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 system error 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. Black Screens of Death are used by several systems: One is a failure mode of Windows 3.x. One appears when the bootloader for Windows Vista and later fails. Also in Windows 11 previews the Blue Screen of Death was changed to black.
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. A Blue Screen of Death on a Windows Insider build appears as green instead of blue, starting with build 14997. 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. Lastly, it's shown on a PlayStation 2; and is known simply as the Red Screen of Death. It bears similarilities 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. A White Screen of Death appears on several other operating systems, content management systems, 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.