admin_hub

sysop@hub:~/tools/stop-code-lookup$

stop-code-lookup

Type the code from the blue screen, as 0x0000007E, 0x7E or by name. You get what it means in plain words, what usually causes it and what to try first. The list covers the stop codes that make up nearly all blue screens in practice.

Five rules for every blue screen
  1. Write down two things: the stop code, and the file name after "What failed" if there is one. Take a photo.
  2. Ask what changed: a driver, an update, new hardware, a new program. Undo that first.
  3. Once is an accident. A single blue screen in a year needs no action. The same code twice in a week does.
  4. Read the record afterwards: Reliability Monitor (perfmon /rel) shows it on a timeline. The dump files are in C:\Windows\Minidump, and WinDbg with !analyze -v names the driver.
  5. Hardware first when codes change every time. Different stop codes at random point to memory, heat or power, not to one driver.
Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='System'; Id=1001; ProviderName='Microsoft-Windows-WER-SystemErrorReporting'} -MaxEvents 10 | Format-List TimeCreated, Message

The causes are the usual ones, not the only ones. Commands that repair the boot configuration or the file system change the disk: with a disk that may be failing, save the data first. Related: the Windows PC is slow, Windows troubleshooting cheat sheet, event ID reference, the 20 helpdesk tickets.