All About the Error Blue Screen in the Windows Operating System

Everyone who owns a computer, especially those who have been around since the very early days, has experienced the dreaded shut down error blue screen at least a thousand times or more.

The early operating systems from Microsoft were so unstable and had so many little quirks and issues that there were not many days that went by that the dreaded blue screen of death did not show up at least once.

Origins of the Error Blue Screen

In some case the error blue screen came up as your computer was first booting up, while at other times it was right when you were in the middle of something important, either way it was always a major inconvenience.

If you were to ask Microsoft about this problem they would tell you it is not their operating system, but more likely caused by a third party driver or a malfunctioning piece of hardware. In reality during the Microsoft Windows 9 x days there were just as many problems with the registry and compatibility issues with DLLs  that could cause the error blue screen to pop up.

The blue screen originated with Windows 3.1 and stayed with all Windows operating systems until Vista when it became red in early builds but now like the rest it is blue. For the most part when the error screen comes up you will also see an error code which will actually tell you where the error occurred if you happen to know all the error codes or have access to a list that is not stored on your computer. However once the computer has completed it physical memory dump it will reboot or you can do it yourself and 9 out 10 times the computer will reboot and work just fine.

However more often than not the error blue screen is your computers way of letting you know that you have problem brewing and if you do not get it fixed soon you may not like the consequences. In any of the 9 x series you could actually initiate this error by remove a floppy disk or CD from the drive while the computer was still using. With this particular error the only way to deal with it is to reboot the computer at which point it will be gone and you can go back to business as usual.

The Blue Screen of Death

"My computer just crashed and all I can see is the blue screen of death" is the one term that even the most hardened tech did not want to hear when it came to any of the early Windows operating systems. The phrase refers to the stop error blue screen that is displayed when a problem occurred that caused a critical system error and caused the system to shut down. However while it has been predominantly associated with Windows other operating systems have their own blue screen of death or one in another color.

The term blue screen of death was coined technicians at Lattice Inc. who were the makers of the early compilers for the Windows operating systems. As they were conducting the porting of some of their tools, every time they deferenced Null pointers in the application code or passed into system API call these screens appeared. During a review of some of these problems between the developers and IBM the term was used to denote the stop error screen and how it ended whatever process they were working on with a complete sense of finality. The blue screen meant the death of anything that was being worked on.

The Causes of the Blue Screen of Death

Of course with all of the problems associated with the error screen the one question that everyone always wanted to know was "What causes the blue screen of death?"  In essence there are four main causes of the dreaded blue screen of death, each of these while separate from each other all result in the same thing that horrible blue screen that will let you go no further until you reboot. The most common cause is a conflict with one of the drivers for a piece of hardware that you may have just installed.

The hardware itself may be causing the problem or if you have installed a new piece of software either to go with it or separately this can cause the error blue screen to appear. In some rare cases there have been viruses and malware that have caused the blue screen, but this has been pretty rare as most viruses cause far more serious problems. Actual computer hardware can cause the BSoD to appear, if you use your computer for several hours a day the components are more likely to overheat or fail. These are just the most common causes, on occasion the older Windows OSs seemed to just drop out for little or no reason at all.

Is the XP Blue Screen Error Any Different?

Even though with the release of XP, Microsoft finally had a relatively stable operating system it still could not get rid of the blue screen of death. In the end the XP blue screen error is no different than the one that came with all of the previous Windows operating systems. It could be caused by any number of issues from faulty software to hardware errors. However, XP did bring with it a few new problems such as at installation at which time XP is far more sensitive than any of the previous operating systems as the slightest error would result in the BSOD and having to start all over again.

The XP blue screen also loves to show up at start up and is usually the result of corrupted files, or problems with one of the drivers. It can also be the result of a particular piece of hardware failed to initialize at the right moment in the boot up sequence.  Given the huge range of possible codes and errors it can be very hard to pinpoint exactly what causes every XP blue screen error and these are just a few of them, in most cases a simple reboot will clear the problem.

How Do You Fix the Blue Screen of Death?

Thanks the huge range of reasons why any version of Windows can crash and leave you staring at the BSoD it can be very complicated trying to answer the perennial question "How do you fix the blue screen of death?" There are of course web sites that contain lists of all the possible error codes that could occur but unless you are a programmer they may not help you very much.  However you should still try to note down the code as some of them can lead to an easy to understand fix. If you have just installed a new piece of hardware and the error occurred after you loaded the drivers you should check on the manufacturer's web site for an updated version and use it instead.

You may also have conflicts occurring in the registry, there are registry cleaners available that are designed to scan your registry for errors and missing files then fix them, which will clear up the problem. If neither of these are the cause you may have a failing piece of hardware so check your computer to see if any of them are overheating. If you have just installed a new piece of software you might want to uninstall it and see if you computer stays running. These are just the most common fixes for some of the more common causes and hopefully they have helped to answer the question "How do I fix the blue screen of death?"