Oct 31, 2009

How to Analyse a BSOD Error After a Crash [GUIDE]

    Its the Most Familiar thing a Normal Windows User encounters , so familiar that its a part of his/her daily life , all thanks to Microsoft for their Incredible OS , this is the Screen with a Purpose , to make the user Tear there hair . Jokes apart , this is really an issue if you encounter this. But after encounter how do you make sure its not coming back ? How to counter Attack or Defend your PC from such a Crash ?

Well in this very Guide we are going to Learn the very same thing about how to Prevent such BSOD after analyzing it , so we can be ready next time .

For Intro Some FAQs

Q: What is BSOD ?
A : The Blue Screen of Death (also known as a stop error, BSoD, bluescreen, or Blue Screen of Doom) is a colloquialism used for the error screen displayed by some operating systems, most notably Microsoft Windows, after encountering a critical system error which can cause the system to shut down to prevent damage. [As Per Wikipedia]

Q: What causes it ?
A : Bluescreens on NT-based Windows systems are usually caused by poorly-written device drivers or malfunctioning hardware. They can also be caused by physical faults such as faulty memory, power supplies, overheating of computer components, or hardware running beyond its specification limits. [As Per Wikipedia]

The BSOD

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After a Certain Crash , the above Screen appears , Known as BSOD.

But its sort of confusing to understand it with all the text and codes written above . Ok we will simplify it for you. Here are some Specific Parts which are important for us to understand about the error.

Areas / Parts of BSOD

Bug / Error Name

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This is a Most important Area out of all messages at BSOD , which helps us to know about the Error More , It sorts down the error to specific parts to help us out , But in most cases we require more information that that.You have to Note it down somewhere and we will come , This Information is present in Capital Letters with underscores in place of Spaces.

BSOD Resolving Tip / Suggestion

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This Part gives you a hint on how to Resolves / Solve the BSOD from occurring again , this text is most of the time the same and doesn't change much , as it states the causes and solution of Most reason behind the Occurrence of BSOD , which are Software Error , Hardware Conflict , Physical Incompatibility etc.

STOP / Bug Check Codes

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Second most Important Detail we need to note down , This helps the issue to further minutely sort down the error . This Codes are present In Hex Code , and the Data in the bracket further details the issue out .

Memory Dumping Process.

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This is the process , is known as Memory Dumping , quite simply Explained , what it does , is that it Saves the exact mirror images of what was in the System Memory , when the crash happened , and this dump is stored locally in as a file , It helps to understand the causes better , as it explains what exactly was going on when the crash occurred.


The Memory Dump (If any) can be found under "C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\" Assumes C is your System Drive. The files will be with a *.dmp format.

What you Need to Note ?

Well To help in analysis , you have to note down two things

  • Bug / Error Name
  • Stop / Bug Check Code

Many Users have Issue regarding noting the Information down , as The Moment the BSOD occurs , the system restarts Automatically. So how to Prevent Restarts in Case of BSODs ? So user can note the Above information down ?

Here is how.

Start -> Right Click on "My Computer" -> Properties -> Go to "Advanced" Tab -> Under "Startup and Recovery" click "Settings" [See Below]

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Under "System Failure" find "Automatic Restart" and UnCheck It. -> Ok -> Ok

You are done , now your system won't restart in Case of BSOD , that is you have to manually press Reset Button to Restart your PC.

Analysis !

Now the main part , how to analyze the BSOD causes ?

As explained in the Above Paragraph , you will be needing the Stop Code + Error Name and Note it down. Plus if Memory is Dumped then we can analyze that also , it will be described in following paragraph.

Sample you need to note was .
  • Error Name : YOUR_ERROR_NAME_GOES_HERE
  • Stop Code : 0x00000000

Following are the BSOD STOP Codes with Error Names

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More Details about the Causes and Description can be found at MSDN.

Now Analyzing BSOD Using Memory Dumps.

Two Software Can be used for the Purpose of analysis .
Now Both can be used for analysis , but using Who Crashed is far more easier for general users. So i am going to use this .

Now when Memory Dump is Created , it get saved here  "C:\WINDOWS\Minidump" , and Who Crashed Looks for the Dump file here and use it for analysis.


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Now you can easily understand the reason for it.So this is how you can easily Analyze a STOP Code / Error Name as Well As Memory Dumps.





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