History UsefulNotes / BlueScreenOfDeath

A Blue Screen of Death ([="BSoD"=] for short), officially known as a Stop Error, is a feature of the Platform/MicrosoftWindows operating system, being present from Windows NT 3.1 all the way to Windows 10 and later[[note]]Windows 11 initially changed it to black, but a later update changed it back to the usual blue[[/note]] and having precursors as far back as the beta version of Windows 1.0. When the system crashes, it puts up a plain blue screen with some text on it which might help the user diagnose the problem, or at least give them something to quote down the phone to tech support. Website/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death full details.]] Windows 10 added a QR code to the screen, which leads the user to a page on the Microsoft Support website about their specific problem so they can quickly research the issue, if they scan it while the screen is still up.

A Blue Screen of Death ([="BSoD"=] for short), officially known as a Stop Error, is a feature of the UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows operating system, being present from Windows NT 3.1 all the way to Windows 10 and later[[note]]Windows 11 initially changed it to black, but a later update changed it back to the usual blue[[/note]] and having precursors as far back as the beta version of Windows 1.0. When the system crashes, it puts up a plain blue screen with some text on it which might help the user diagnose the problem, or at least give them something to quote down the phone to tech support. Website/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death full details.]] Windows 10 added a QR code to the screen, which leads the user to a page on the Microsoft Support website about their specific problem so they can quickly research the issue, if they scan it while the screen is still up.

Aside from Windows, lots of other operating systems and electronics have specific ways of conveying a fatal system error; for example, on UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} and Unix-like systems, they're called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic kernel panics]], while old UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} systems had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation Guru Meditations]]. In any case, perhaps due to the prevalence of the [=BSoD=] name, if a computer or system has a fatal system error state, it's usually known as a "[something something] of Death". (For example, see the "Red Ring of Death", as seen in the tropes HeroicRROD and VillainousRROD. Named after a warning message on the Platform/XBox360, it's the physical equivalent of the BSOD's mental/emotional overload.)

* ''VideoGame/CMCPlus'': [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 10's]] Final Smash is the [=BSoD=]; it's at first heralded by multiple (joke) error pop-ups to trap any nearby foe, then the [[SuddenSoundtrackStop music suddenly stops]] as the blue screen flashes to obscure the battlefield and the fighters, [[OverlyLongGag staying on said screen for a while]] until the caught enemies are suddenly damaged and launched away as the blue screen vanishes.

* A SanityMeter effect in ''VideoGame/EternalDarknessSanitysRequiem'' is to toss up a [=BSoD=]. The game is exclusive to the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, by the way.

Aside from Windows, lots of other operating systems and electronics have specific ways of conveying a fatal system error; for example, on UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} and Unix-like systems, they're called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic kernel panics]], while old UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} systems had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation Guru Meditations]]. In any case, perhaps due to the prevalence of the [=BSoD=] name, if a computer or system has a fatal system error state, it's usually known as a "[something something] of Death". (For example, the "Red Ring of Death", as seen in the tropes HeroicRROD and VillainousRROD. Named after a warning message on the Platform/XBox360, it's the physical equivalent of the BSOD's mental/emotional overload.)

Aside from Windows, lots of other operating systems and electronics have specific ways of conveying a fatal system error; for example, on UsefulNotes/{{Unix}} and Unix-like systems, they're called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic kernel panics]], while old UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} systems had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation Guru Meditations]]. In any case, perhaps due to the prevalence of the [=BSoD=] name, if a computer or system has a fatal system error state, it's usually known as a "[something something] of Death".

* WebAnimation/HololiveERROR: At one point in Chapter 9 of the animated web series, a blue screen briefly flashes by. Instead of having the typical blue screen text, it lists off a bunch of hexadecimal color codes that [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Hololive/comments/u5cni6/hololive_error_episode_9_blue_screen_codes_decoded/ correspond to the color palettes]] of the {{UsefulNotes/VirtualYouTuber}}s who voice acted throughout the series.

* In ''VideoGame/FireWarrior,'' the ''Emperor'' class battleship's gun's machine-spirit is revealed to be the Windows 95 operating system, as every screen you find on the ship's gundeck is displaying its Stop Error message.

* In ''VideoGame/FireWarrior,'' the ''Emperor'' class battleship's guns machine-spirits is revealed to be the Windows 95 operating system, as every screen you find on the ship's gun-deck is displaying its Stop Error message.

* A SanityMeter effect in ''VideoGame/EternalDarknessSanitysRequiem'' is to toss up a [=BSod=]. The game is exclusive to the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, by the way.

* In ''VideoGame/FireWarrior,'' the ''Emperor'' class battleship's machine-spirit is revealed to be the Windows 95 operating system, as every screen you find on the ship is displaying its Stop Error message.

* The ending of ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation III'' has The Dark Lord and The Chosen One induce a cataclysmic event in the Animator's computer, causing it to crash, fry the motherboard and display the Blue Screen, rendering the computer destroyed.

* [[https://youtu.be/JpkUcDV_T8Y A Protegent Antivirus ad]] has a "Proto's Main/IdenticalStranger" using a computer, then a image of a [=BSoD=] appears with a video editing transition effect instead of the screen suddenly going black and then, the Blue Screen appears, also, there's even a yellow "WARNING" text over the [=BSoD=] image.

* ''VideoGame/CMCPlus'': [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 10's]] Final Smash is the [=BSoD=]; at first heralded by multiple (joke) error pop-ups to trap any nearby foe, then the [[SuddenSoundtrackStop music suddenly stops]] as the blue screen flashes to obscure the battlefield and the fighters, [[OverlyLongGag staying on said screen for a while]] until the caught enemies are suddenly damage and launched away as the blue screen vanishes.

* The ending of ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation III'' has The Dark Lord and The Chosen One cause a cataclysmic event in the Animator's computer, causing it to crash, fry the motherboard and display the Blue Screen, rendering his computer destroyed.

The term has thus become a FanNickname for stop errors generally. Stop errors are only supposed to appear very rarely, but in older versions of Windows[[note]]Prior to Windows XP[[/note]] they were common enough that most regular users came to know of the Blue Screen’s existence. [[AscendedMeme Microsoft themselves have used this term on and off]]. Its most spectacular appearances have been at demonstrations of Windows-based systems (including one where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW7Rqwwth84 Bill Gates himself gets to witness it]]), or worse, on large-scale public display systems that were running on Windows machines (including at [[https://rivercoolcool.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/blue-screen-of-death-on-the-opening-ceremony-of-beijing-2008-olympic-games/ the Beijing Olympics in 2008]]); [[https://www.oddee.com/item_97838.aspx collections of images of such events can be found online.]]

The term has thus become a FanNickname for stop errors generally. Stop errors are only supposed to appear very rarely, but in older versions of Windows[[note]]Prior to Windows XP[[/note]] they were common enough that most regular users came to know of the Blue Screen’s existence. [[AscendedMeme Microsoft themselves have used this term on and off]]. Its most spectacular appearances have been at demonstrations of Windows-based systems, or worse, on large-scale public display systems that were running on Windows machines (including at [[https://rivercoolcool.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/blue-screen-of-death-on-the-opening-ceremony-of-beijing-2008-olympic-games/ the Beijing Olympics in 2008]]); [[https://www.oddee.com/item_97838.aspx collections of images of such events can be found online.]]

Incidentally, if you want to blue screen your computer ''intentionally'', there is an official -- but unsurprisingly obscure -- method of doing so. [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/forcing-a-system-crash-from-the-keyboard It involves editing the Windows registry]] to enable a "[=CrashOnCtrlScroll=]" function, then holding right Ctrl and pressing the Scroll Lock key twice.

The term has thus become a FanNickname for stop errors generally. Stop errors are only supposed to appear very rarely, but in older versions of Windows[[note]]Prior to Windows XP[[/note]] they were common enough that most regular users came to know of the Blue Screen’s existence. [[AscendedMeme Microsoft themselves have used this term on and off]]. Its most spectacular appearances have been at demonstrations of Windows-based systems, or worse, on large-scale public display systems that were running on Windows machines (including at the Beijing Olympics in 2008); [[https://www.oddee.com/item_97838.aspx collections of images of such events can be found online.]]

The term has thus become a FanNickname for stop errors generally. Stop errors are only supposed to appear very rarely, but in older versions of Windows[[note]]Prior to Windows XP[[/note]] they were common enough that most regular users came to know of the Blue Screen’s existence. [[AscendedMeme Microsoft themselves have used this term on and off]].

A Blue Screen of Death ([="BSoD"=] for short), officially known as a Stop Error, is a feature of the UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows operating system, being present from Windows NT 3.1 all the way to Windows 10 and later[[note]]Windows 11 initially changed it to black, but a later update changed it back to the usual blue[[/note]] and having precursors as far back as the beta version of Windows 1.0. When the system crashes, it puts up a plain blue screen with some text on it which might help the user diagnose the problem, or at least give them something to quote down the phone to tech support. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death full details.]] Windows 10 added a QR code to the screen, which leads the user to a page on the Microsoft Support website about their specific problem so they can quickly research the issue, if they scan it while the screen is still up.

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