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Why Did
Windows
Crash?
A Troubleshooting Guide
Written by Christian Bonilla
Published September 2016.
Read the original article here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-did-windows-crashtroubleshooting-guide/
This ebook is the intellectual property of MakeUseOf. It must only be published in its original
form. Using parts or republishing altered parts of this ebook is prohibited without permission
from MakeUseOf.com.
Table of contents
1. PC Crashes and You
1.2Crash Indicators
2.1First Crash
2.2Problem Persists
2.3Troubleshooting
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You were minding your business going through expense reports or browsing the internet
when the worst struck. Your PC crashed, and you dont know what to do. Confusion is typical
when your otherwise normal day gets interrupted. Yet, theres no reason to worry.
With this simple guide, youll be able to diagnose the case of a PC crash in minutes.
wherein the connection between your hardware and software fails. Drivers may be faulty when
installed, or may corrupt over time. Outdated drivers may lead to PC crashes, as can the latest
drivers.
Driver hotfixes are often released by software developers when a driver works improperly or is
released unstable.
1.2Crash Indicators
Crash indicators are vital for troubleshooting and an attentive observer will spot them
immediately. These indicators act as information you can use to troubleshoot your crashing
issues. Crash indicators do not imply specific problems in themselves. They do, however, help
with gauging the severity of your issue.
Sound Stutter Sound stutter is a sure indication that your PC will inevitably crash or become
unresponsive. This may sound like a buzzing or a considerable slowing down of audio. Sound
stutter may be an audio problem, or may be coupled with another problematic component part.
BSOD The BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) is a notable indication of a PC crash. Comparatively
speaking, a BSOD is the most helpful of the available PC crashes you could have. BSODs will often
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provide users with an error code, or error message, which will direct you towards a possible
solution. The PC is then restarted.
!
Screen Shuts Off Sometimes a PC will not shut down completely during a crash. Instead, the
PC will continue running while the screen shuts off. A screen shutting off is very usually an error
with the GPU. This does not mean that the GPU is broken or defective, but that the GPU cannot
maintain its connection with the motherboard. It may mean that the GPUs drivers are installed
incorrectly, corrupted, or require a rollback. This assumes, of course, that your screen is properly
connected and your connecting cables are in working order.
Unresponsive PC An unresponsive PC is often the first indications of a PC crash. There are
several versions, however, of an unresponsive PC. Some may consider a still mouse
unresponsive, while others may be experiencing a complete lack of response both audio and
visual from their PC. In any case, unresponsive PCs are definite indicators that a crash has
occurred.
OS Failure OS files, for one reason or another, have a way of becoming damaged or missing.
This may be due to a virus, malware, spyware, and so on. It may also be due to a simple
mishandling of important files on behalf of the user.
Driver Failure Driver failure occurs when a driver does not perform well with your PCs
hardware or with other installed drivers. This occurs for several reasons: the driver is defective
and requires a hot-fix, was installed incorrectly, is not compatible with your version of
Windows, etc. Rolling back drivers is a common exercise by PC technicians, and Windows even
includes this function in the OS itself.
2.1First Crash
Restart Your PC Seriously, restart your PC. If a crash has occurred and your PC is not
restarting automatically, press and hold your PCs power button to turn off the PC. Then, turn
the PC back on. One of two events will occur; either the PC acts normally and the crash was a
simple hiccup in the logical chain of command, or the PC crashes again.
Check Power Connections If a PC component is not receiving power, or not receiving enough
power, it will shut down. Before troubleshooting components, ensure that your components are
correctly plugged to the power supply. Power connections are listed separately from others
because it is easy to forget that components require both a connection to the motherboard and
a connection to the PSU as well.
Check Input Cables / Internal Connections Ensure that your input cables are in working
order. This includes all connections outside the case, such as VGA and HDMI cables, as well as
internal cables like SATA cables. Also, ensure that PC components are installed correctly. This
includes the GPU (PCI slot) and RAM (RAM slot).
2.2Problem Persists
WhoCrashed Download WhoCrashed, a valuable tool for diagnosing Windows crashes. The
program works by looking at your minidump folder. A minidump is a small file which holds
information created by a BSOD. WhoCrashed reviews minidump files and provides a reason for
why the crash occurred. Once open, click the Analyze button and read the results. WhoCrashed
will not work for all crashes.
!
Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, Anti-Spyware Running a single anti-virus software will not do. I
would recommend using three individual programs to ensure that your frequent crashes arent
malware-based. Download and run these three programs in order:
RKill
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Windows Defender
Run full scans with each one (RKill does not have a scan settings). Then, download and run
CCleaner. Continue doing so until all results come back clean. Ensuring that you have a clean PC
is the first step in limiting extraneous variables.
!
Disable Non-Essential Startup Programs To continue minimizing extraneous variables,
disable all non-essential startup items. Windows Task Manager provides a simple and easy to
use interface for controlling startup items. To access the startup menu, right-click on your
task-bar and select Task Manager. Click on the Startup tab and begin disabling items by
double-clicking them. The startup tab will not show essential startup items, so feel free to
disable them all. Programs like CCleaner also have a startup function to configure startup
programs. For in-depth startup program analysis, the official Microsoft Autoruns tool allows
users more access to the running applications on a PC.
2.3Troubleshooting
Thus far, weve been dealing with general PC crash issues, associated with common issues and
mistakes. If problems persist, it is no longer due to general PC issues.
!
GPU Stress Test The best way to see whether your GPU is causing a PC crash is to stress test it.
Stress testing will put heavy stress on your GPU, causing it to work harder than usual. If your PC
shuts down during gaming, its a good idea to check the stability of the GPU.
Furmark or Unigine: Valley are great stress-testing programs. During the test, ensure that your
PC is not overheating. If your PC shuts down due to these tests, and your GPU is not overclocked,
the GPU may be the problem. If that is the case, either under-clock your GPU or update/roll back
your drivers.
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CPU Stress Test CPU stress tests are like GPU stress-tests. CPU stress-tests test multitasking (among other things) rather than graphics ability. If shutdowns occur when you are
using several programs or are rendering files, your CPU may be the issue.
Prime95 or RealBench will stress-test your CPU extensively. CPU stress-tests are different from
GPU stress-tests in that CPU tests often take longer to complete. A thorough CPU stress-test will
take several hours to complete.
!
RAM Stress Test RAM stress-tests test memory errors. RAM errors will lead to frequent shut
downs unless the whole RAM stick is replaced. Windows Memory Diagnostic (WMD) is a
windows program which checks for errors associated with your RAM.
Open your Start Menu, type in windows memory diag, and click on the Windows Memory
Diagnostic tool to run WMD. WMD will check for memory errors itself, and only requires a
restart to run. Memtest is a better memory test than WMD, but requires an external USB drive to
download. You must also change your BIOS boot order to run Memtest.
Disk Drive Error Checking Hard disks, which is where your OS and programs are stored, wear
down over time. They may also be defective. Disk drive errors may lead to frequent shutdowns,
especially if shutdowns occur for no particular reason.
To scan a disk drive for errors, locate your disk drive (annotated as the C: drive or similar).
Right-click the drive, select Properties, click the Tools tab, and click on Check under the Error
checking category. Your PC will then restart. If this scan comes up with any errors, your crashes
may be caused by your hard drive.
!
Driver Troubleshoot Before rolling back drivers, check WhoCrashed to see if your minidump
scan hails any results. You can check individual drivers by opening the Start Menu and typing
device manager. Select the Device Manager. This is where you can find all drivers installed on
your computer. Double-click on a category and right-click the device. Select Properties and
then Drivers to check which driver is installed for which device. In the same window, there are
two particular choices to note: Update Driver and Roll Back Driver. Update Driver will scan your
PC and the internet for driver updates, although this feature is rarely effective. Instead, type in
the name of the product with the added drivers tag to search for new drivers. If your drivers are
up to date, try installing an older version of the driver. This option should be present in the
driver website.
!
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DirectX Diagnostic Tool The DirectX Diagnostic Tool also provides a log with system
information, and is more so directed towards sound and graphics card information. To check
this information, open the Start Menu and type in dxdiag. Select dxdiag.exe and you should see
your DirectX Diagnostic Tool (DDT). Click on Save All Information to save a copy of the DDT
analysis to your desktop. This log contains a comprehensive list of most drivers, peripherals,
controllers, decoders, and more present on your computer.
!
HWMonitor Log HWMonitor provides an excellent log which records voltage and temperature
readings, along with many other readings and system information. You can access this log by
opening HWMonitor, clicking File, and then Save monitoring data.