Most often, the main sign of any serious problems in Windows 7 is a blue screen. Moreover, its presence can indicate both problems with the hardware of the personal computer and the software.
Fixing problems of this type is in most cases quite simple; you can almost always do it yourself. Only rarely may specialist consultation be required.
Setting up the system to diagnose the problem
When Blue Screenof Death appears frequently, you must first perform two operations in strict order:
- disable reboot;
- run a special system utility.
- equipment malfunction;
- inappropriate or malfunctioning drivers;
- software.
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus;
- Nod 32;
- D.R. WEB;
- Avast.
- dump files are displayed in the upper part of the window - you need to click on the required one, and the drivers that caused the BSOD will be displayed in the lower area;
- you need to double-click on the desired item - this will allow you to see the parameters in a tabular format;
- click on “settings” - “selected window mode” - “drivers found in the crash track”;
- right-click and select HTMLReport.
- KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED – the kernel mode for some reason began executing an invalid procedure;
- NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM – a problem has occurred in the file system driver (ntfs.sys), or there are faulty clusters in the boot area of the hard drive;
- DATA_BUS_ERROR – problems in RAM, most often associated with defective or incompatible RAM sticks, or with a defective driver;
- IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL – the mode executed by the central processor core accessed RAM, while using an unacceptably high IRQL (most likely there is an error in the driver);
- STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH – important files that make up the system library are damaged;
- UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP – occurs due to a software failure, division by zero;
- STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED – failure of a service performing any functions in user mode;
- INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE – Windows did not start due to lack of access to the system partition (hardware defect, virus, incompatibility of installed equipment);
- MISMATCHED_HAL – mismatch of the system kernel with the type of process installed on a specific personal computer;
- KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR – it is not possible to read the paging file (in most cases this is due to damage to the hard drive);
- PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA – there are no data, the search for which is carried out in RAM (reason - defective memory).
Disabling reboot will allow you to get rid of automatic restart when BlueScreenofDeath appears. This is necessary in order to find out the error code that caused an emergency on a personal computer.
This operation is performed as follows:
After completing all the above operations, the system will no longer reboot on its own. And the user will be able to get acquainted with all the information about the problem that led to the appearance of the corresponding message on the display.
Most often, the problem lies in the PC's RAM. You should definitely analyze it using a special utility. The OS already has the necessary software built into it to achieve this goal.
It is launched as follows:
You must choose the first option, as it is optimal. It is important to remember that the type check in question takes a long time to complete.
Under no circumstances should you interrupt the process.
After it is completed, the machine will reboot automatically. The PC display will display all the information with the test results. This will allow you to determine how to fix the problem.
Reasons for appearance
This type of problem can occur due to a variety of problems.
But all of them can be divided into main categories:
The surest way to determine a malfunction is to analyze the information present on the monitor at the moment Blue Screenof Death appears. In most cases, the computer uses special character sets to point the user to the problem node. It is best to find a decoding of error codes on the Internet in advance.
Faulty installed equipment
Very often, the type of problem in question appears due to problems in the PC hardware. They can arise due to improper assembly or microcircuit failure. Quite often both the first and the second are present.
The most common malfunction is swelling of the capacitors on the motherboard. Detecting this is very simple: you need to open the PC case and carefully examine the small bars with round legs on the Motherboard. If the end part of any capacitor is swollen, it must be replaced. This process is quite simple; you just need to select a component with a similar capacity.
Often a similar problem occurs with power supplies. The presence of swollen capacitors in them can also lead to a blue screen. It is advisable to carefully inspect all components of the PC - the presence of damage (carbon deposits or other defects) indicates a hardware malfunction. Often the problems lie in the connection buses.
Drivers
Very often Blue Screen of Death occurs due to incorrectly selected drivers. Most often this is due to catalysts for the video card. This is especially true for applications downloaded from unofficial resources.
Solving this problem is simple; you just need to replace the installed programs with standard ones. But sometimes it happens that dealing with a problem of the type in question is not so easy.
If the user does not have sufficient knowledge and experience to detect the problematic driver that is causing the BSOD, then a special built-in utility for this should be used. It's called Verifier.exe, and it's very easy to find and run.
Software
Often, BSOD occurs due to the presence of some malicious application. An antivirus will help resolve this situation.
At the moment, the best ones to use to check your PC are:
Sometimes BSOD appears due to a variety of applications that for some reason conflict with drivers or other programs or utilities. Therefore, sometimes you can get rid of the blue screen of death by simply uninstalling recently installed programs.
Memory dump analysis using BlueScreenView utility
If a Windows 7 blue screen occurs, what should you do? You can resolve the situation using the universal BlueScreenView application. This utility does not require installation and immediately after launch, it automatically detects all dump files.
With BlueScreenView you can easily analyze your computer's messages.
The process of viewing a dump is quite simple:
The information received can be sent to the support service, or analyzed independently - if the user has the appropriate knowledge and skills for this. If necessary, you can view the original BSOD screen using the utility in question. It has very wide functionality and many settings, which is why it is quite popular.
Video: problem solving
Common errors
Figuring out how to find out the cause of a BSOD is quite simple. It is much more difficult to eliminate it. Usually the error is displayed on the monitor screen in the form of a hexadecimal code, which can be easily translated into plain English.
The most common errors that occur are:
It is necessary to find a translation of error codes into English or directly into Russian in advance. This will make it possible to simplify the task of troubleshooting the type of malfunction as much as possible. If for some reason it was not possible to resolve the problem, then you should contact competent specialists.
Avoid occurrenceBSODor you can eliminate it after it appears using some actions:
Also, often the cause of the appearance of the blue screen of death is an installed unlicensed operating system. Perhaps installing the original distribution will get rid of the troubles.
The best way to solve the problem of BSOD on a PC is to simply prevent it from occurring. It is necessary to update the software in a timely manner, and also not to use pirated programs or operating systems. It is imperative to monitor the hardware (temperature conditions, dust levels). All this will avoid the need to waste time fixing problems.
The Blue Screen of Death is familiar to every Windows 7 user, because it is a built-in functionality of the system. If you see a blue screen, then it is important to remember the error code, and after restoring the system, solve all the problems. In this article we will talk in more detail about what to do if a blue screen of death occurs.
What is the Blue Screen of Death in Windows 7
Blue Screen of Death - also known as BSoD, or Blue Screen of Death, is a system function that displays an error code. In practice, it looks like this - at any moment the system can switch from the current interface to the blue screen of death. Thanks to this, the user can find out the cause of the system failure. The reason is encrypted in the form of a code, in addition, additional system information is displayed on the screen.
Causes of Blue Screen of Death
There are many reasons for a blue screen of death, but they all boil down to one thing - something is wrong with your computer. This could be not only a system (software) error, but also hardware problems. There are 6 main reasons:
- The driver has fallen off;
- There is no free space on the system disk;
- Registry problems;
- System files are damaged;
- Virus;
- Problems with hardware;
The rest of the reasons why the blue screen of death crashes on Windows 7 fall into one of these categories.
What to do
If you see a blue screen of death, the first thing to do is write down the error code. Alternatively, take a photo of the screen using your phone. The standard “Printscreen” will not work in the event of a blue screen of death. In addition to the error code, the screen usually contains recommendations on what the user can do to fix the problem. There is no need to rush to take action; you need to give a little time for the system to try to find solutions on its own. If the blue screen of death does not disappear and the system does not automatically reboot, then action must be taken.
If the OS could not fix the problem on its own, then it needs help. Let's consider all typical cases.
- If the problem is with the drivers, then you need to boot into safe mode and reinstall the necessary drivers. If the blue screen of death does not indicate a problematic driver, then reinstall absolutely all drivers. They can be taken from the system disk that came with the computer, or you can use the program.
- Free space on drive C (or any other system drive) is vital for the correct operation of the OS. If the space runs out completely, a blue screen of death appears. There are two solutions - load the OS and, before the software leaves a trace on the disk and fills up all the memory, delete some large files. This will free up space. If you run out of space and there are no options to free it up, then only replacing the HDD will help.
- Problems with the registry can be easily resolved by rolling back the OS to a previous restore point. Or use specialized software, for example, to check and clean the registry.
- Problems with system files, i.e. files of the OS itself - this is one of the most common causes of the blue screen of death. Eliminating such problems, as a rule, is not difficult for the OS itself in automatic mode. If the system could not fix the problems itself, then there is only one solution - boot the OS in safe mode and restore to the last restore point. If this does not help and the system does not boot, then reinstalling the OS will help.
- Viruses themselves do not cause a blue screen, but their activity can violate the integrity of the OS and interfere with the operation of the system. In this case, you need to boot without supporting network connections and scan your computer or laptop for viruses. It is best to check with special anti-virus solutions other than the built-in ones. For example, you can use Kaspersky Anti-Virus.
- Hardware problems include all components of your device. The problems can be either global - the chip is burned out, the mother card is broken, etc., or small - the power cable has come loose. You will not be able to fix such problems automatically. However, in case of problems with hardware, the blue screen of death always tells you what the reason is. It is better to entrust the elimination of such a problem to professionals.
As you understand, the blue screen of death is your friend and good helper. The main purpose of such an error appearing is to protect your device. Moreover, the blue screen itself suggests solutions to the problem. For those who want to delve even deeper into this issue, we recommend watching a short video about the causes of the blue screen of death and how to fix the problems:
All Windows 7 OS users have encountered the Blue Screen of Death at least once in their lives.
For ordinary users, this problem causes serious fear because of its name. Seeing a blue background and white letters on the monitor, they rush to take their computer to a service center, where they are even more frightened.
As a result, the user pays a lot of money to fix this problem.
We will tell you what the Blue Screen of Death is and what you need to do when it appears in Windows 7.
Blue screen of death (BSOD)
Blue screen of death is a system notification about a threatening error in the OS.
There are different errors, so there are also several BSODs. Malfunctions that cause Blue screen of death to appear on the monitor, are divided into two types:
- overheating of the computer hardware (“hardware”);
- system problems in software.
If the cause is overheating of the hardware, then, first of all, you need to make sure that all the fans are working, clean the system unit from dust, you may even have to replace the capacitors on the power supply.
Overheating can be caused by problems with the motherboard or other computer components.
If you are not a computer engineer and do not understand hardware, then it is better to seek help from specialists.
For a more accurate diagnosis, take your PC to a service center for repair of office equipment.
If there is no overheating, then the problem is in the software. Often the screen of death appears due to driver incompatibility, but there may be other reasons.
Let's look at them in more detail in the section "Causes of BSOD and ways to solve the problem." Now let's talk about pre-configuring Windows 7 OS.
Setting up the operating system
To determine the cause of the Blue Screen of Death, first of all, you need to disable automatic restart of your PC, since the BSOD quickly disappears.
To do this, you need to follow the steps indicated in the video instructions below:
What is a kernel memory dump
Computer information is recorded on a hard drive.
But first, the files go into random access memory (RAM), which is automatically cleared every time the computer is rebooted.
If critical errors occur, using the “kernel memory dump” option, the system will create a so-called DMP file before rebooting.
It will store information about the BSOD.
To open an encrypted DMP file, you need to download a special utility “BlueScreenView” from the official website of the developer of this program.
Now that the computer is prepared, you can begin to fix the error.
Causes of BSOD and ways to solve the problem
Let's look at several examples of solving the problem.
Example No. 1
Let's analyze one of the BSODs.
The first sentence states that a critical error has occurred. The second one displays the reason why the error occurred (DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL).
In this example, it is driver incompatibility. Next comes a standard system message with advice on how to solve the problem. We go down to the STOP section.
The error code is indicated here (STOP: 0x000000D1), you need to remember this code.
It is necessary in order to use it to find a solution to any problem that has arisen on your PC on the Internet.
Under the STOP key is the registry file where the error occurred (gv3.sys).
Let's restart the computer, launch the BlueScreenView program and in the window that appears on the screen, we will find a message highlighted in red.
There will be indicated the device whose faulty driver caused the screen of death.
Please update the driver for this device to the latest version.
There are cases when BSOD began to occur after updating the driver. Then, on the contrary, you need to restore the old version of this driver.
Example No. 2
Consider the following Blue screen of death.
This error can be caused by a number of problems, usually hardware. These problems cannot always be solved at home. NO_PAGES_AVAILABLE means that the system does not find some important files.
Therefore, it is worth checking the condition of the hard drive and RAM.
Try taking out one of the RAM sticks and starting the computer without it. If it starts normally, then clean the RAM slots in the system unit from dust.
This may not help, then you need to replace the RAM.
If the problem is not in the RAM, defragment the hard drive using a special utility such as CCleaner.
This will organize the files and reduce the load on the hard drive.
Example No. 3
This blue screen indicates that the error was caused manually by pressing some key combination. But such an error can also be caused by a virus.
To get rid of it, you need to clean your computer's registry. You can, of course, use special utilities, such as CCleaner, but then the dump files will be deleted, which is undesirable.
Therefore, we will clean the registry manually.
Below the STOP line we see that the error was caused by reproducing the kbdhid.sys file. Let's find it in the registry.
To do this you need:
- Open the “Start” menu and enter the “regedit” command in the “search”, press the “Enter” key.
- In the registry editor that opens, select “Edit”, then “Find” or press the key combination “Ctrl” + “F”.
- Enter the folder name with the extension (kbdhid.sys).
After that, in the found kbdhid.sys folder, open the files by double-clicking the left mouse button. In the file type REG_SZ you need to set the value “Default”.
In a file of type REG_DWORD, set the value as brackets.
It is necessary to remember that if there are numbers in brackets of two digits or more, then in the “value” field we enter signs (numbers or Latin letters) after x without leading zeros.
After these steps, restart your computer. The blue screen will no longer appear.
Example No. 4
This BSOD was caused by an outdated driver.
To fix this error, let's go below the STOP section. Under the second sign “***” we will find the name of the outdated driver. We need to update it.
Example No. 5
The first time you connect any USB device, for example, a Flash drive, the system automatically installs its driver.
Therefore, the OS recognizes this device. But there are situations when the system cannot find the driver, then the OS becomes incompatible with the USB device, and the Windows 7 blue screen of death appears. What to do in this case?
To fix this error, you need to remove the flash drive from the USB connector, restart the computer, find the driver yourself and install it manually on the system drive C:\Program Files.
After this, you can safely use this “flash drive”.
Conclusion
Now you know that if a blue screen of death appears, there is no need to panic. We looked at the most common types of BSOD.
We hope that this information will help you cope with this little trouble on your own.
Windows 7, if there are errors in the system or incorrectly functioning computer components, stops working and displays the “Blue Screen of Death”, also called “BSoD”. Then the system points out possible problems that caused the failure and provides recommendations for solving them. The Blue Screen of Death displays the hexadecimal error code and its parameters. After the code comes the name of the driver and the address of the error.
Thus, the blue screen of death upon boot carries a significant amount of important information for the user and helps to fix Windows 7 to remove BSoD.
You just need to carefully read (it’s better to even take a photo of it) with the data provided and analyze at what address and what error occurred.
Analysis of the causes of BSoD
To establish the reasons why such a failure occurs with the appearance of a blue screen of death, you need to familiarize yourself with its main list:
- Increase in temperature of PC equipment exceeding operating values;
- Drivers. Failures and incompatibility of this software installed on the computer;
- Incompatibility of applications installed on the computer, for example, between antivirus utilities;
- Conflict of computer components;
- It is rare, but it happens that the Blue Screen of Death causes the PC to become infected with malware;
- Failure of devices included with the computer, for example, hard drive, RAM, etc.;
There are many reasons for the appearance of the blue screen of death, and they need to be identified as soon as possible, otherwise any of the PC equipment may break down and cannot be repaired.
What actions need to be taken?
If the Blue Screen of Death appears on your computer display, you must take the following steps:
Analysis of the source of problems to determine specific causes:
- Often, “BSoD” is a consequence of the inexperience of the computer owner, for example, it happens that the user deletes a system file or utility. In this case, you will need to return Windows 7 to the state before it was affected by an inexperienced user and perform the following steps:
- Through the Start menu in search "System Restore" and click on the displayed file;
- determine the restore point; it must be earlier in date than the time when the user made incorrect changes to the system;
- Ready. These steps will remove BSoD. Windows 7 should now boot without problems.
- In the case where the user did not delete the necessary data or utilities from the system, then it will be necessary to identify the reason for its occurrence from the records on “BSoD”, i.e. identify the file or program (driver) that caused the system error and the appearance of the blue screen of death. Next, type the name of the utility or file in the search and remove - uninstall them. From the official resources of the equipment manufacturers, proceed to download and install them on your PC.
- Perform an analysis to determine the reasons for the increase in temperature of PC equipment exceeding operating values. To do this, you should resort to downloading and installing special applications, for example Aida or Spessy (they work great in Windows 7). After installation, they will show the operating temperature of the PC equipment and identify bottlenecks in specific parts of the computer hardware. If temperatures exceeding critical values are detected in any equipment, these components will need to be repaired or new ones purchased.
Memory dump
This is the contents of memory at a specific period of time. After canceling the automatic actions of Windows 7 that lead to booting the system, it is recommended to enable memory dump recording. To do this, you need to follow a simple algorithm of actions:
Examining a Memory Dump
This can be done using the BlueScreenView program, which allows you to extract the necessary data from the dump.
With Windows blue screens of death ( B lue S creen o f D ead) has not come across, perhaps, only a rare lucky person. Most of us had the “fortune” to witness this phenomenon on our own PC. And it drives many people into panic: what if the computer is dead?
In order not to get lost when a blue “lantern” suddenly lights up on the screen, you need to be able to look the enemy “in the face.” That is, learn to find out what led to the appearance of BSoD, assess how critical the situation is and know what to do so that it does not happen again.
Blue Lantern turns on unexpectedly
During the operation of Windows, many errors arise, most of which the system eliminates without the user noticing. But some of them are so serious that continuation of the work session becomes impossible. Or the problem that has arisen threatens Windows or hardware with irreversible damage. In such cases, BSoD appears. The system seems to be telling the user: “Sorry, friend, but I had no other choice. If it weren't for the crash, something bad would have happened."Blue screens of death occur at any stage of computer startup and operation. And the following leads to them:
- Incorrect operation of device drivers due to poor compatibility with the operating system, conflict with other drivers, damage or changes in parameters.
- Incorrect operation of software, most often those that create their own services - antiviruses, firewalls, hardware emulators, etc.
- Malware infection.
- Hardware problems - malfunction of RAM, disk drives, network, sound adapters, video subsystem, motherboard, power supply and other equipment.
- Abnormal operation of devices - overheating, unstable power supply, overclocking.
- Violation of data exchange between devices - poor contact in connectors, faulty cables and cables.
- Device incompatibility.
By the way, a one-time BSoD after connecting a new device to the computer, if in the future everything works flawlessly, can be considered the norm.
What can you learn from the information on the blue screen?
Fortunately, the vast majority of blue screens of death are caused by software glitches that the user can fix independently and relatively quickly, without resorting to reinstalling Windows. Software problems are characterized by random BSoDs with the same or similar error codes.Hardware “bruises” more often occur under the same conditions (for example, when the load on the video card increases, or when trying to open a large file) and have different codes. Or these codes indicate problems with specific equipment, such as: errors in accessing the device, inability to read, recognize.
However, these signs only allow us to make an assumption about the cause of the problem. To clarify it, more detailed information is needed.
The Windows 10 Blue Screen of Death looks like this:
The error information is contained in the line “ Stopcode" In my example this is CRITICAL PROCESS DIED.
By scanning the QR code located here with your phone, you can go to the website windowscom/ stopcode, which contains general tips for troubleshooting. Tips from Microsoft are sometimes useful, but there is nothing there about the cause of your specific case, which means you will have to look for this data in another source, for example:
- On computer forums.
- In references for various error codes, in particular on the Docs.Micosoft website and elsewhere.
But this is not entirely complete information. Each error is unique, and the most accurate information about it is contained in the file that the system saves to disk at the time of the failure. Namely, in a small memory dump, which we will learn to analyze. In order for such files to be created, you need to make several small settings.
How to enable the feature to create and save small memory dumps
To save memory dumps on your hard drive, the system definitely needs one, which must be located in the same partition as the Windows folder. Its size can be from 2 Mb or more.
- Go through the context menu to the folder properties " Computer».
- Click the button in the window that opens Advanced System Settings».
- In the new window section " System failure" from the list " Writing Debug Information» select « Small memory dump" Let it be indicated as the save location «% SystemRoot%\Minidump"(%systemroot% is the Windows folder).
This completes the setup. Now information about BSoDs will be saved in the above directory.
How to analyze the contents of minidumps
There are different ways to analyze Windows crash dumps, but we will get acquainted with the most, in my opinion, convenient and simple - using a free utility BlueScreenView .BlueScreenView is especially convenient because it does not require installation of cumbersome Debugging Tools for Windows packages on your computer and can be launched from any media, just click on the file of the same name.
The utility interface, despite the lack of Russian language, is very friendly. The main window is divided into 2 halves. At the top is a table of minidumps - files from the Windows\Minidump folder with the date and time of creation (column Crash Time), error code in hexadecimal format (column Bug Check Code), its four parameters and other information. However, it is more convenient to view data about a specific failure in a separate window, which opens by double-clicking on the line of interest (shown below). The main window gives more information about the problem as a whole if BSoDs have occurred repeatedly. It makes it easy to track the dates of incidents and error codes, the frequency of which can be used to judge the nature of the problem.
The lower half of the main window displays the drivers loaded into memory at the time of the emergency for a specific dump highlighted in the list. The lines highlighted in pink show the contents of the event stream stack, and the drivers mentioned in them are most directly related to the cause of the failure.
Let's look at one of the small memory dumps with error code 0x00000154 as an example. Let me say in advance that it was caused by a broken hard drive cable. Starting the analysis, let's look at the list of drivers in the event stack. There is nothing here except ntoskrnl.exe - the Windows OS kernel, which, of course, is not to blame for the problem - it’s just that at the time of the failure there was not a single driver in the stack, and it is always present there.
Go ahead. According to Microsoft's website, error 0x00000154 occurs when "a storage component encounters an unexpected exception" and is typically associated with storage issues.
To test this version, let's evaluate the S.M.A.R.T indicators of the computer's hard drive, which are monitored by the Hard Disk Sentinel program. On the day of the accident, changes in the following attributes appeared here:
- 188 Command Timeout.
- 199 UltraDMA CRC Error Count.
Both indicate data transmission errors on the interface cable. Testing the surface of the hard drive and checking the file structure did not reveal any deviations, so the problem was solved by replacing the cable.
Let's look at another case of a blue screen of death caused by Kaspersky Anti-Virus. BSoD occurred intermittently during Windows 10 startup and when the computer resumed from sleep mode.
The error was recorded several times under the same code - 0x000000d1, which means the following: "a kernel mode driver attempted to access a memory page in an IRQL process that had too high a priority." This time BlueScreenView pointed to a problem in the NDIS.sys driver, which is responsible for network connections. This means that there is a high probability that the failure is of software origin and is associated with something that uses the network.
To identify the culprit, it was necessary to analyze startup applications. At the early stage of launching the operating system of this PC, not too many programs were launched that were allowed access to the Internet, or rather, only Kaspersky. To confirm its involvement, I again turned to the list of drivers loaded into memory in BlueScreenView and, among what is usually present here, I found kl1.sys, which belongs to the antivirus.
After removing Kaspersky, blue screens no longer popped up.
The BlueScreenView utility allows you to analyze crash memory dumps obtained not only where it is running, but also on another computer. To do this, you do not need to copy them to the Windows\Minidump folder on your PC, which is loaded into the program by default. Copy them to any convenient location, for example, on your desktop, and tell the program the new location of the directory that should be downloaded.
The function for selecting a folder with dump files is in the “ Options» – « Advanced Options" (opened by the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + O) and is called " Load from the following minidump folder».
Having checked the box here, click the button “ Browse" and find the desired directory in Explorer. When you want to return the settings to default, click " Default».
This is how, in a matter of minutes, you can find out the cause of almost any Windows blue screen of death, and by examining the minidumps in their entirety, you can identify the source of the problem and successfully fix it. By the way, you can find hints about which driver belongs to what. Recommendations for solving related problems are also provided there.
