What is “The blue Screen of Death”, and what do I do when it happens to me?

The “Blue Screen of Death” also known as “bsod” is basically your computer’s last ditch effort to tell you what it was doing right before it crashed.  Yes, all that white writing on the screen does mean something, and if you know what to look for there are several things you can do to recover from a “bsod” before you give up and call for help.

What to do when you computer gives you the “Blue Screen of Death”

1. Don’t panic and hit the power button:  Read the screen
2. Look for key words such as “Driver” “Memory” or “Failure to read / write”
3. With these key words you can now begin some basic trouble shooting.

If the screen says, “Failed to read / write memory at address…” or words to that effect you can just about garantee it is a RAM memory error.  If this is the case, your data is most likely fine and you can get a new ram chip for just a few dollars and be up and going again

If the screen says “Failed to read / write” disk0 or words to  that effect, you have a hard drive problem.  The key here is “Disk”  This indicates your hard drive ( the part of the computer that holds all the pictures and music and other data) is failing.  At this point you should shutdown the PC immediately and call for assistance.  You will want to tell the tech that you are getting disk errors and you need them to backup all your data as quickly and carefully as possible. Let me say this again… DON’T play around with this one!  Your data is in danger!  Get it backed up immediately if not sooner!

Finally, if the screen says something about a “Driver” or “Driver conflict” you have a problem with some piece of hardware in your PC.  This is  the most common type of bsod error we see in the shop and it usually is a result of something that has recently changed such as a windows update or the installation of new software.  Here are some steps to resolve this type of bsod error.

1. Unplug any new hardware you have installed.  If you get the error after installing a new webcam, there is a good chance it is causing the conflict so unplug it first.
2. Try rebooting your PC in “Last Known Good Configuration”.  This is done by tapping the “F8″ key right after pressing the power button.  You should get a menu for “Advanced boot options”.  Choose “Last known good…” and hit “Enter”.  This will boot your PC with the settings it had in place for its last successful boot.
3. Restart your PC in “Safe Mode” and uninstall any new software.  You can enter safe mode by tapping the “F8″ key as mentioned before and selecting “Safe Mode” and pressing “Enter”.

Finally, if none of the information above solves the problem, call for help.  The bsod is nothing to take lightly.  Your computer is trying to tell you their is a problem and ignoring such waring signs can be very costly.