How to Fix the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

What a BSOD Actually Is

A Blue Screen of Death is Windows stopping deliberately because something in kernel space failed in a way it cannot safely continue from—a bad driver, corrupt system file, or failing hardware. The alternative would be writing corrupt data to your disk, so the stop is a protective measure, not the damage itself.

The stop code on screen is the single most useful piece of information you have. Everything below assumes you have it.

Step 1: Get the Stop Code

On the blue screen, read the line beginning Stop code: — for example IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL or VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE. Photograph it. If a file name appears (nvlddmkm.sys, storahci.sys), photograph that too; it names the guilty driver directly.

Missed it? The code is recorded. Open Event Viewer → Windows Logs → System, and look for a red Error from source BugCheck. Full method: use Event Viewer to find why your PC crashed.

Make sure dumps are being written for next time: Settings → System → About → Advanced system settings → Startup and Recovery → set Write debugging information to Small memory dump (256 KB) and untick Automatically restart so you get time to read the screen.

Jump straight to your stop code

• BAD_POOL_HEADER
• BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO
• CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT
• CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED
• DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION
• DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
• INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
• IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
• KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
• KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
• KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
• MEMORY_MANAGEMENT
• NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
• PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
• PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
• SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
• SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
• UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION
• VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE
• WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

Step 2: Answer Two Questions

Before touching anything, work out which category you are in.

What changed recently? New RAM, a new GPU, a driver update, a Windows update, or new security software in the last few days is your suspect, and undoing that one change is usually the whole fix.

Is there a pattern? Crashes only while gaming point at the GPU, its drivers, or heat. Crashes only when copying large files point at storage. Crashes at random with no pattern point at RAM or the power supply.

Step 3: Boot Safe Mode If It Crashes Too Fast

If Windows will not stay up long enough to change anything, force-shutdown at the logo three times, then Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart → press 4. Full walkthrough: how to enter Safe Mode in Windows 11.

A machine that is stable in Safe Mode has a driver or startup-software problem, not failing hardware. That is a valuable result on its own.

Step 4: Deal With Drivers

1. Device Manager → look for any yellow !.
2. If a driver update preceded the crashes: Properties → Driver → Roll Back Driver.
3. For graphics specifically, install over the top leaves fragments—strip it properly with clean install GPU drivers with DDU.
4. Uninstall (do not merely disable) third-party antivirus as a test. Its kernel filter driver is a common cause of stop codes that appear to have nothing to do with security software.

Guidance: update outdated drivers.

Step 5: Repair System Files

In Terminal (Admin):

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

Run DISM first, then SFC, then restart. Details: repair Windows 11 with SFC and DISM.

Step 6: Test the Memory

Faulty RAM produces varied, apparently random stop codes—which is exactly why people chase software fixes for weeks.

1. Win + R → mdsched.exe → Restart now and check for problems.
2. For anything intermittent, use MemTest86 from a USB stick and run at least four full passes. Windows' own tool misses faults that MemTest86 finds in the second hour.
3. If you have multiple sticks, test one at a time to identify the bad module.
4. If you run XMP/EXPO memory profiles, disable them and test at stock speed—unstable memory overclocking is one of the most common causes of "random" blue screens on enthusiast systems.

Step 7: Test Storage and Heat

chkdsk C: /f /r

Then check SMART data: check SSD or hard drive health.

For crashes under load only, watch temperatures with HWiNFO while gaming. Sustained CPU temperatures at the thermal limit, or a GPU above 90 °C, cause instability—see fix CPU overheating and thermal throttling.

Step 8: Find the Driver With Driver Verifier (Advanced)

Only when you have exhausted the above, and only with a restore point ready.

verifier

Choose Create standard settings → Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer, and restart. Verifier deliberately crashes the system on the first driver that misbehaves, naming it in the dump.

Important: this can make the PC unbootable, and you must know how to turn it off from Safe Mode:

verifier /reset

What Not to Do

• Don't run registry cleaners or "BSOD repair" utilities. They fix nothing here and have caused this class of problem themselves.
• Don't reinstall Windows first. If the cause is bad RAM or a dying drive, you will be back within days having lost your installed software.
• Don't ignore a single crash. Note the code, and if it recurs you already have the pattern.

Still Crashing?

• Black screen instead of blue? Different guide: black screen on boot.
• Persistent crashes after clean RAM and disk tests point at the motherboard or the power supply—a failing PSU under load is a classic and hard-to-diagnose cause.
• Last resort that keeps your files: reinstall Windows without losing data.