How to fix the Windows blue screen errors

Before fixing a Microsoft Windows blue screen or blue screen of death error (BSoD), you must first identify what error it is, as there are multiple types of blue screen errors.

Tip: If you are experiencing a completely blue or light blue screen with no text or error message, your computer may have a bad video card or monitor, resulting in only seeing a blue screen. If possible, attempt to check if your video card is bad or determine if the monitor is bad.

Note: If you are getting a blue screen and then your computer immediately reboots without being able to read the text in the blue screen, follow the steps below. If you are unable to get into Windows to perform the steps below, boot the computer intoSafe Mode. If you are unable to boot into Safe Mode, you may have corrupt Windows system files, a defective memory chip or a defective hard drive. You should run hardware diagnostic tests to determine if the memory or hard drive is causing the blue screen errors.

1.      From the Desktop or in the Windows Start menu, right-click on My Computer orComputer.

2.      Click the Properties option.

3.      In the System Properties window, click the Advanced tab or the Advanced system settings link.

4.      On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup and Recoverysection.

5.      In the Startup and Recovery window, uncheck the Automatically restart check box.

6.      Click OK.

Blue screen errors

Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, and later versions of Windows have a blue screen error that is similar to the example shown below. These error messages often contain more detailed information and will contain information that can be searched for and found. If you're not getting a blue screen error that looks like the example below, skip to the next Fatal exception section.

Note: If you are getting a solid blue screen with no white text, you are not encountering a BSoD. It's likely a problem with your video card, monitor, or other hardware. Follow the no display on monitor troubleshooting steps to diagnose this problem.

1.      Identify the blue screen by locating a line containing all capital letters withunderscores instead of spaces, such as the above example, BAD_POOL_HEADER. Write this information down. If you do not see anything written in all caps with underscores like this, skip this step.

2.      Get either the STOP: error message at the top of the error, or in the "Technical Information:" portion of the error. For example, in the above error, it is STOP: 0x00000019 ... write the first portion of this error message down.

3.      Finally, if technical information is shown, write down the file and the address.

Once you have the above information, you can start troubleshooting the issue. Below are common blue screen errors and links to pages that contain the troubleshooting steps for some of these errors.

Note: If your error is not listed in the below section, search for the error you wrote down.

BAD_POOL_HEADER
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH
THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER
UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR

Many of the blue screen error messages you'll encounter with earlier versions of Windows will be fatal exception error messages or Fatal 0E messages. If your blue screen message starts out with A fatal exception 0E ... or An exception ..., you are encountering this error. For these blue screen errors, follow thefatal exception error troubleshooting steps.