Blue screen of death and what it means

So you get the “blue screen” or “blue screen of death”…what do you do now?

If you call someone, you may get this answer, “It’s your hard drive”

Or is it…???

I’ve troubleshooted many of these errors. Sometimes simple troubleshooting is all you need to do. Sometimes it’s a bad Windows update or a software glitch that caused the blue screen to happen. Sometimes it is your hard drive. Somtimes it’s hard to tell unless you bring it in our shop.

Two calls this week in the shop proved that it was a Windows problem and we quickly resolved it by doing some magic in the shop, cost to the client? An easy $40 fix. Didn’t take much more than 30 minutes for us to repair it.

Here are a few tips for you to try yourself at home before bringing it into our shop.

• Start by turning off your computer
• Then unplug all your cords including monitor
• Let the computer sit for 20 minutes
• After 20 minutes, only plug in the power for the computer and monitor and turn it back on
• If it turns on and goes to the Windows start up screen, you may have a bad keyboard, mouse or USB external port issue
• Once it comes back on, if all seems ok…turn it back off
• Plug back in the keyboard and mouse. Turn it on again

If it blue screens, it’s more than likely your mouse or USB port (wireless mice and keyboards can also cause a blue screen). If the end of your mouse has a circular end, it’s probably not the issue. If it has a 1/2″ thin metal end, it’s a USB mouse and could be the issue. Try another mouse if you have one.

If your computer turns on fine again, then test your USB plug-ins. (camera, webcam, printer, etc) If then all seems ok, go in and back up your information/data right away.

Again….if anything at this point fails, it could be a hard drive or a software issue. I don’t always think it’s a bad drive if it blue screens. Sometimes your computer just has a bump in the road and needs to be “reset”. The troubleshooting tricks above often help figure out what may be causing the issue.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 612-865-4475 or contact us with the form below

Tags: Computer Repair St. Paul MN, Computer support St. Paul Minnesota, Saint Paul Computer repair

Category: General