I've always wondered why one of the first fixes suggested with system
problems is to upgrade video drivers. Maybe not so much the case these days
it seems, but that used to be one of the first items to try. I guess there
is enough system still functional after a crash to allow a signal to reach
the monitor.

Then also there are software crashes and hardware crashes. I assume that the
black screen you see with Morrowind is a software related crash. Now is it
before a windows crash or after? That may be a question. That is what makes
XP the better OS than the 9X versions, many software related crashes don't
bring down the whole system. Yes, with a blue screen it isn't recoverable
w/o a reboot, but you have information there, as cryptic as it is, that can
be used to help determine the cause.
As an aside the wind really is blowing in Morro, Bay that is... nice Pacific
storm.

Heck, anymore I just reboot if need be and move on.

Brad

-----Original Message-----

Thanks, Brad.  That is very interesting.  Since the change is made to some
Windows files, this suggests
that even though the system "crashes," it is still a controlled crash.
Windows is good enough to print a
blue screen, but not good enough to recover gracefully.

This explains that the black screen of death (in Morrowind after I upgraded
to SP2), the Windows was out
or control but somehow a black screen got through.

I suppose that when the screen freezes, then Windows is out of the loop.

These still indicate that blue screen, black screen, or freeze, the video
card is still plugging away, I
would guess. (?)  I am not sure that this is good enough to eliminate the
video card from contention,
but it would lessen the probability that the video card was at fault in a
crash situation.

Dean

----- Original Message -----
From: Brad Loomis
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Why is it a BLUE screen of death?


I can't answer much of this other than to say that the blue is actually
changeable. See, http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=653343
This will give you a nice green screen of death. The bottom of the page
explains the color choices. As to the cause I can't answer any of that.

Brad Loomis
San Miguel, CA


-----Original Message-----
I was reading Peter's question about a possible failing video card, and it
got me wondering:  Why is it a
**blue** screen of death when your computer crashes?

I have had black screens - that makes sense.  (SP2 caused them.)

But why Blue?  It seems that if the computer crashes, then garbage should be
going to the video card and
GIGO!

Do video cards put out a blue screen by default when the input directions
make no sense?  Then, a blue
screen would seem to make the video card less of a likely culprit when there
is a system crash, as it is
doing what it is supposed to be doing.

Dean Kukral

        The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website,
           web based bulletinboard for questions and answers:
              Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com