Blue Screen Error

Basic Blue Screen Error (BSOD) Troubleshooting

A Blue Screen error is also known as BSOD, which is an acronym for Blue Screen Of Death. It is also referred to as a Stop Error. This error got its name largely due to the fact that when Windows encounters a critical error and freezes, it displays a blue screen which fills the entire monitor. It contains a hexadecimal error number, (example:0×000000050), the name of the file which could be the possible cause of the error (example:SPCMDCON.sys), and a few suggestions on how to fix the error.

Troubleshooting Summary:

1. Restart the computer.

2. Try Last Known Good Configuration. (LKGC)

3. Restart computer in safe mode and try a system restore.

4. Try a Repair installation of windows.

5. Reinstall Windows.

(Remember you can also search for a solution on the internet with only the error number or the file name mentioned in the error message. These are just a list of general things you can do to fix a blue screen error, also known as “BSOD” or “Blue Screen of Death”.)

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Windows Blue Screen Error (BSOD) Troubleshooting – in detail:

A BSOD looks like the picture below:

But what we are going to be concerned about most are just two things – we are going to look for a file name in the BSOD – for example SPCMDCON.SYS as in the above picture, and a number which starts with 0×000000050 – the 0(zero) followed by X , more zeros and a number.

With this information in hand, it is possible to search the internet for specific troubleshooting steps for each Windows XP Blue Screen error message.

Let us take a look at a set of GENERAL things we can do to FIX BLUE SCREEN ERROR:

Remember, a blue screen error is most often caused by faulty hardware or a faulty piece of software, like a device driver.

1. Often, a BSOD Crash Error goes away with a simple system restart. But we cannot expect to be lucky all the time and it probably just will not go away no matter how many times you restart your computer.

2. The next thing to do is to go to the Windows Advanced Menu Options – (by hitting the <F8> key during start-up) – use the arrow keys on the keyboard and navigate to the option which says “Last Known Good Configuration” (LKGC) and then hit the<Enter> key on the keyboard. Your computer will restart and go to the most recentrestore point created by it. But remember, if you have installed any applications after that, it will be gone, as will be all unsaved data.

3. If that does not work, restart the computer in Safe Mode, following the same steps as mentioned in the previous point, and try to do a system restore to an earlier restore point.

4. Hopefully, that should have worked. If it didn’t, then think of any new software or hardware you have installed in your computer. If there is any, remove it. (If it is a software, you can remove it even in Safe Mode.)

5. If that does not fix the problem, Repair the current Windows XP installation. Though, it will go through the full Windows re-installation process, it will not result in loss of data as this procedure will only repair the Windows Operating Systems System Files.

The Repair installation of Windows is generally done as the last step in troubleshooting a BSOD crash error. If you still cannot fix the problem, then you will have to just do aclean install of Windows XP.