I got a blue screen of death - is my computer dying?

[firaplays]

I got my first blue screen on this laptop :/ The thing is only a little over a year old, which I hear is really bad for a first blue screen. Is my hard drive failing or something or do these things just happen sometimes? I tend to panic when stuff goes wrong with my computer ><

[Steve]

Is your laptop running Windows 7? If so, a way you can determine what's causing it is by disabling the feature that automatically restarts your computer every time it happens (meaning you'll have to manually restart it after) so that you can write down the error message.

 

For Win7:

• Open Control Panel
• Go to Systems and Security
• Click on Systems
• Click Advanced System Settings
• Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings
• Uncheck the box that says Automatically Restart under System Failure
• Click OK on the first and second windows

I'm not very familiar with Windows 8/10, so it may be a little different. 

 

Machines new and old are bound to have crashes from time to time, so don't sweat it unless it happens frequently. If it does happen, jot down the error message (most times all you need from the actual screen is the line starting with *** STOP:  and then google it to find a solution. 

[firaplays]

Oh, I should have mentioned that. It's running Windows 10. I also ran a virus scan and a memory test, and both of those came out fine.

 

And I'm not really interested in turning the blue screens off, they give me error codes if they happen. I'd rather make sure the errors themselves don't happen. So far I haven't had another one though, so maybe it was just a fluke.

[missmadiemay]

I believe issues with your display driver can also cause this error.

[Steve]

What I suggested doesn't turn the blue screens off, it turns the automatic restart off that immediately happens so that you can get a good look at the error message. If it does happen again the error message will be near the last line, so make sure to write down or memorize what it says whenever you need to find a fix.

[firaplays]

Oh, ok. Shows you how much I understand about computers^^' I guess I'll just have to see if it happens again.

[life_eclectic]

When this has happened to me I restart the computer then do the disk cleanup. I keep up with that as the computer is more likely to be slow or have problems when it hasn't been cleaned up for a while (not saying that was your issue, just one of my considerations). I don't think it's ever been a major problem and I hope the same for you.

[heartybfast]

I would suggest taking a picture with your phone to show the screen / error message or anything written there when the BSOD happened :) Then from there, you can start googling the message or asking others who understand it. But I hope it won't happen again!