My C: Drive

Tired of persistent BSOD'S hampering day to day work with your computer?.here is a simple step by step method on how to locate and purge the problem, but first for the uninitiated here is what BSOD means.

BSOD is abbreviated as Blue Screen Of Death,it is just a error message which an OS issues whenever it encounter's a problem.these errors are mainly caused due to poorly coded device drivers and malfunctioning hardware.it can also be caused by faulty memories ,power supplies and sometimes even due to over heating of certain components inside the computer.Windows OS is infamous for displaying these kind of error message's.this error causes system shutdown to prevent any further damage to the system component's.

Whenever a BSOD occurs windows automatically creates a memory dump file based on the error.these files have an extension .dmp and is located inside the folder "memory dumps" in the Windows Directory of your c drive.the created dump file has all the information which can help us to identify the cause of the error.

There is a utility to read these dump files it is called Debugging Tools For Windows.this tool allows us to read the dump files and helps us to pin point the cause of the problem.you can download it for free from the Microsoft website, don't worry there is no WGA nonsense associated with it.you can get it here . for the 64 bit version click here

Here is what you should do in order to locate the error:

Step 1: First you have to set up the mini dumps so that whenever a bsod occurs it gets created.for that right click->my computer->advanced tab->start up &recovery->settings now UN check the box where it says automatic restart under "system failure" this will allow you to note down the problem displayed on the blue screen.

after that under "write debugging information" in the drop down list box select small minidumps.you can even specify the location on where the mini dump files should be stored .this can be done under "small dump directory".

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Step 2: Download the utility here and install it wherever you want.and then run the program

Step 3: After running the program you will be presented with a window in the window under the file menu click "open crash dump" or simply press CTRL+D.it will take you directly to the memory dump folder located in windows.



Step 4: After opening the dump file inside the command line type !analyze -v and press enter.after this it will take you straight to the name of the driver which caused you the problem

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Step 5: Google about the drivers that caused the problem reinstall it and there your, problem should be solved otherwise check your hardware and RMA it if the problem persists.

This tool is really handy when it comes to find the problem that is causing the bsod ,this may not be the one stop solution that you were looking for but at least it will point you in the right direction when it comes to solving BSOD errors.