Article 22 - Blue Screen Of Death

"Blue Screen Of Death"

The term "Blue Screen Of Death" originates from the days of Windows NT, when a computer would spontaneously present a blue screen with white writing, and only option was to re-install windows. The term has persisted, because Windows XP occasionally presents the same symptom, though fortunately it is rarely necessary to reinstall Windows. The white writing provides an error message of sorts together with a load of meaningless gobbledygook which can be interpreted by real computer nerds, however it is possible to get some sense out of parts of the writing as it contains an error code which gives a bit of a clue as to the cause of the problem, provided that the message stays on the screen long enough.

Unfortunately, it is often the case that the blue screen flashes up, and then disappears before anyone has had the chance to read any of the writing (or even notice that there was a blue screen), and this makes life even more difficult. The usual symptom is that Windows gets part of the way through starting up, then the computer shuts down, and you are presented with a screen with various start-up options (Safe mode, safe mode with networking, last known good configuration, etc). If you look closely, you might notice a blue screen just before the computer shuts down. It is possible to set up Windows XP such that the blue screen stays there until action is taken to restart the computer. However, as usual, it is too late to change this setting once Windows is refusing to start properly.

So, this is a setting that it is better to change now, before you have problems. The vital setting, to Disable Automatic Restarts, can be set by going to Control Panel and double clicking on the “System” icon (this is via Performance and Maintenance if you are using “Category View”). Once in the System part, Click on “Advanced”, then under Startup and Recovery click on “Settings”. Here there is an option to “Automatically Restart” – make sure that this option is NOT ticked. If it is, then “untick” it, and click on OK.

While this will not prevent the Blue Screen of Death from happening, it will give us a fighting chance to get to the bottom of the problem and to determine the best course of action.

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