Why does my computer blue screen?

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Summary: While there are many reasons your computer could blue screen, there are some things you can look into to help determine the cause.

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Unfortunately with only that to go on, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of possible answers. To really diagnose, we'd need a lot more information about the system it's happening on, the software and hardware installed, and what was happening at the time the problem happened.

I'll throw out some guidelines, so perhaps you can narrow down the diagnosis.

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1. New Hardware - while the hardware can sometimes be bad, the real culprit is typically outdated, or just buggy, drivers. If you've just installed new hardware then it's likely to be related to the problem. Make sure you're running the latest drivers for that device that you can, and check with the manufacturer's support site for specific information. Conversely, if you've just updated drivers, that would also be something to be suspicious of.

2. New Software - it's rare these days, but occasionally software can cause this as well. If you've just installed new software then I'd be very tempted to uninstall it and see if the problem goes away. I'd also make sure that your Windows is as up-to-date as possible by visiting Windows Update.

3. Viruses and Malware - Since they're written specifically to cause damage, this is occasionally the result. Make sure your virus and spyware scanning software is up to date with the latest databases and scan regularly.

4. Old or Broken Hardware - If you're positive nothing's changed and you've been using your system like always and these problems just started happening without any real cause, then you do need to consider that you're experiencing a hardware malfunction. One of the most common is a stuck or broken power supply fan which is now allowing your computer to overheat. However, everything from memory to your add-on cards to the motherboard itself could all cause issues here. It may be time for some hardware diagnostic work.

The bottom line when experiencing blue screens and reporting the problem to anyone is to include enough information to at least narrow down the problem. Items to include:

• operating system version and how up to date you are

• your computer model and what additional hardware is installed

• what software is running at the time of the crash

• what you were attempting to do, if anything, at the time

• if the problem happens randomly, or if you can make it reoccur somehow

• any changes you made to your hardware or software recently

• any other problems or suspicious issues you've been experiencing recently

Article C2128 - July 17, 2004

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