Full FeedKnow your enemy: Understanding the Blue Screen of Death
Just about everyone has probably seen that dreaded Blue Screen of Death (“BSoD”) at some time or another. Or, at very least you’ve heard someone screaming about it coming up on their system. When it happens, you can feel a sick feeling in your stomach.
The origin of the BSoD
The term “Blue Screen of Death” first came about during an OS/2 pre-release activity held by the makers of an early Windows and OS/2 compiler, Lattice. At some point during the whole show, while porting some of Lattice’s other tools, the BSoD came up. The developers used the term “Blue Screen of Death” in their description to IBM Austin, Texas when trying to explain the screen and the finality of what was happening.
What the heck is it?
A BSoD can be caused by several different reasons. Pretty much boiled down to basic terms, when your operating system comes up against a problem that it can’t recover from, it shows a Stop message. These Stop messages are text-mode error message and they report information about what’s going on.
So great, what does that mean to you? You’ve still got a blue screen and a bunch of white text all over your screen and you aren’t going anywhere. Actually, it could mean something to you if you know what to look for. These BSoD messages, or Stop messages, contain certain information that can help you to figure out what went wrong and hopefully fix the problem that the Windows kernel detected.
I’ve got it…now what?
Chances are pretty darn high that if you are getting this message, that someone else already has too. One way to get help with your error code is to simply do a search on it and see what you find. Go to a reputable tech newsgroup or to the Microsoft site and enter the name of the Stop code.
The good news is, later versions of Windows have fewer and fewer problems with the BSoD. With Vista what you usually get is the “system is not responding” message, with the option to close or wait for the program to respond. In Windows XP, the BSoD wasn’t quite as frequently seen. Many times it was just a flash before it went right into an auto reboot.
There is a feature in Windows that allows you to start the blue screen manually. To do so, you have to add the value to the Windows registry (with regiedit.exe). Then, you will have a BSoD pop up when the SCROLL LOCK key is pressed twice while at the same time holding the right CTRL key. This is sometimes useful for getting a memory dump of the computer while it is in a given state. Because of this, it’s used most of the time to troubleshoot system hangs.
Random Blue Stuff
By the way, you can see the Blue Screen of Death other places too. Some Macs have it, Playstation Portable has it, GameBoy Advance has it, Nintendo DS has it (although those that run version 5 firmware get the magenta screen instead of blue), the Apple IIgs has it, complete with a bouncing apple for added fun, although the Apple iPod’s BSoD is actually white.
Common BSoD stop error messages
The following is just a couple of the error messages that you might come across. This list is clearly in no way exhaustive, so chances are good you may get a message not shown here. If you do, again, try Google or Microsoft or a good newsgroup.
Stop 0x0000000A or IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL - The Stop 0xA message indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver attempted to access a memory location to which it did not have permission, or at a kernel interrupt request level (IRQL) that was too high. A kernel-mode process can access only other processes that have an IRQL lower than, or equal to, its own. This Stop message is typically due to faulty or incompatible hardware or software.
Possible Resolutions - A Stop 0xA message might show up after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll back the driver to correct the problem. If disabling or removing drivers resolves the issues, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.
A Stop 0xA message might also be due to failing or defective hardware. If a Stop message points to a category of devices (video or disk adapters, for example), try removing or replacing the hardware to determine if it is causing the problem.
Stop 0x0000001E or KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED - The Stop 0x1E message indicates that the Windows XP kernel detected an illegal or unknown processor instruction. The problems that cause Stop 0x1E messages share similarities with those that generate Stop 0xA errors in that they can be due to invalid memory and access violations. This default Windows XP error handler typically intercepts these problems if error-handling routines are not present in the code itself.
Possible Resolutions - Stop 0x1E messages typically occur after installing faulty drivers or system services, or they can indicate hardware problems, such as memory and IRQ conflicts. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll it back to correct the problem. If disabling or removing applications and drivers resolves the issue, contact the hardware manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.
If the Stop message mentions the file Win32k.sys, the source of the error might be a third-party “remote control” program. If such software is installed, you might be able to disable it by starting the system in safe mode. If not, use Recovery Console to manually delete the system service file that is causing the problem.
Problems can result from system firmware incompatibilities. Many Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) issues can be resolved by updating to the latest firmware.
Other possible causes include insufficient disk space while installing applications or performing certain functions that require more memory. You can free up space by deleting unneeded files. Use Disk Cleanup to increase available disk space. From Recovery Console, remove temporary files (those with .tmp file extensions), Internet cache files, application backup files, and .tmp files generated by Chkdsk.exe or Autochk.exe. You can also choose to install additional applications to another hard disk with more free space or move data files, paging files, and so on.
Stop 0x00000024 or NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM - The Stop 0x24 message indicates that a problem occurred within Ntfs.sys, the driver file that allows the system to read and write to NTFS file system drives. A similar Stop message, 0x23, exists for the file allocation table (FAT16 or FAT32) file systems.
Possible Resolutions - Malfunctioning SCSI and Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) hardware or drivers can also adversely affect the system’s ability to read and write to disk, causing errors. If using SCSI hard disks, check for cabling and termination problems between the SCSI controller and the disks. Periodically check Event Viewer for error messages related to SCSI or FASTFAT in the System log or Autochk in the Application log.
Verify that the tools you use to continually monitor your system, such as virus scanners, backup programs, or disk defragmenters are compatible with Windows XP. Some disks and adapters come packaged with diagnostic software that you can use to run hardware tests.
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The blue death screen error is come due the incompatible driver or hardware install or the window file currept this is serious error after this error you need to repair or install window
on April 21, 2009 at 04:08 AM - LINK