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Technician

Blue or black screen with a “stop code”

Step 1 of 3

Take a photo of the “Stop code”

Write down the Stop code and What failed. The screen only shows for a moment.

The simulation shows Windows in English, like most laptops.

  1. Take a photo of the “Stop code”

    Write down the Stop code and What failed. The screen only shows for a moment.

  2. Open Reliability Monitor

    Click Start, type reliability, open View reliability history, then click the red cross.

    StartreliabilityView reliability history

  3. Fix it according to the cause

    A .sys file name = a driver: update or roll it back. MEMORY_MANAGEMENT = memory test. Disk errors = CHKDSK.

    See Technician fixes for a list of common codes.

From basic to technician

TechnicianTest the RAM with Windows Memory Diagnostic
TechnicianBlue or black screen with a “stop code”You are here
Technician fixes (advanced)

The simple steps didn’t help? A technician would try these next, in this order. Stop as soon as the problem is fixed. Commands marked “as administrator”: right-click Start › Terminal (Admin).

  1. Common stop codes and what they mean

    DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED: a driver, usually the one named under What failed. MEMORY_MANAGEMENT, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA: RAM or a driver; test the memory. VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE: graphics driver. CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED: damaged Windows files; run SFC/DISM. INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE: disk or storage driver (Intel RST/VMD). WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR: hardware (CPU, RAM, heat). DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION: SSD firmware or storage driver.

  2. Read past crashes from the event log

    Read-only. Each entry shows the date and the bugcheck code of a crash (for example 0x000000d1 = DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL). Several crashes with the same code point to one cause.

    Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='System'; Id=1001; ProviderName='Microsoft-Windows-WER-SystemErrorReporting'} -MaxEvents 5 | Format-List TimeCreated, Message

  3. Find the crash dump files (as administrator)

    Each crash saves a small .dmp file. A technician opens it in Microsoft’s free WinDbg (Microsoft Store) and runs !analyze -v to see the exact driver and call that crashed.

    Get-ChildItem C:\Windows\Minidump | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object Name, LastWriteTime -First 5

  4. Keep the code on screen long enough to read

    Win + R › sysdm.cpl › › Advanced › Startup and Recovery › Settings › untick Automatically restart. Next time the screen stays until you restart it yourself.

  5. Crashes in a loop: get to Safe Mode

    If Windows crashes before you can sign in, force it off at the logo 3 times to reach recovery, then Startup Settings › 4. There, uninstall the driver named in What failed, or use System Restore.

Technical details (for the curious)

What a stop code is

Windows stops on purpose when a driver or hardware does something that could damage data. The stop code names the kind of problem; “What failed” names the file that caused it, usually a driver (.sys).

Blue or black

Since 2025, Windows 11 shows this screen in black instead of blue. It contains the same things: the stop code and the file that failed.

Once vs repeatedly

Once after an update is usually nothing to worry about. Repeatedly with the same code = look up that code. A different code every time often points to RAM or other hardware.

Coming soon

Still not fixed?

In the next update you can tell us what happened, and our AI helper will suggest another way. Until then, restart the device and go through the steps once more.