Blue screen errors, or blue screen of death (BSOD) errors, are the most severe errors Windows can encounter. Since Windows cannot recover from this kernel level error, a blue screen is displayed with the error details. The error details contain a STOP error code, which indicates the type of error.
There are a lot of possible causes for blue screen errors, but most of them relate to the computer hardware. The cause of a BSOD error can be a temperature problem, a timing error, a resource conflict, hardware failure, a corrupt registry, a virus or simply a device incompatibility or driver error.
How to analyze blue screen errors
The first thing to do to analyze a blue screen error is to check the meaning of the STOP error code. You need to stop Windows from rebooting when a STOP error is encountered. Once the blue screen of death is shown, you can check the meaning of the STOP error code. Together with the filename of the driver or module, this will give an indication of the error cause.
Another option to analyze the cause of the blue screen error is to look at the Windows system event log or to debug the memory dump (minidump) that Windows created when the error occurred. The event log can be viewed using the event viewer. Right-click Computer in the Start menu, and then select Manage. In the Computer Management window select Event Viewer. The information in the event log can be of great help to isolate the cause of the blue screen error.
Reading the minidump requires a bit more technical knowledge, but Microsoft has tools to read the minidump.
The most common cause of blue screen errors
In reality, the most common cause of blue screen errors is a device driver problem. Outdated, incorrect or corrupt drivers can cause the system to encounter a STOP error, resulting in the BSOD.
So the easiest way to try and fix a blue screen error is to reinstall and update your system’s device drivers. This will ensure that all driver bugs are fixed and that all hardware has the correct driver.
If you know which device caused the error, you can update or reinstall that driver first. The file name in the blue screen of death can help identify the driver. Look for a file with the .SYS extension and search for that file name.
If you do not have the drivers for all devices, or are not comfortable updating your PC’s drivers manually, you can use a driver update tool to find, download and update all device drivers for you. Such tools will accurately identify your computer hardware, including any device causing an error, and automatically install the latest drivers for it.
In most cases updating or reinstalling drivers will solve your blue screen errors.
Other causes of blue screen errors
If updating device drivers does not fix the blue screen error, there are a number of additional things to try:
* Load the default BIOS values – resource conflicts and timing issues can be caused by incorrect BIOS settings.
* Update the BIOS – especially after adding new hardware or installing a Windows service pack this can help fix issues.
* Update Windows – missing updates, including service packs can be a source of stop errors.
* Check your system – run a virus scan and spyware scan after updating your definition files.
* Driver rollback – if you have recently updated a driver, you can use the driver rollback to revert back to the previous driver version.
List of STOP Errors Causing BSOD:
* Stop 0×00000003 UNSYNCHRONIZED_ACCESS
* Stop 0x0000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
* Stop 0x0000001E KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
* Stop 0×00000023 FAT_FILE_SYSTEM
* Stop 0×00000024 NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
* Stop 0x0000002E DATA_BUS_ERROR
* Stop 0x0000003F NO_MORE_SYSTEM_PTES
* Stop 0×00000044 MULTIPLE_IRP_COMPLETE_REQUESTS
* Stop 0×00000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
* Stop 0x0000006B PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
* Stop 0×00000073 CONFIG_LIST_FAILED
* Stop 0×00000074 BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO
* Stop 0×00000076 PROCESS_HAS_LOCKED_PAGES
* Stop 0×00000077 KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR
* Stop 0×00000079 MISMATCHED_HAL
* Stop 0x0000007A KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
* Stop 0x0000007B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
* Stop 0x0000007E SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
* Stop 0x0000007F UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
* Stop 0x0000008E KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
* Stop 0x0000009C MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
Latest Windows 7 Updates Cause BSOD: Fix
Beta testers of Windows 7 report that recently released security updates pushed through the Windows Update mechanism cause blue screens of death (BSOD) at startup, with a failure on kl1.sys.
Fix
It appears that, in some cases, this problem may be caused by a conflict with the Kaspersky Antivirus package. Follow these steps to disable the software:
- Startup in safe mode (tap the F8 key on your keyboard repeatedly as the computer is starting up).
- Select a method of safe booting from the menu (first try with networking; if the crash still occurs, try without networking).
- Once the system has booted, click the Start button and type MSCONFIG then press enter in Windows Vista (in Windows XP, click the Start button, then click “Run” and type MSCONFIG then press enter).
- Go to the startup tab.
- Disable Kaspersky and any related items (e.g. kl1.sys), then press OK, then restart the system if it does not happen automatically. Startup normally (i.e. not in safe mode).
Alternatively, you can launch the Kaspersky application and set it to not start at startup.
