PC Tips Tweaks and Maintenance

Causes of the Blue Screen:

BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) sounds rather scary or like hype doesn’t it? The reason it is referred to in this way is when you get the Blue Screen with its halt, error or stop information it is a serious system error in Windows with the only solution being shutdown or reboot and only cryptic information being supplied. There are many causes of the blue screen of death and it can be irritating to troubleshoot.

Faulty Device Drivers

Device drivers provide communication between the operating system, installed hardware devices and software that use the devices.

All of the connection and communications between software and hardware are through device drivers. When device drivers are not working correctly for any reason, they can fail to recognize certain commands. When this happens, an error is generated and the operating system (windows) starts a debug routine, which results in the blue screen. The operating system stops all running applications hopefully before you lose or corrupt any data you are using. The operating system can also cause a stop (Blue Screen of Death) if its kernel finds a device driver is not working correctly.

Always be sure you are using the latest genuine drivers direct from the device manufacturer. Doing so will result in less trouble overall, though on occasion manufacturers do release faulty drivers.

Corrupt System Files

The system files are the base for windows processes. When system files become corrupted the results can be simple irritations to complete disaster i.e. the BSOD. Fortunately Windows has system file protection which does help to recover the system in many cases.

Part of the system file protection is the dllcache which needs to be better understood to help avoid some problems. You may find some people erroneously telling you to delete the files in this folder. Do NOT delete any of these files unless directly instructed to by a tech, you know they have become corrupted or you are extremely tight on space and even then, make a backup of the entire folder to a CD/DVD.

If you delete these files, when Windows finds a compromised/damaged or otherwise corrupted system file it will not be able to restore the correct version. It can do this automatically or with system file checker. To do its job correctly windows needs to have the latest updates in that cache or it will ask for the Windows CD. If you have to give it the Windows CD you risk putting outdated files into your PC which will create a situation where you can and most likely will have instability and crashes.

RAM Failure

RAM is generally more resistant to failure compared to other computer components. However, they can still become damaged and faulty. Some of the causes of damage are:

- Electrostatic shock

- Power surges or bad power supplies

- Incorrect memory voltage

- Humidity

- Heavy internal dust and dirt

Occurrences of the BSOD due to Faulty RAM

When trying to install Windows you can get a Blue Screen due to faulty memory.

During regular operation of your operating system a Blue Screen can occur due to overheating.

Bad RAM can also cause random issues with many programs, like games, Photoshop and database applications – any program that is memory intensive.

CPU Issues

The over-clockers out there are not going to like this or agree, but in many cases an over-clocked CPU can and does cause a Blue Screen as well as many other random errors. This is not a procedure you should attempt; in most cases you will have problems. Many will try this anyway, in these cases do NOT over-clock more than 20% and be absolutely sure you have installed proper cooling as the heat issue is the most likely to cause problems. To keep your system stable you should NOT over-clock.

Other Hardware Issues

The failure of hardware can cause many different random errors and issues. The video card in particular seems prone to failures. You may notice strange graphical fluctuations, the BSOD and at the worst case a failure to boot. Again heat is an issue, the GPU is sensitive to heat and must be kept cool. Other causes of a BSOD are a failing network card, sound card and even hard drive.

Best Solution

As always the best thing to do is proper preventative maintenance. This includes the standard removal of temp files, update your security tools and operating system and a physical inspection and clean up of your computer. See Procedures for Physically Cleaning Your PC.