Anatomy of a BSOD and how to fix it.

[Faram]

Thought I would share this information on how to get some information out of a Blue Screen Of Death BSOD for short.

First of make sure that you log the crash, to do this follow these simple steps.

1. Right Click on my computer and choose properties.
2. Click on the advanced tab
3. Under startup and recovery choose Settings
4. Chose small memory dump and make a note of where it will be saved, usually c:\windows\Minidump\
5. Download and install Microsoft debugging tool, Microsoft.com
6. Start windbg choose “file/open crash dump” navigate to the memory dump file.
7. Here you might a indication of what is wrong, in my case the driver ar5211.sys

Code: Select all

 Probably caused by : ar5211.sys ( ar5211+16940 )

8. For more information about the crash type “!analyze –v”

In my case the ar5211.sys file is the driver for a wireless network card, I changed the driver and no more problem.

But if you get inconsistent error and different drivers all the time, it is likely that the memory is at fault.

Attaching a small dump file here to try this out on.

Linky to a small dump file here, use save as.

Or if this is a hassle for you use this site.

oca.microsoft.com