Blue screen of death in windows

What is the main cause of Blue Screen of Death?

Drivers: Computer drivers are files, typically developed by a hardware manufacturer, that help the hardware work in an operating system. And according to this blue screen error resource from Microsoft, 70% of Stop errors are due to third-party driver code.

Software: Incompatible software like apps or programs may cause conflicts the result in the BSOD.

Hardware: Faulty memory (RAM), hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD), motherboard, processor, or a power supply unit (PSU) can all be responsible for the blue screen crashes.

Overheating: your computer may display the BSOD if it’s overheating due to dust, defective fans, or overburdened hardware.

Malware: Malware, like a PC virus that corrupts your critical files and folders, can be the reason for a Blue Screen of Death

Common Windows stop codes

Here are some of the most common Windows stop codes for problems that cause the blue screen of death error:

CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED

You’ll see this if an essential system operation has stopped working. It may simply be that you mistakenly ended critical processes in Task Manager.

SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

This is often caused by an outdated or broken driver. You can avoid this happening again by updating your drivers or rolling back to a previous version.

Here’s how to fix a blue screen of death:

1. Shut down the PC that showed the BSOD

Press and hold the power button until the computer powers off. It’s okay to do this because the whole point of shutting down properly is to allow the computer to save all temporary data. It’s too late for that if the system’s already crashed — the only way to proceed is to force a shutdown.

2. Disconnect all USB devices except for the mouse and keyboard

Remove all external devices like hard drives and printers. These peripherals and their drivers might be the cause of the error.

3. Reboot the system in Safe Mode with Networking

Safe Mode is a bare-bones version of your normal Windows OS that only allows essential processes that are very unlikely to trigger another BSOD, giving you space to troubleshoot the problem.

To reboot in Safe Mode, turn your PC back on normally, and then when you see the Windows sign-in screen, press and hold the Shift key while you select Restart from the Power icon.

After your PC reboots again, you’ll be presented with the Choose an option screen. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.

Upon restart, you'll be given a list of options. Select F5 to start your PC in Safe Mode with Networking.

4. Uninstall recently installed software

Now that you’re in Safe Mode, the first priority is to remove any recently installed software as this is very likely to be the culprit. To uninstall software in Windows, press the Windows key. Type “add or remove programs” and click Add or Remove Programs.

How to fix the blue screen of death on Windows

Fixing a blue screen of death has many different possible solutions, but conveniently there’s just one process you need to follow to find your blue screen of death to fix and resolve the issue.