In computing, a screen of death, colloquially referred to as a blue screen of death (named after the infamous screen of death in
Microsoft Windows), is an informal term for a type of a computer
operating systemerror message displayed onscreen when the system has experienced a
fatal system error. The fatal error typically results in unsaved work being lost and often indicates serious problems with the system's hardware or software. These error screens are usually the result of a
kernel panic, although the terms are frequently used interchangeably. Most screens of death are displayed on an even background color with a message advising the user to restart the computer.
Notable screens of death
The Blue Screen of Death (also called BSoD, or stop error) is a common name for a screen displayed by the
Microsoft Windows operating system when a critical system error occurs. By far, this is the most famous screen of death.
A Green Screen of Death is a green screen that appears on a
TiVo with a message that includes the words "the DVR has detected a serious problem and is now attempting to fix it" or "A severe error has occurred". Its appearance often means that the hard drive is corrupted and it will attempt to clean up, check, and/or repair the
TiVo Media File System.[2][3] A Blue Screen of Death on a
Windows Insider build appears as green instead of blue, starting with build 14997.[4] A Green Screen of Death also appears on the Xbox One and PlayStation 5.
The Purple Screen of Death is used by
VMware ESXi, a server virtualization product by
VMware It is displayed in the event of a fatal kernel error. The screen provides error codes that can be used for debugging purposes.
The Red Screen of Death is used primarily by four different systems: One appears in early beta versions of
Windows Vista, but it later became a black screen. Another was in
Windows 98 beta builds and was caused by an error with the
ACPI. It also appears on the
Atari Jaguar if there is a loading cartridge error or a pirated cartridge is detected, marked by the roar of a
jaguar and a red Atari Jaguar logo on a screen that changes color from black to red. A similar thing happens on the
Sega Genesis (also known as Sega Mega Drive) if an incorrect
checksum is detected.[5] Lastly, it's shown on PlayStations 2-4. The PlayStation 2, known simply as the Red Screen of Death. It bears similarities to the regular PlayStation 2 startup; such as the pitched-down menu screen audio and its subsequent ambient noises, alongside a faint whistle. After startup, a red screen will appear with a message saying "Please insert a
PlayStation or PlayStation 2 format disc". This error can be obtained by inserting a non-compatible disk, e.g. a
PC game disc or later
Xbox 360 discs. The
PlayStation 3 and
PlayStation 4 Red screen of death appear during a severe error in the console's internals, In multiple languages saying 'A serious error has occurred. Contact technical support for assistance."
A White Screen of Death appears on several other operating systems,
content management systems,[6] and on some
BIOS. It can be seen on
iOS 7, and also when a white
iPhone 5 or later or a white 5th generation
iPod Touch screen freezes. Everything on the screen but the back Apple logo turns white.[7]
A kernel panic is the
Unix equivalent of
Microsoft's Blue Screen of Death. It is a routine called when the kernel detects irrecoverable errors in runtime correctness; in other words, when continuing the operation may risk escalating system instability, and a system reboot is easier than attempted recovery.
A Sad Mac is a symbol used by older-generation Apple Macintosh computers, starting with the original
Macintosh 128K, to indicate a severe hardware or software problem that prevented startup from occurring successfully. A
similar symbol exists for the
iPod.
A Sad Tab is an icon featuring a frowning folder displayed on a
tab in
Google Chrome when that tab crashes. The symbol shares the face of the Sad Mac.
The Bomb icon is a
symbol that was displayed when a
classic Mac OS program
crashed. The bomb symbols were also used by the
Atari ST line of computers when the system encountered a
fatal system error. The number of bombs indicated the exact cause of the error.
Guru Meditation is the name of the error that occurred on early versions of the
Amiga computers when they
crashed. It was also used on the
Nintendo DS, most commonly seen when using
homebrew. (The top screen was black, and the bottom screen was red with white debug font saying "Guru Meditation Error! data abort! [sic]" with some hex addresses below it.)
In computing, a screen of death, colloquially referred to as a blue screen of death (named after the infamous screen of death in
Microsoft Windows), is an informal term for a type of a computer
operating systemerror message displayed onscreen when the system has experienced a
fatal system error. The fatal error typically results in unsaved work being lost and often indicates serious problems with the system's hardware or software. These error screens are usually the result of a
kernel panic, although the terms are frequently used interchangeably. Most screens of death are displayed on an even background color with a message advising the user to restart the computer.
Notable screens of death
The Blue Screen of Death (also called BSoD, or stop error) is a common name for a screen displayed by the
Microsoft Windows operating system when a critical system error occurs. By far, this is the most famous screen of death.
A Green Screen of Death is a green screen that appears on a
TiVo with a message that includes the words "the DVR has detected a serious problem and is now attempting to fix it" or "A severe error has occurred". Its appearance often means that the hard drive is corrupted and it will attempt to clean up, check, and/or repair the
TiVo Media File System.[2][3] A Blue Screen of Death on a
Windows Insider build appears as green instead of blue, starting with build 14997.[4] A Green Screen of Death also appears on the Xbox One and PlayStation 5.
The Purple Screen of Death is used by
VMware ESXi, a server virtualization product by
VMware It is displayed in the event of a fatal kernel error. The screen provides error codes that can be used for debugging purposes.
The Red Screen of Death is used primarily by four different systems: One appears in early beta versions of
Windows Vista, but it later became a black screen. Another was in
Windows 98 beta builds and was caused by an error with the
ACPI. It also appears on the
Atari Jaguar if there is a loading cartridge error or a pirated cartridge is detected, marked by the roar of a
jaguar and a red Atari Jaguar logo on a screen that changes color from black to red. A similar thing happens on the
Sega Genesis (also known as Sega Mega Drive) if an incorrect
checksum is detected.[5] Lastly, it's shown on PlayStations 2-4. The PlayStation 2, known simply as the Red Screen of Death. It bears similarities to the regular PlayStation 2 startup; such as the pitched-down menu screen audio and its subsequent ambient noises, alongside a faint whistle. After startup, a red screen will appear with a message saying "Please insert a
PlayStation or PlayStation 2 format disc". This error can be obtained by inserting a non-compatible disk, e.g. a
PC game disc or later
Xbox 360 discs. The
PlayStation 3 and
PlayStation 4 Red screen of death appear during a severe error in the console's internals, In multiple languages saying 'A serious error has occurred. Contact technical support for assistance."
A White Screen of Death appears on several other operating systems,
content management systems,[6] and on some
BIOS. It can be seen on
iOS 7, and also when a white
iPhone 5 or later or a white 5th generation
iPod Touch screen freezes. Everything on the screen but the back Apple logo turns white.[7]
A kernel panic is the
Unix equivalent of
Microsoft's Blue Screen of Death. It is a routine called when the kernel detects irrecoverable errors in runtime correctness; in other words, when continuing the operation may risk escalating system instability, and a system reboot is easier than attempted recovery.
A Sad Mac is a symbol used by older-generation Apple Macintosh computers, starting with the original
Macintosh 128K, to indicate a severe hardware or software problem that prevented startup from occurring successfully. A
similar symbol exists for the
iPod.
A Sad Tab is an icon featuring a frowning folder displayed on a
tab in
Google Chrome when that tab crashes. The symbol shares the face of the Sad Mac.
The Bomb icon is a
symbol that was displayed when a
classic Mac OS program
crashed. The bomb symbols were also used by the
Atari ST line of computers when the system encountered a
fatal system error. The number of bombs indicated the exact cause of the error.
Guru Meditation is the name of the error that occurred on early versions of the
Amiga computers when they
crashed. It was also used on the
Nintendo DS, most commonly seen when using
homebrew. (The top screen was black, and the bottom screen was red with white debug font saying "Guru Meditation Error! data abort! [sic]" with some hex addresses below it.)