Screen of death

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 error displayed by some operating systems, such as home computers and video game consoles after encountering a critical system error, which can cause the system to shut down.

Types

Black screen of death ("an error has occurred")

They are very common in Nintendo consoles, such as the GameCube and Nintendo 3DS, etc.

Gallery

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  GameCube

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  3DS

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  Xbox

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  Wii

Red screen of death

They are also very common in the Sony consoles, from the PlayStation 1 to the PlayStation 4.

Gallery

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  PS1

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  PS2

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  PS3

Blue screen of death

They are also very common in the Windows operating systems, from Windows 3.1 to Windows 11.

Gallery

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  Windows 3.1

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  Windows 95/98/ME

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  Windows XP/Vista/7

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  Windows 8/8.1

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  Windows 10/11

Causes

A screen of death can occur many reasons, including:

1. Technical problems.
2. Damaged disc-reading laser (especially if the console is old).
3. Dust or other contaminants inside the hardware.
4. Overheating
5. Malware infections
6. Driver issues
7. Corrupted or damaged data.
8. Disc scratches.
9. Devices such as the controller or the memory card placed incorrectly, etc.

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