Blue screen

A blue screen, also known as the Blue Screen of Death or, colloquially, a ‘blue screen’, is a a fairly serious error that causes the computer to shut down abruptly without warning.

This is considered a serious system error, as it indicates a problem with the computer’s drivers or some aspect of the hardware. It does not stem from any software application currently in use, but rather from a more fundamental fault that prevents the entire system from continuing to function. In other words, the fact that a software programme crashes does not cause the entire system to crash.

It’s probably an error you’ve come across at some point. It usually catches the user off guard, and the information displayed on the blue screen isn’t usually helpful in figuring out what’s causing the fault.

Generally speaking, Windows brings a computer to a complete standstill to prevent a catastrophic failure from causing serious damage the hardware and/or the operating system. That is why, following a blue screen, computers activate troubleshooting to detect faults and find a solution where possible.

Why does a blue screen occur?

Before Windows 8 was released, the Blue Screen of Death would bombard users with an overwhelming amount of information about the fault that was completely incomprehensible to them. Although this was rectified from this version onwards, the blue screen message is terse and provides absolutely no information about the cause of the error.

Here we summarise the various causes that may have led to a blue screen:

• Hardware problems: Serious hardware faults, such as those affecting the RAM, graphics card, hard drive or motherboard.
• Driver issues: Incompatible, obsolete or corrupted device drivers.
• Software issues: Operating system faults, viruses, malware or malicious programmes.
• Overheating problems: If the system overheats, it may cause errors that result in a blue screen.
• Feeding problems: Problems with the power supply, such as unstable voltages.
• Problems with newly installed hardware: Incorrect or faulty installation of new hardware, such as RAM or expansion cards.
• Software conflicts: Conflicts between programmes installed on the operating system.
• Operating system errors: Faults in the operating system itself.

How do you fix a blue screen error?

It is difficult to resolve an error when we do not know its cause, so we will need to analyse all the potential reasons for the failure in order to take action. We recommend that you follow the steps outlined below:

• If a blue screen appears, make a note of the error code displayed.
• When you restart your computer, Windows will automatically run a system scan and attempt to resolve the problem on its own.
• If this doesn’t solve the problem and you’re still getting blue screens, think about when the system started playing up. Check whether the problem might have been caused by updating a driver or installing a programme.
• If you are certain that the error occurred after installing a new piece of hardware, you can use the System Restore option to revert the entire system to the settings it had before the error occurred.
• It is advisable to install the latest available version of the drivers.
• You need to make sure that the computer does not have any malware which may be causing the blue screen, so you need to install an antivirus programme (if you don’t already have one) and run a thorough system scan.
• If none of this works, the most drastic option is to format the entire system. To avoid losing any important data, you can transfer the files you want to a USB stick or external hard drive.