Because of the instability and lack of memory protection in Windows 9x, BSoDs were much more common. In the Windows 9x era, incompatible DLLs or bugs in the operating system kernel could also cause BSoDs. Hence, it became known as a 'stop error.'īSoDs can be caused by poorly written device drivers or malfunctioning hardware, such as faulty memory, power supply issues, overheating of components, or hardware running beyond its specification limits. In its earliest version, the error started with ***STOP. The first blue screen of death appeared in Windows NT 3.1 (the first version of the Windows NT family, released in 1993) and all Windows operating systems released afterwards. As with it predecessors, Windows 3.x exits to DOS if an error condition is severe enough. Windows 3.1 would also displays a blue screen when the user presses the Ctrl+Alt+Delete key combination while no programs were unresponsive.

Windows 3.1 changed the color of this screen from black to blue. Windows 3.0 uses a text-mode screen for displaying important system messages, usually from digital device drivers in 386 Enhanced Mode or other situations where a program could not run. It was not a crash screen, either when the system did crash, it would either lock up or exit to DOS. This screen was the outcome of a bug in the Windows logo code.

In the final release (version 1.01), however, this screen would print garbage output instead.

Windows 1.01 Blue Screen of Death: Long version, showing installation DOS 6, Windows 1.01, and the failed startup of Windows 1.01īlue error screens have been around since the beta version of Windows 1.0 if Windows found a newer DOS version than it expected, it would generate a blue screen with white text saying 'Incorrect DOS version', before starting normally. Windows 1.0 BSOD (Incorrect DOS Version): Short version, showing a failed Windows startup The 'Incorrect Dos Version' screen on Windows 1.01, featuring random characters

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