{"id":535,"date":"2011-06-27T18:25:29","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T18:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/?p=535"},"modified":"2014-11-08T13:04:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-08T21:04:40","slug":"blue-screen-purple-screen-and-kernel-panics-how-to-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redwireservices.com\/blue-screen-purple-screen-and-kernel-panics-how-to-fix","title":{"rendered":"Blue Screen, Purple Screen, and Kernel Panics: How To Revive Your System"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h1>\n

Most of us have been there, one minute you are working along diligently on an important document or presentation and BAHM!\u00a0 It happens.\u00a0 You are presented with a blue screen with \u201cinformation\u201d that might as well be in Greek.\u00a0 Even worse, if you manage servers, you may notice one day that your server applications no longer work and when investigating you see the dreaded screen.\u00a0 Now not only can you not work, but now the whole office is offline!<\/p>\n

This Windows screen, also known as the \u201cBlue Screen of Death\u201d or \u201cBSOD\u201d, indicates a serious system error that could be damaging to your system and data, so the system shuts down abruptly to stop even further problems.\u00a0 While this means anything you were working on, but not saved, is lost, it is a safety mechanism to avoid as much data loss as possible.<\/p>\n

Usually the error (if you can manage to decipher it) basically says something happened that should never happen and is therefore strictly prohibited.\u00a0 You could think of a traffic cop seeing multiple cars entering the intersection contrary to his instructions\u2026 the safest thing to do is stop all<\/strong> traffic, then figure out why it happened.\u00a0 This is what Windows is doing; it doesn\u2019t know exactly what happened, but it knows it is not good.<\/p>\n

\"XP<\/a>

Image 1: Example blue screen from Windows XP<\/p><\/div>\n

Other operating systems have similar screens, such as the \u201cPurple Screen of Death\u201d on older VMware ESX systems and kernel panics on Linux.\u00a0 While all three error screens are essentially analogous, we will focus on Windows issues here.\u00a0 The same methodology will work on all systems.<\/p>\n

\"VMware<\/a>

Image 2: VMware "Purple Screen of Death"<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Linux<\/a>

Image 3: Linux Kernel Panic<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have to say that in all my years of managing servers, nothing makes me more uneasy than one of these screens.\u00a0 Hopefully this article will ease some of these fears by helping you get to the bottom of these errors.<\/p>\n

Causes<\/h1>\n

Lots of different problems can cause blue screens including file system\/application corruption, bad\/incompatible drivers, or hardware problems.\u00a0 From my experience the two most common issues are bad drivers and hardware problems.\u00a0 Here are some suggestions to narrow down the cause of your blue screen.<\/p>\n

Recent Changes<\/h2>\n

Take a deep breath, slow down, and relax.\u00a0 Then think to yourself:\u00a0 what was the last thing changed on the computer?\u00a0 Did you install a new application?\u00a0 Install the latest patches from Microsoft?\u00a0 Did you install a new video card, mouse, or other peripheral?\u00a0 Did you remove a peripheral recently?<\/p>\n

If the blue screen happened at boot time, think of changes made since the last time you rebooted your computer, the triggering change could have been made weeks or even months ago.<\/p>\n

If you have a suspect (such as a new video driver), try to undo that change.\u00a0 By pressing F8 at bootup, for example, you can often choose \u201cLast Know Good \u2026\u201d to boot without the most recent change.\u00a0 You can also try selecting Safe Mode from the F8 menu to get some minimal access to your system and perhaps remedy the issue.<\/p>\n

If you are in the boat of boot\/driver issues, this video<\/a> may help you resolve them.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object> <\/p>\n

How To Fix A Windows BSOD<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hardware<\/h2>\n

If you cannot think of changes that were made to your system, the next most likely suspect is faulty hardware. \u00a0Before you assume hardware, however, make sure your companies’ IT person has not installed something, and that Windows Automatic Updates<\/a> did not just install something without your knowledge. \u00a0If either of those is true, try the suggestions made above.<\/p>\n

In my experience on severs, hardware is almost always the issue if something has not changed recently.\u00a0 Server software these days is very reliable and the blue screen or error message is likely telling you some physical server component is going bad.<\/p>\n

The number one hardware related problem seems to be memory.\u00a0 Try running a memory scanner from a boot CD, such as Memtest86<\/a>.\u00a0 If any errors are found while running Memtest86, you\u2019ve found the culprit. \u00a0Try reseating your memory (take all the memory out, and put it back in, in different slots); sometimes memory can become loose and reseating the memory will fix this.\u00a0 If Memtest86 still shows errors, replace your memory.<\/p>\n

Other common problems include failing disk drives, failing disk\/RAID controllers, and failing power supplies.\u00a0 Each of these is harder to put your finger on, but see gather more information <\/em>below for some ideas.\u00a0 If this is a critical system and you have the resources (money), I suggest you replace the system with new or other known good hardware then repair the hardware when time is less critical (or send back to the manufacturer for a replacement).<\/p>\n

If there is a drive problem you can run CHKDSK <\/em>to try and correct disk errors (see the video above). \u00a0However, if this becomes a repeat\u00a0occurrence\u00a0you need to figure out the root cause, which is likely bad drives or bad disk controller hardware.<\/p>\n

Gather More Information<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019ve made it this far without resolution we are in for more involved work.\u00a0 The name of the game here is keeping immaculate and contemporaneous notes on each blue screen.<\/p>\n