BSoD

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Alternatively referred to as a bluescreen or bugcheck in Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, and XP, BSoD is short for Blue Screen of Death and is a full blue screen error message generated by Microsoft Windows operating systems. Below are some examples of how a BSoD may appear in Windows.

Example of a Microsoft Windows XP
blue screen of death

Example of a Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98,
and Windows ME blue screen of death

The blue screen is most commonly encountered and associated with a computer running Microsoft Windows. However, other operating systems such as the Apple Macintosh may also get a blank blue screen, which is also referred to as a BSOD. Apple computers that have a blank blue screen indicate that the hard drive is bad in that computer.

The Windows blue screen errors occur when a program encounters an error. Typically, these errors are caused with errors in the programming such as trying to call something that does not exist or do something that is not allowed. These errors can also be caused when hardware in the computer encounters a problem or is bad.

Write down the important parts of the error message. These error messages are usually long because they point to the locations of the error, which usually are not necessary. Write down any of the information mentioned below that is found in the blue screen error.

You do not have to write anything down if you have a digital camera or smartphone and can take a picture of the error message.

Also see: Black screen of death, Bomb, Error, GPF, Guru Meditation, Kernel panic, Operating system terms, Windows minidump