Boot issues and blue screen of death errors, are oh so common nowadays, and when they occur, they can result in partial or total loss of all the things you were working on. The most annoying thing about it, is that people rarely ever know why it occurs in the first places.
Windows wasn’t designed to repeatedly crash on you. Windows operating systems are stable for the great majority of people, so if your system is constantly crashing, you can bet there is a valid reason. So let’s look at the 7 most likely reasons why your system is crashing.
1. Faulty RAM or Motherboard
When it comes to blue screen of death (BSOD) errors, a large amount of them occur because of issues with either the motherboard or memory modules. Fatal errors are usually the end result, which means the system was unable to retrieve data stored in the memory.
There are tools that you can use to test your memory, such as Memtest86, and when it comes to the motherboard, there are diagnostic tools, such as those that likely came with the motherboard, that you can use. Another method that you can use to test, is to simply put in new working memory, then check whether or not the issue goes away. If the issue persists, then you know the problem is likely due to the motherboard.
2. BIOS Settings
Your motherboard has a number of settings which can be tinkered with in the BIOS. These settings can be accessed and changed, to meet whatever needs you have. Simply press the F2 or Del key at boot up, and you should be given the option to enter it. Once you enter the BIOS, you should be very careful not to change a setting you are unfamiliar with. It’s best practice to write down the different settings onto a piece of paper. That way, you’ll know what the settings where, prior to any change you make, and can thus quickly put things back, in the event that your changes make the system more unstable.
3. Hardware Conflicts
If your operating system is receiving conflicting information, from two different hardware components, it can result in a system crash. This is what’s called a hardware conflict. In most cases, it won’t cause any permanent damage to the components itself, but it is a major culprit for system freezing and blue screen of death errors.
To find out whether there are any conflicting hardware components inside your computer, you can open up Device Manager. If there are any conflicts, they will appear there, marked with a Yellow exclamation icon. You can then enter the properties applet of that component and evaluate what it’s conflicting with, and what you can do to fix it.
4. Corrupt Registry
The Windows registry, for the majority of the time, is a very stable part of the operating system. Despite that, there are still problems that occur every now and then. A corrupt registry is capable of causing a great many issues, such as random crashing, boot-up issues and system freezing.
There are repair tools that you can use to fix this area of the computer. However, before you use any of these tools, its best that you boot into Safe Mode.
5. Incorrect or Corrupt Drivers
The drivers are there to tell the operating system how to use a hardware component. If the drivers for a device are missing or corrupt, it can cause the system to crash.
These types of crashes are usually accompanied with an error message. Sometimes these error messages will be easy to interpret, outlining the exact cause. In other situations, all you’ll have to work with, is an error code. If you find yourself in that position, then I recommend you Google that error code.
Once you have been able to successfully identify the problematic driver, you can then go online to find a replacement. If that doesn’t fix the problem, then you may want to try a full reinstallation, which entails before removing the hardware and its software, then installing it back.
6. Overheating
If your system overheats, it could physically damage the components. As a safety precaution, the system is designed to shut itself down if it reaches a temperature threshold, this in turn, will result in an error or crash.
If you hear a series of beeps, just before the computer shuts down, that means the problem is with the processor, and that it’s overheating. You should then, check that the heatsink and fan, attached to it, are all in working order. You’ll want to ensure that the fan is still working, still spinning, and cooling everything down.
7. Viruses Attack
A virus that infiltrates your system, can cause a fair amount of damage. It can remove drivers, corrupt files, alter system settings, delete important system files, and more. All of these actions can result in system freezing, random crashing or prevent you from accessing the computer altogether. Removing a virus entails locating the exact file that it has infected and deleting it from the system. However, this is not something that you can carry out manually, which is why it’s recommended that you run a full scan of your system, using whatever internet security system you have, and if you don’t have one, then you should find something as soon as possible.
–AUTHOR INFO—
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his own computer support website https://www.compuchenna.co.uk.
