Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Blue screen of death
open-in-new
<p>The blue screen of death (BSoD) – or blue screen error, blue screen, fatal error, bugcheck, and officially known as a stop error – is a <a href="/facts/Fatal_system_error/8fXB6FB7">critical error</a> screen displayed by many iterations of <a href="/facts/Microsoft_Windows/bwhAhuSL">Microsoft Windows</a> <a href="/facts/Operating_system/8XTuvMh2">operating systems</a>. It is used to indicate a <a href="/facts/Crash_(computing)/I8yn65yt">system crash</a>, in which the operating system reaches a critical condition where it can no longer operate safely. </p><p>The name comes from the blue colored background used predominately on the error screens found in the majority of Windows releases. Possible issues contributing to a BSoD may include hardware failures, an issue with or without a device driver, <a href="/facts/Computer_virus/IyTC1usq">viruses</a>, <a href="/facts/Malware/5ee7TLFR">malware</a>, and other factors such as intentional user action. </p>