What to do when you are greeted by the dreaded blue screen of death
There are few things that can strike fear into the hearts of busy people than the blue screen of death. Having worked on the computer the day before without a problem, only to be met with an unresponsive blue screen in the morning, is nothing less than infuriating and worrying.
No one wants to have to deal with the loss of work and information, or have to pay out the scary amount of money that will need to be spent in the event of a total breakdown, but before you let your anxiety get the better of you, you need to know that the blue screen of death is not always the complete death of your system, and there are some things that you can do to save your data and your hardware.
What causes the blue screen of death?
There are many factors that can contribute to this blue screen popping up and it generally has something to do with your computer’s hardware or your driver’s. At other times, the issue can be the result of low-level software running on Windows though it is good to know that your regular programmes and apps shouldn’t be the cause of the blue screen.
The blue screen affects the entire operating system, causing it to come to a halt and basically crash.?The problem normally occurs when Windows is sent a “STOP Error” which “tells” Windows to stop what it is doing and restart.
If you have been working on your computer when a blue screen event occurs, you will have likely lost whatever it is that you are working on, because there is a good chance that Windows has not been able to make a temporary back up of what you were doing before it received instruction to reboot.
What Windows does do is create a mini file which records the information relating to the crash. If you are able to get your computer going again, you should be able to access this file and then look through it to see the cause of the crash. This vital information can then be used to solve the problem to prevent it from happening again.
The screen that you will see is already going to be jam packed with information regarding the crash, but often this page comes and goes so quickly that it is unreadable. This is why it is far easier to read the troubleshooting file after the computer comes back on.
The worst thing about the dreaded blue screen of death is that you are unlikely to get a warning before it happens. If the crash is due to hardware, you might have had some clues, such as odd sounds or the occasional frozen programmes or screens. But aside from that, the blue screen event tends to happen out of the blue, excuse the pun!So, what should you do if you have the bad luck of experiencing a crash like this?
In order to solve the error issue, there are a few things that you can and should do. If you don’t get hands on with the error, or if you don’t get it to a repair shop for assistance, you run the risk of having permanent issues which could escalate and result in a beyond repair kind of issue.
To eliminate the problem once and for all, here is what you can do.
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When you are trying to solve the error, you are going to have a tough time figuring out what is causing the problem, if you are not sure what the specific problem is.
If you are working with Windows 10, your screen should show you an unhappy looking emoticon accompanied by an error message. You will also have a QR code as well as a stop code, which you will need in order to diagnose the problem. The QR code will just take you to a Microsoft Support Page, while the stop code will tell you exactly what went wrong.
The blue screen of death commonly pops up when there has been a change made on the computer or if there has been a hardware change. Changes are known to create errors due to compatibility issues or because whatever you have installed or added to the computer is for some reason faulty.
If you know of a recent change, you need to view your update history. From there, you can go to the uninstall updates page, which will allow you to backtrack on any installations relating to your error code.
You are not alone if you are one of those who neglect to update drivers. We often forget to update the drivers for our hardware, and for our graphics cards in particular. Since some hardware is prone to having some fairly regular updates and while you might get away with not always updating, there will come one that ruins your day.
You can avoid the blue screen by keeping up with your updates and if this is the cause of a crash, you can check your device manager for updates.
Faulty hardware or new but incompatible hardware is often a big culprit in crashes. It is important to have a look at the hardware you have, and you should have an extra close look at your RAM. The easiest way to make sure that your hardware is working as it should, is to take your computer to a technician. They know what to look for and they will be able to do a proper check.
Finally, you need to check your system. You can do this yourself by using your System File Checker, and this will throw out damaged Windows files and then attempt a repair. You can access your System File Checker by pressing Win+X or by right clicking on your start menu. From there you should select your Command Prompt or the Windows PowerShell, and then type in sfc /scannow. The system scan will begin and it can take a little time to get your results.