What to do if a blue screen pops up. What to do if a blue screen of death appears

Almost every user has, if not encountered, then certainly heard about such a thing as a “blue screen” death of Windows" This topic is extensive, so read carefully! In the article we will discuss what a blue screen of death is, what to do in this situation, and of course, I will try to show everything clearly. The name for this phenomenon was invented just right - frightening and memorable. In today's article I will consider in detail the causes of the blue screen of death, as well as possible solutions this problem.

Blue screen death is a serious problem that baffles PC users. Before you start reading the article, I recommend that you put all your affairs aside and so that no one distracts you. If you understand the essence of the occurrence and solution to this problem, then in practice it will be much easier. I have been approached with this problem more than once, and there have even been situations when in their practice administrators did not know what to do when a blue screen occurred. In return, they told users that they needed to replace the system unit completely. WHAT? If you were told so, then take the noodles off your ears and read the article to the end.

What is this error

As a result of a problem, the operating system (OS), being unable to correct the error on its own, urgently shuts down. Naturally, no user data is saved ( open documents etc.). The only thing Windows manages to do is write information in the log and create a dump file, if the settings indicate the creation of this file when such errors occur.

To avoid unfair accusations against Windows, I’ll immediately make a disclaimer: the blue screen of death does not appear without serious reasons, and shutting down in such a situation is the only way out.

The blue screen of death looks like this:

From the screenshot, I think it’s clear where the word “blue” came from in the title. As for "death", this means death operating system, that is, its inevitable reboot, and in some cases, reinstallation. In practice, most causes of blue screens of death can be successfully eliminated without reinstalling the OS, provided, of course, that the response is timely and correct. The most important thing is to understand where the legs come from. I mean that if you don’t know why the blue screen of death appears, then it’s difficult to solve the problem.

What does Windows tell us on the terrible blue screen of death?

To make it easier to understand, I will conditionally divide it into several blocks and describe each one separately (for those who know English language, understanding most of it on your own will not be difficult).

1. Here Windows reports that a problem has been found, and to prevent damage to the computer, it was necessary to urgently shut down the system.

2. The type of error is indicated here. There are a limited number of them, and for each such error, information can be easily found on the Internet.

3. In this part, the OS reports possible reasons occurrence of the problem, and also gives some recommendations for troubleshooting.

4. In the section called “Technical information” the error code is indicated, and it is also possible to indicate the name of the problematic driver (more details below).

After viewing the blue screen, you should understand what the error is or find out about the file that may be listed on the screen.

Causes of Blue Screen of Death

The Blue Screen of Death can appear for various reasons.

The most common reason is drivers. This includes drivers that are incompatible with each other or with the operating system, and other failures associated with them.

I have a little story for this case, this information not only so that you honor it and forget!!! With this story, you will learn how to solve the Blue Screen of Death problem.

I once worked as an administrative assistant and maintained a fleet of 80 computers. Almost 20 computers experienced a blue screen of death from time to time. When I asked the administrator about the reasons for this misfortune, he just shrugged his shoulders and said that he didn’t understand what was going on at all (I think he just didn’t want to figure it out). After his answer, I became interested in finding the essence of the problem myself.

First of all, I looked at what error appeared on the screen, then wrote down on a piece of paper the error code and the name of the file that the blue screen of death pointed to. After wandering around the Internet a little, I found out that this file used for Wi-Fi adapters. After that, I did a short walk around the problem computers and made sure that they were all really working on the network via Wi-Fi adapters.

Next, I decided to find out what drivers the administrator installs when connecting these devices. His answer left me stumped. It turned out that he installed the drivers that came with the equipment. After that, I spent 2 hours, but still found a topic that interested me on the Internet. It turned out that these particular devices are buggy with standard drivers.

It’s strange, because D-link is considered one of the best, but in reality it turns out that it supplies drivers for adapters that do not work with them. By that time, a topic had already been created on the d-link manufacturer’s forum with similar problem. And for about 2 years now this problem exists for many users of these adapters.

To get out of our situation, it was decided to use other drivers (from other developers). We installed them on the problem computer and asked the user to be sure to notify us if a blue screen of death appears. Of course, I didn’t know which drivers to install instead of the official ones. After reading all the topics on the forum in full, I found a dozen reviews that tried another driver (I don’t remember which one now) and this problem was solved for them.

A few days later he still didn’t call or visit us, which means that no more problems arose! After making sure that everything was fine with his computer, we installed this driver on all computers and users breathed a sigh of relief.

Problems with computer hardware.

Often problems with hardware are more of a consequence, but the cause may be overheating of components. This also includes self-inflicted problems with hardware, RAM, or hard drive.

Problems with programs.

Screen of Death can be triggered antivirus applications and various emulators. Also, sometimes the blue screen of death is caused by viruses; this doesn’t happen often, but it also happens.

What to do

Firstly, you need to prepare in advance for potential problems. Windows is configured by default so that the screen of death appears for just a couple of seconds, after which the computer automatically restarts.

However, this does not give us the opportunity to have time to record error data, which does not suit us at all.

Note: If it does not reboot automatically, then use the “Power” button.

It will be enough for us to configure Windows so that it does not automatically reboot. Thus, we can understand why the blue screen of death appears. Since in this error you can read the error code or file that is to blame for the blue screen of death. After this, the Internet will help us. To set this up you need to do the following:

On Windows XP: “Start” - “Settings” - “Control Panel” - “System” - “Advanced” - “Boot and Recovery” - “Settings” - “System Failure”. In the window that appears, you need to uncheck the “Run automatic reboot", and in the "Write debugging information" block select "Small memory dump" and click the "OK" button.

On Windows Vista/7: “Start” – “Control Panel” – “System and Security” – “System” – “ Additional options systems." In the window that appears, select the “Advanced” tab, the “Boot and Recovery” subsection, and click the “Options” button. All that remains is to uncheck “Perform automatic reboot”, enable a small memory dump and click “OK”.

You can also access this window by clicking right click mouse on “Computer” - select “Properties” - on the left click “Advanced system settings” - go to the “Advanced” tab - for me this method seems easier.

Secondly, when the blue “enemy” first appears, you need to write down the data from the blue screen on paper. This data can help in finding the cause of the problem.

Well, thirdly, let’s show you how to remove the blue screen of death.

You need to understand that the death screen appears much more often after some user action than on its own. Therefore, the first thing to do is to try to return the computer to the state in which it worked stably.

If no special manipulations were carried out with the computer, that is, you were just working, and suddenly “He” appeared, you will have to look for answers on the Internet. Since the most common cause of BSOD is drivers, the first priority is to find the name of the faulty driver.

If the information was indicated on the death screen itself, then in this case we only need to find a description of the error or problem that the driver caused. To do this, simply enter in any search engine the name of the known faulty file. This way we find out what kind of file it is. For example, if this file is needed for the video card to work, then you need to remove the video card drivers and download a new one from the office. manufacturer's website.

Otherwise, the search must begin with the data that you have transcribed manually. Using this information, you can roughly navigate the possible causes. If we couldn’t find out anything useful, we move on to analyzing the memory dump.

Do not install various assemblies that were made by unknown authors. If your neighbor Uncle Vasya even advised you to install his assembly, then my advice to you is - DON'T DO THIS! It is better to install a full-fledged original Windows distribution and you will be happy.

If problems with drivers have not been identified, you need to check the hardware components of the computer, which may be the cause of the blue screen of death. First of all this RAM, hard drive or overheating of any system components (video card or processor). You can use the AIDA program to check the temperature.

If you think that the problem is with the hardware, then borrow this part from your friend from his computer and install it on yours. Once you are sure that this particular part is working unstable on your computer, you can then buy it in the store.

To test RAM, I recommend the MemTest86 program, and for hard checks disk Victoria program(I will describe a detailed discussion of the operation of these programs in separate articles). In addition, it wouldn’t hurt to full check for viruses by first updating the virus signature database.

Let me remind you that a dump is a file that is created when a problem occurs and contains detailed description the state of the system at the time the error occurred, and therefore can tell about the cause of the failure.

Let's imagine a situation where your friend has a blue screen of death. He does not understand what it is and why the blue screen of death appeared. Naturally, he turns off the computer and tries to find out from his friends what it was. Of course, he didn’t write anything down on the piece of paper, that is, he doesn’t know what was written, but as you already know, in order to solve this problem you need to know why the error appeared.

That's exactly what it's for special programs, with which you can find out what the reason was. Now, even if you are in another city, you know how you can help your friend. You can use Debugging Tools to view the contents of the dump. for Windows or BlueScreenView.

Let's use the BlueScreenView program as an example to figure out how to view dumps. You can download the utility from the link. If you need information from the official website, here is the link http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

Now run the file “BlueScreenView.exe”.

If there are no lines at the top, then there were no failures on your computer.

I didn't have the blue screen of death and so I had to borrow it ;). So now we have a dump that will help us understand how this program works.

To indicate the dump that I have, I need to make changes to the program. To do this, click “Settings” - “Advanced options” or “CRTL” + “O”.

Click “Browse” and indicate where our dump is located.

Note: If the program is on problem computer, then you don’t need to change anything.

Now we see which files caused the error. Right-click on the line and select “Properties”.

How to install a driver and what is a driver."

I hope that now you will not have any difficulties in solving the Blue Screen of Death problem.

See you soon!

A must-watch video, because there is something here that cannot be described in words:

We have all encountered one or another problem when working at a computer. Freezing programs, graphical or sound problems- sooner or later everyone will get to know them. But the most frightening experience for beginners is always the appearance of the “blue screen of death”.

Information about the Blue Screen of Death

When an error occurs in the computer, a message about it is displayed on the screen, after which the device usually continues to operate. But at some point, any PC may encounter a contradiction, for example, when two commands simultaneously tell it to do mutually exclusive actions. In this and other cases, the computer could fail due to a contradiction in its own logic, which would lead to serious damage in the system. To prevent this from happening, all processes are forcibly terminated, and that same “blue screen of death” appears. It displays codes with which the user can find out what error he encountered and fix it.

In the new Windows versions the blue screen doesn't look so scary

The blue screen changed with each version of the operating system. And in modern Windows 10, it is no longer so scary: users see a sad emoticon, an error message and a QR code, which, when scanned from a phone, opens the official Microsoft website with more detailed information about the current problem. It turns out that the “blue screen of death” itself is not at all dangerous; it only signals a serious problem with the computer that needs to be solved and protects it from damage to system data.

"Blue Screen of Death" is originally called Blue Screen of Death and is often shortened to BSoD. BSoD itself is not dangerous: it only signals a serious problem with the computer that needs to be solved, and protects it from damage to system data.

Causes of the Blue Screen of Death

There are many reasons for a blue screen to appear. As has already been said, the reason can be any disagreement in the logic of the computer, but these disagreements themselves arise in different situations. Let's look at the main problems that can cause a Blue Screen of Death on your monitor:

Table: explanation of specific errors

Error name	Reason for appearance
Nvlddmkm.sys	Error Nvidia drivers. You need to completely reinstall the driver.
dxgkrnl.sys	DirectX error. Reinstalling the driver or DirectX directly will help.
dxgmms1.sys	DirectX error. May occur when overclocking equipment.
ntoskrnl exe	Problems with the system kernel. It can be caused by both registry and file damage. Fixed by system restore.
dxgmms2.sys	Another driver or DirectX error. Often occurs during driver loading. It is recommended to check the registry for damage.
Bt878_b3.sys	Driver damage or conflict. With some probability, such an error may be associated with hard drive problems.
Netio.sys	Problem reading the file. The problem is either at the hardware level (RAM, hard drive), or arose due to damage to a specific segment of system files.

Video: causes of the “blue screen of death” and their elimination

Solving problems that cause the Blue Screen of Death

Now that you have figured out the reasons for the blue screen, it’s worth trying to figure out how to solve these problems.

Removing viruses from your computer

Viruses are the most common problem. It's easier to prevent them from entering your computer than to get rid of them. But for this it is enough:

do not visit dubious sites - it is not at all difficult to catch viruses on sites with pirated software or by following advertising links, but you simply will not find them on the official websites of software manufacturers or on popular hosting sites;
do not install unverified programs and browser extensions - an almost similar situation. Use what you trust and you won't have problems;
install in advance antivirus protection- Windows 10 has a built-in antivirus. Do not disable it or immediately install an analogue one. It is recommended to use antivirus programs well-known companies, such as Doctor Web or Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

But what if you have already caught viruses? Then the system needs urgent cleaning. You can do it as follows:

Rollback and recovery of the Windows 10 operating system

If system files have already been damaged, and the blue screen appears constantly, the only correct solution is to restore them. This can be done in several ways.

Rollback to a restore point

To recover damaged files using this method, you needed to create system restore points in advance as follows:

Open "System Properties" and go to the "System Protection" tab. You can get there by selecting the “Recovery” section in the “Control Panel” or in another way convenient for you.
Go to the settings of the current tab by clicking the “Customize” button. Open the “System Protection” tab and click on the “Configure” button
Make sure system protection is activated and there is enough space to save recovery points. It is advisable to leave at least five gigabytes. Make sure system protection is enabled or enable it yourself
Return to the “System Protection” tab and click on the “Create” button. A menu will open where you need to enter a name. It is necessary so that you can remember at what moment you created this point. Come up with a name for the restore point and click on the “Create” button
In the future, in the same “Restore” item, you can start a system rollback to previous values. After launch, you need to choose which point to roll back to.
Select a recommended point or specify the one you need yourself
Wait until the procedure is completed. The process of returning the system to its old state will be performed automatically, but may take quite a long time.

If you did not take care of creating a restore point in advance, then this method will not suit you.

It would be effective to create a system restore point before each installation of drivers or programs.

Video: How to create a Windows 10 system restore point

Repairing and reinstalling Windows 10

You can reinstall the system using a similar version of Windows. You can download it from the official Microsoft website. The main thing is to choose the same bit depth and system language. After downloading the software assistant Windows installation, do the following:

Launch Windows Setup Assistant and select Windows update V at the moment.
Select computer update to access system restore
Select the data in the first window that matches your system and click “Next”.
Specify the system bit size that matches yours and click “Next”
Click on "System Restore" in the corner of the screen.
In the very first installation window, click on the “System Restore” button
Go to the Diagnostics menu. Since we are not installing the system from scratch, but reinstalling it, the easiest way to do this is through current menu.
Go to the system Diagnostics menu on the action selection screen
Select the option to return the device to initial state.
Click on the "Reset your computer" button in the "Diagnostics" window
Indicate whether you want to save the data (programs and games, one way or another, must be reinstalled after reinstalling Windows).
Indicate whether you want to save the data that is on your computer
Click on the operating system you want to restore.
If you have several systems on your computer, select the one that needs to be restored
Specify the drive to install the system.
Specify the drive or drives that will be affected by system recovery
If you want to delete files, the wizard will ask you how to do this. The "Just delete my files" option means quick formatting, and it will be enough.
Specify how to delete files if you have previously chosen to delete them
Confirm the reinstallation by clicking the “Reset to original state” button.
Click on the “Restore to original state” button
Windows reinstallation will begin. The computer may be restarted more than once during the process.
The operating system files will be replaced with the original ones: wait for the process to complete
Wait for the reinstallation to complete. You can track the installation progress in percentages
Specify the current device user once on the screen primary settings.
Please indicate your account and click "Next"
Enter your product key or skip this step.
Enter license key Windows or skip this step
Explore and accept license agreement Windows 10
Review the license agreement and click "Accept" to continue installation
After finishing all the settings you will see a working Windows table. Reinstallation is complete.
Once the recovery is completed successfully, you will see the Windows 10 desktop

If your computer does not even turn on, using the same installation assistant, you can create installation media. Connect the media to your computer and do the following:

After creating the installation drive, insert it into your computer and do the following:

And you can also perform a system restore without installing it. To do this, do the following:

Video: how to restore Windows 10 from a system disk image backup

Updating and installing drivers

Installation latest versions drivers should be installed automatically in Windows 10. But this may not happen due to problems or incorrect settings. A device without a driver, in turn, will not work correctly, so to install it latest version do the following:

Open Device Manager. To do this, right-click on the Start menu icon and select Device Manager. Right-click the lower left corner of the screen to display the shortcut menu and select “Device Manager”
If there is a exclamation mark, and its name is incorrect - the device driver is installed incorrectly or not installed at all. But fixing this is not at all difficult if you have an Internet connection. Devices that have problems detecting the driver will be marked with an exclamation mark
Right-click the device and click “Update Drivers...”. Right-click on the driver and select "Update Drivers"
Select automatic search. Wait until the driver downloads from the network.
Wait until the driver installation finishes.
After loading it will start automatic installation drivers
Once the installation is complete, the device name should be displayed correctly. Click on the "Close" button.
When the driver is installed, you will receive a device update message
The computer will prompt you to restart. It must be done in order to new driver started working.
Accept the request to restart your computer for the changes to take effect

Similarly, you can update the drivers of all the hardware on your computer.

Video: how to update drivers in Windows 10

Reset Windows 10 to factory settings

Resetting the operating system to factory settings will help return it to original state. This will fix errors and restore system files. To perform a reset, follow these steps:

Video: how to reset Windows 10 to factory settings

Detecting computer hardware problems

If you suspect that the Blue Screen of Death is due to problems with your computer hardware, then you should run a system diagnostic. Let's look at the diagnostic process using the AIDA 64 program. This convenient and comprehensive utility will help you determine weak point in the system. If the “blue screen of death” appeared right during the test with this program, then the problem is probably in the hardware, and you should check which device was tested before the blue screen appeared. The test itself is very simple:

With the help of such a check, it is easy to identify problems with the hard drive or RAM of your system, and they are the ones that most often cause the “blue screen of death” to appear.

Video: overview of the AIDA64 program

Reasons why a blue screen appears when launching games

The reason for the appearance of a blue screen when starting a game can also be several factors:

the game does not work correctly - if the game is amateur or has a serious glitch, its operation may cause conflicts in the system. This happens extremely rarely in major projects, because the developers carefully test them. However, if this happens, it is better to stop trying to launch and wait for a patch;
hardware problem - the game puts a strain on your computer's hardware, and if your hard drive or other device has problems, you may see a blue screen of death. This is the most common reason its appearance when starting games. Perform equipment diagnostics as indicated above;
The problem is in the drivers - a faulty video card driver also starts working fully only when games are launched. And this leads to various errors. Update your drivers to the latest ones and remember to do this every time they are released.

Now you know that the worst thing about the “blue screen of death” is its name. This error itself only indicates problems in the system, which means that if you encounter a blue screen, you should look for problems with your device and fix them. And now it won’t be difficult for you to do this.

With Windows blue screens of death ( B lue S creen o f D ead) has not come across, perhaps, only a rare lucky person. Most of us had the “fortune” to witness this phenomenon on our own PC. And it drives many people into panic: what if the computer is dead?

In order not to get lost when a blue “lantern” suddenly lights up on the screen, you need to be able to look the enemy “in the face.” That is, learn to find out what led to the appearance of BSoD, assess how critical the situation is and know what to do so that it does not happen again.

Blue Lantern turns on unexpectedly

In progress Windows operation Many errors arise, most of which the system eliminates without the user noticing. But some of them are so serious that continuing the work session becomes impossible. Or the problem that has arisen threatens Windows or hardware with irreversible damage. In such cases, BSoD appears. The system seems to be telling the user: “Sorry, friend, but I had no other choice. If not crash, something bad would happen.”

Blue screens of death occur at any stage of computer startup and operation. And the following leads to them:

Incorrect operation of device drivers due to poor compatibility with the operating system, conflict with other drivers, damage or changes in parameters.
Incorrect operation software, more often than the one that creates own services– antiviruses, firewalls, hardware emulators, etc.
Malware infection.
Hardware problems - faulty RAM, disk drives, network, sound adapters, video subsystems, motherboard, power supply and other equipment.
Abnormal operation of devices - overheating, unstable power supply, acceleration
Violation of data exchange between devices – bad contact in connectors, faulty cables and cables.
Device incompatibility.

By the way, a one-time BSoD after connecting a new device to the computer, if in the future everything works flawlessly, can be considered the norm.

What can you learn from the information on the blue screen?

Fortunately, the vast majority of blue screens of death are caused by software glitches, which the user can eliminate independently and relatively quickly, without resorting to reinstalling Windows. For software problems Characteristic are random BSoDs with the same or similar error codes.

Hardware “bruises” more often occur under the same conditions (for example, when the load on the video card increases, when you try to open large file) and have different codes. Or these codes indicate problems with specific equipment, such as: errors in accessing the device, inability to read, recognize.

However, these signs only allow us to make an assumption about the cause of the problem. To clarify it, more detailed information is needed.

The Windows 10 Blue Screen of Death looks like this:

The error information is contained in the line “ Stopcode" In my example this is CRITICAL PROCESS DIED.

By scanning the QR code located here with your phone, you can go to the website stopcode, where are they kept general tips to troubleshoot. Tips from Microsoft are sometimes useful, but there is nothing there about the cause of your specific case, which means you will have to look for this data in another source, for example:

On computer forums.
In reference books on various error codes, in particular, and in.

But this is not entirely complete information. Each error is unique, and the most accurate information about it is contained in the file that the system saves to disk at the time of the failure. Namely, in a small memory dump, which we will learn to analyze. In order for such files to be created, you need to make several small settings.

How to enable the feature to create and save small memory dumps

To save memory dumps on the hard drive, the system definitely needs one, which must be located in the same partition where Windows folder. Its size can be from 2 Mb or more.

Go through the context menu to the folder properties " Computer».

In the window that opens, click the “ Advanced System Settings».

» press the button « Options».

In the new window section " System failure" from the list " Writing Debug Information» select « Small memory dump" Let it be indicated as the save location «% SystemRoot%\Minidump"(%systemroot% is the Windows folder).

This completes the setup. Now information about BSoDs will be saved in the above directory.

How to analyze the contents of minidumps

Exists different ways crash dump analysis Windows memory, but we will get acquainted with the most, in my opinion, convenient and simple - using free utility.

BlueScreenView is especially convenient because it does not require installation of cumbersome Debugging Tools for Windows packages on your computer and can be launched from any media, just click on the file of the same name.

The utility interface, despite the lack of Russian language, is very friendly. The main window is divided into 2 halves. At the top is a table of minidumps - files from the Windows\Minidump folder with the date and time of creation (column Crash Time), error code in hexadecimal format (column Bug Check Code), its four parameters and other information. However, it is more convenient to view data about a specific failure in separate window which opens double click on the line of interest (shown below). The main window gives more information about the problem as a whole, if BSoDs happened repeatedly. It makes it easy to track the dates of incidents and error codes, the frequency of which can be used to judge the nature of the problem.

The lower half of the main window displays the drivers loaded into memory at the moment emergency situation for a specific dump highlighted in the list. The lines highlighted in pink show the contents of the event stream stack, and the drivers mentioned in them are most directly related to the cause of the failure.

Let's look at one of the small memory dumps with error code 0x00000154 as an example. I'll tell you in advance that it was caused by a crease plume hard disk. Starting the analysis, let's look at the list of drivers in the event stack. There is nothing here except ntoskrnl.exe - the Windows OS kernel, which, of course, is not to blame for the problem - it’s just that at the time of the failure there was not a single driver in the stack, and it is always present there.

To test this version, let’s evaluate the S.M.A.R.T indicators of the computer’s hard drive, which are monitored by Hard program Disk Sentinel. On the day of the accident, changes in the following attributes appeared here:

188 Command Timeout.
199 UltraDMA CRC Error Count.

Both indicate data transmission errors on the interface cable. Hard surface test and verification file structure No deviations were found, so the problem was solved by replacing the cable.

Let's look at another case of a blue screen of death caused by Kaspersky Anti-Virus. BSoD occurred periodically during Windows startup 10 and when the computer wakes from sleep mode.

The error was recorded several times under the same code - 0x000000d1, which means the following: "a kernel mode driver attempted to access a memory page in an IRQL process that had too high a priority." This time BlueScreenView pointed out a problem in the NDIS.sys driver, which is responsible for network connections. This means that there is a high probability that the failure is of software origin and is associated with something that uses the network.

To identify the culprit, it was necessary to analyze startup applications. On early stage When the operating system of this PC started, not too many programs were launched that were allowed access to the Internet, more precisely, only Kaspersky. To confirm its involvement, I again turned to the list of drivers loaded into memory in BlueScreenView and, among what is usually present here, I found kl1.sys, which belongs to the antivirus.

After removing Kaspersky, blue screens no longer popped up.

The BlueScreenView utility allows you to analyze crash memory dumps obtained not only where it is running, but also on another computer. To do this, you don't need to copy them to Windows folder\ Minidump your PC, which is loaded into the default program. Copy them to any convenient place, for example, to your desktop, and tell the program the new location of the directory to download.

The function for selecting a folder with dump files is in the “ Options» – « Advanced Options"(opens with the combination Ctrl keys+ O) and is called " Load from the following minidump folder».

Good evening, dear blog readers! Moving computers from one place to another sometimes causes them to subsequently behave inappropriately, such as a blue screen. Why do I say this? Let’s just say that this has been noticed :) Moreover, everything would be fine if all this was explained by the shaking of the computer during transfer, for example, something happened to the clocker on the motherboard. But how can you, for example, explain the fact that after that it stopped working? USB driver 3.0 due to the fact that someone once used not the drivers from the manufacturer’s official website, but from the “left” drive? Shocked too? 🙂

We sit like this at the computer, not bothering anyone, and he BAM and draws this picture:

If we had unsaved data at the time of the blue screen, then I'm afraid it's bad, we'll have to redo everything. Fortunately, now many software products have the ability to autosave.

Let's try to figure out what leads to such a nuisance as a Windows blue screen. Generally speaking, BSoD occurs when critical error, with which the operating room Windows system unable to cope. In order for our program to cause BSoD, we need to give it the ability to execute code at the system kernel level, for example, so that it itself can be a driver. This is not typical for our usual programs, which we usually use at home and in the office.

The system properties window will open in front of us on the “Advanced” tab, which is exactly what we need. In the "Boot and Recovery" group, click on the "Options..." button.

Here you need to uncheck the “Perform automatic reboot” checkbox and be sure to make sure that in the “Record debugging information” group we have at least “Automatic memory dump” in the drop-down list. This is enough for us. I'll tell you the difference between the types of dumps. And it is necessary that something is also written in the “Dump file” field.

By default, the Dump File field contains the entry

%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

Causes of Windows blue screen. Why are there only 2 of them?

Globally, all the reasons why a blue screen pops up can be divided into two large groups:

hardware
software

Let's analyze each of these groups and try to give recommendations for eliminating them.

Hardware causes of blue screen

In my own practice, I have developed a certain ranking of the causes of blue screen crashes according to the frequency of their occurrence. It may not coincide with your practice at all. So…

First place

Most often in my practice, the blue screen of death appeared when one of the RAM sticks was faulty. To diagnose which memory stick is “naughty”, you can get into the computer and try to pull out one memory stick at a time and see if there is a result. It is also worth cleaning the computer from dust and wiping the contacts of the RAM sticks with an eraser. But this work dusty if the computer is not a laptop.

Starting with Windows 7, the operating system already has a built-in utility for checking RAM strips. To search for this utility, you must click the “Start” button and search bar type "operate". The utility for diagnosing RAM problems should appear in the list.

When you click on the name of the utility, a window like this should appear:

Select the first item, the computer will reboot and begin checking the RAM.

If errors are found, the test will be marked as failed.

Second place

Second place went to a dying hard drive. To understand whether everything is in order, you need to check it using standard tools, as well as third-party programs.

Among regular funds It is worth pointing out the chkdsk utility, known since time immemorial. To check the disk, just use the command from a cmd window launched with administrator rights:

However, most likely the system response will be like this:

Type file system:NTFS. The current drive cannot be locked. Unable to complete CHKDSK command, because specified volume is being used by another process. Should I scan this volume the next time I reboot the system?

I have to agree here...

Then you should contact third party programs, who will conduct S.M.A.R.T. test will also find bad sectors and they will be shown colorfully.

Among such programs it is worth paying attention to free program HDDTest.

This program allows you to check the condition of the disk surface, “twitch” sectors for read/write speed.

If you hear a beating or grinding sound from the hard drive, then there is no diagnosis, but you need to backup it.

Third place

Somehow it just so happened that equipment overheating took third place in my ranking. In any case, you need to periodically clean your computer from dust. Believe me, there is plenty of it there! This can be done either with a vacuum cleaner or a compressor. It is possible for the processor to overheat due to dried thermal paste; you can buy it and change it, but this must be done carefully. It is better to have it done by a professional.

Software reasons for blue screens

Very often problems are generated installed drivers. They are capable of a lot! Especially if you don’t install fresh drivers from the manufacturer’s website, but from some left drive, a la “Driver Pack”. The solution is to try to reinstall them. However, you must keep in mind that there are programs that use their drivers to work with the operating system in kernel mode. Among them are antiviruses, disc burning programs, and some network software. If there is information about when BSoDs began to appear, we can guess which program was the hero of the occasion.

The second thing to check is file system errors. We will still need the same chkdsk utility. If we haven’t run it yet, then it’s worth considering that the /r flag is optional; we needed it to check the presence bad sectors on disk.

The second option to carry out such a check is through a conductor. To do this, go into it, right-click on the disk being checked and in the drop-down context menu Click on the “Properties” item. Go to the “Service” tab and click on the “Check” button.

You should definitely use the sfc utility.

sfc /scannow

She saved me many times.

Malicious programs can also cause blue screens. Moreover, the computer often crashes into a blue screen immediately after booting. You can try to reboot from boot disk Kaspersky or any other similar in functionality, and check your computer for malware.

Types of Debug Information

Bluescreenview uses the generated emergence of BSoD small memory dumps. I would like to see what types of dumps exist and how they differ from each other.

In the "Record Debug Information" drop-down list of the "Boot and Recovery" window that we opened earlier, the following options are presented:

Small memory dump
Kernel memory dump
Full memory dump
Automatic memory dump (default) - starting with Windows 8
Active Memory Dump - Starting with Windows 8

By default, Windows 8 is set to automatic memory dump. Essentially this is the same kernel memory dump. The difference is how Windows manages the size of the paging file, which is needed for this dump to fit safely there. If you did not set the paging file size rigidly, but chose the “System selected size” option, in the event of an automatic memory dump, Windows may set the paging file size smaller size RAM. However, if the memory dump somehow does not fit into the page file, then Windows increases the latter to the right size. The increased size lasts for 4 weeks, and then decreases back as unnecessary. The dump file is located in the location you specified, by default here:

%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

%SystemRoot%\MEMORY. DMP

A small memory dump contains the minimum information to make a decision about the source of the error. These include the error code, information about the process in which the error occurred, information about the loaded drivers at the time of the crash. By default, the data is contained in the folder

IN modern world Every person has a computer, or even several. No one is protected from problems with it. You have definitely heard the name “blue screen of death”.

Most have met him, and quite a few have yet to see him - if, of course, you have a computer running Windows control, since this phenomenon does not exist in other operating systems.

BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) is an English interpretation of an error notifying about a problem in the Windows operating system.

As you know, every computer constantly needs care: protection from dust, timely replacement of thermal paste, cleaning the computer from viruses. If you don't do this, expect a BSoD soon.

Often an error screen pops up after an unsuccessful attempt to perform operations system driver, as a result of which a blue picture with white letters appears on the screen. At the top of the screen it is written what actions can be taken to prevent the problem; below, after the inscription “Technical information”, a code is displayed, by reading which you can learn more about the essence of the problem.

Hardware reasons

The most common cause is overheating of the computer: the central processor or RAM. RAM can be checked with the memtest utility, but the processor can be checked with a thermometer, Everest program(which we just recently wrote about) or by hand - the radiator should be externally clean from dust, the thermal paste should not be dry and the cooler should not make much noise.

The Blue Screen of Death may appear after you installed an additional RAM stick that turned out to be faulty or incompatible with the system, in which case remove it.

In pursuit of computer power, advanced users overclock the system, which can also cause errors.

The most unpleasant reason why a blue screen of death appears is the failure of some component. system unit, the most common are hard drive and RAM. In this case, you need to take the computer to a service center, and if you have spare components at home, find the faulty component by replacing it.

Software reasons

Basic software reason why a blue screen usually pops up can be called poor quality assembly operating system. In this case, reinstalling it to a working one will help, official version Windows.

Device drivers can also cause system crashes if installed inappropriately for the OS. You can solve this problem by rolling back the driver to the original one.

Another cause of the problem may be a malfunction of the application; antivirus programs and emulators often differ in this regard.

Fixing Blue Screen Problem

The problem itself could not appear; pay attention to what caused the error to appear. Let it be the installation of software or a computer component, in which case return everything to its original position.

Try the following:

Boot into Safe Mode.
Roll back the recently installed driver.
Download the latest successful configuration, in this case, the system itself will change the registry settings and driver data to the original ones.
If this doesn't help - run "system restore" by selecting a date before the problem occurred.

After loading the operating system, make sure that there is enough free space. The system requires at least 100 MB disk space. It is advisable to have at least 15% free space on your hard drive for system needs and work.

Scan hard drives for the presence of viruses, because Part virus programs can damage the Windows boot area, as a result of which the computer may show a “blue screen of death”.

Check the Event Viewer log for information about warnings and system errors that may have caused the screen of death to appear.

By completing the above operations, you will most likely be able to fix the Blue Screen of Death error. And, of course, you shouldn’t let your computer malfunction, keep an eye on the components and regularly diagnose problems.