registry files are invalid or corrupted, the BSOD will pop up.

You might ask yourself, how would you know if the Blue Screen error message is related to registry.  If this fatal error was caused by the registry, the error message will contain text such as “The registry cannot load the hive (file)” and “Registry File Failure”. The easiest way to fix this is to optimize, clean and repair your registry.  Microsoft’s support website contains detailed steps on how to take care of this situation.  If you have a Windows XP, read this article for help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us

If a “device driver” is mentioned in the error message then re-install the affected hardware device (e.g. video or audio card). Or alternatively, you can go to the manufacturer’s website and grab the driver file yourself and install it. Other reasons for BSOD are high temperature of your computer (check your fan and if system is over clock), BIOS issues (try restoring default settings) and Windows system files issues (in most cases this is very serious, you can either replace the affected files or re-install Windows).

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Other solutions for BSOD

We recommend doing the memory test (sfc/scannow command) and check disk (chkdsk command) to check for the affected files.  This test will tell you if any critical files are invalid and if they require fixing.  If you are unable to type-in these commands since the system cannot load properly, we recommend booting up your computer in Safe Mode and once it’s loaded perform these check commands.

Earlier we also mentioned that virus can damage critical system files and cause BSOD to appear.  But it is also possible for anti-virus software to create system errors. If this is the case, simply uninstall your current anti-virus application and install a different one, like Norton or AVG.

Blue screen of death is a popular term in IT circles.  It is in fact so popular that some people have decided to have a permanent memento of this error message.