CrowdStrike Bug: What is the Blue Screen of Death and why everyone is talking about it

Microsoft Windows 10 is now on alert or, as Microsoft puts it, facing the Blue Screen of Death. Many offices and airlines around the world are experiencing workflow issues as their computer systems running Windows 10 have crashed and are now displaying blue screen errors saying “Windows did not load properly”. Although the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is not a new problem for Microsoft, its impact is particularly severe this time.

But what exactly causes this blue screen error or why does it sound deadly – ​​the Blue Screen of Death?

What is the blue screen of death?

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) – officially called Stop Error or Stop Screen by Microsoft – is a critical system error in Windows operating systems that indicates that the system has a serious problem and needs urgent repair. When a system experiences a BSOD, the Windows system stops all operations to prevent further damage to the computer, often resulting in the loss of unsaved work. While an error in the system may not seem like a major problem, the Blue Screen of Death is a serious problem and is ranked just behind cyber problems like malware or ransomware.

What does the Blue Screen of Death look like?

Whenever a Windows system experiences a BSOD, the main screen turns off and a blue screen with white text appears on the display detailing the error.

Especially on systems running Windows 7 and earlier versions, the BSOD error screen usually displays a lengthy text with technical information – albeit complicated and often in words that a normal user can understand. However, with Windows 8 and the latest version, Microsoft has simplified the screen to display sad emojis with a QR code that users can scan to get more information about the error on their smartphones. This removes the technical jargon to make it more user-friendly.

When a system experiences a BSOD, the device stops all operations to prevent possible hardware damage and generates a memory dump file. This file contains information about the system state at the time of the crash and can be used for troubleshooting. After the memory dump is saved, the system must be rebooted.

After the device restarts, Windows will start an automatic troubleshooting and repair process. If the operating system cannot fix the problem, the system will need to be manually troubleshooted, such as rolling back recent driver updates, checking for BIOS updates, or running hardware diagnostics.

What can cause Blue Screen of Death

The BSOD problem is generally caused at the Windows kernel level and can be a hardware or software problem.

The software problem can have the following causes:

Driver errors: The most common software-related cause is faulty drivers. Drivers are important pieces of software that allow the operating system to communicate with hardware devices. If a driver becomes corrupted or incompatible, it can trigger a BSOD.

Firmware or BIOS errors: Sometimes low-level software errors in the firmware or BIOS can also cause systems to experience a BSOD. However, in this case, users can resolve the issue by updating the BIOS or firmware from the manufacturer’s website.

When an application crashes: This is rare, but certain applications running at a very low system level can also cause a BSOD.

BSOD due to hardware problems

Faulty hardware: Problems with critical hardware components of the system, such as the graphics card, sound card, SSDs (solid-state drives) or RAM (random access memory), can also cause a BSOD.

Low disk space: Insufficient disk space on the primary drive can also trigger BSODs. This is because the Windows operating system relies on space for paging files and swap files, and a lack of system memory can disrupt these processes.

Malware: Malware can also corrupt system files or the Master Boot Record, causing BSODs on the systems.

What is currently causing a BSOD?

The reason why Windows 10 systems are currently facing BSODs is a faulty update that CrowdStrike issued for its cybersecurity program called Falcon. This update is part of the Falcon software suite that deals with cybersecurity defense of computers. One cybersecurity expert noted on Twitter: “CrowdStrike Falcon agents are currently imploding and causing a boot loop with a Blue Screen of Death on every endpoint. There are reports of massive outages worldwide.”

As for the fix, there is currently no real solution to the problem. The fix will probably come with another update from CrowdStrike and Microsoft, but that may take a while. However, a manual fix is ​​circulating online, taken from a note that CrowdStrike issued to its users. This fix contains instructions:

1. Start Windows in Safe Mode or WRE.
2. Go to C:WindowsSystem32driversCrowdStrike
3. Find and delete the file named “C-00000291*.sys”
4. Restart the computer normally.

In other words, if you are part of an IT team and are dealing with the CrowdStrike and Windows 10 bug, you can check out this potential solution.