How to Fix Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

First, what is BSOD?, well, by the error name itself is already terrifying. BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) is one of the worst type of computer errors for a user can experience. This commonly appears when a windows operating system encounters a fatal error where the system cannot recover resulting a total dysfunction. In most cases, this error can simply be fixed by system reboot, but if the level of error is high you might need some serious troubleshooting. Keep in mind that this issue is critical and will cause serious problems if not resolved right away this can lead to system corruption and Data loss. 

BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) Error Sections:

Figure 1.

A common blue screen error windows is divided into four sections:

1. Shows the error code excerpt
2. Shows error suggested possible fix
3. Shows technical Information of the error
4. Shows the status information and debug attempt report

Windows automatically creates a "minidump" file where blue screen crash information is being saved.  This can be used to analyse more on the issue. To easily view BSOD information you can use  BlueScreenView software by Nirsoft. It scans all "minidump" files that was created when the error occurred. 

BSOD Troubleshooting

BSOD occurs on various reasons, the first thing to do is to analyse the main cause of the error. The error screen provides a technical information - ‘STOP ERROR’ code (see figure 1. Section 3). This code will help you understand more about the specific fault. Under control Panel's System and Security, there is an Action Center section where blue screen information is also displayed, you can open through it and check for possible solutions. 

Here are some helpful tips on troubleshooting BSOD problem:

1. Check if there's any faulty hardware - Hardware issues can cause BSOD error on your system, you should do a hardware check if there's a possible faulty piece. It could be your RAM, hard drives, CMos battery or anything. You can also try a memory scan or a temperature check to see if your drives causes the error or the overheating issue.
2. Execute System Restore - If the system was just blue screening all of a sudden, you can try the system restore to roll the system back on its previous good-state. Usually it's a software incompatibility problem you just installed or a system corruption occured, System Restore might help you out.
3. Update your system drivers - Corrupted or faulty installed System Drivers can cause system crashes that can lead you to possible BSOD, You should scan and check your drivers using various driver scanner softwares to see if there's a problem nesting on it.
4. Uninstall suspected Programs/hardware - If your system is showing the screen error right after you install a certain program/hardware, then that might be the cause. Simply try to uninstall and see if the issue have been resolved.
5. Execute a Deep system scan - Virus or malwares can also cause blue screening. This pests can dig deep into your system and infects on your windows files that will cause corruption and crashing. Have your system scanned with a good antivirus to get rid of the problem.
6. Boot in Safe Mode - Sometimes, blue screening won't let you log on to your desktop, in this case you can try booting into Safe Mode, from there you can analyse and execute possible fix on this specific error. On the Safe Mode, windows will only load the essential drivers of the system, however, if the problem is caused by a driver then it is possible that you cannot get through on to it. In this case, you can use a windows repair disk.
7. ReFormat Windows System - This will be your last resort. If the blue screening still persist after executing various fix procedures, your system might be totally corrupted. If Existing instability won't let you fix the problem then you may replace your system a fresh copy of Windows.