1. Take a photo of the bluescreen image on your monitor. The screen displayed can have valuable technical information useful if you go on to raise a ticket with us.
  2. Has the bluescreen occurred more than once? Sometimes a computer can bluescreen due to environmental conditions that do not pose an ongoing issue. If the crash has not occurred before and does not again there is little utility in further investigation.
  3. Are you able to reliably cause the bluescreen to occur (by repeating a list of steps, connecting or disconnecting a device or similar)? If avoiding the steps that trigger a bluescreen is unreasonable (you need them to accomplish your job, they're simple or common to reproduce normally), raise a ticket with us and include the reproduction steps.
  4. Have you recently connected a new device to your computer?
    1. Try disconnecting any new devices, one by one until the crashes stop occurring. Some devices may need a reboot after disconnecting.
    2. Try running Windows Update. Microsoft allows some manufacturers to distribute new drivers through Windows Update. New drivers may contain fixes for the problems causing the bluescreens.
  5. Have you recently installed Windows Updates? Microsoft distributes third-party device drivers as well as their own software products through Windows Update. Drivers are the leading cause of bluescreens and newer versions can rarely introduce new problems with an update.
    1. If you feel confident enough and have local privileges, uninstall recent updates, starting with any that claim to be 'driver' updates. Don't uninstall updates prior to when the issue began as they often have critical security fixes.
    2. If you believe you know which driver is at fault, consider disconnecting the device from your computer or possibly checking the manufacturers site for drivers that may be newer than the ones in Windows Update and may resolve the issue.
  6. Does your computer in general seem abnormally quiet, abnormally loud or abnormally hot? These are all indications that the computer may be overheating, causing a shutdown to prevent hardware damage. Check the computer's fans if they are easily visible/available and if necessary try cleaning them.
  7. If possible, try plugging your computer to a different electrical outlet or try plugging in a different computer (or other complex device like a sound system) to your electrical outlet. If the issue stops when using a different outlet or starts on a new device when it is plugged into the outlet, contact an electrician to check the outlet.
  8. Check for nearby strong sources of electromagnetic or other radiation. If your computer is too close to a poorly shielded microwave oven or a device that uses very large amounts of electricity (i.e. industrial or medical machinery or others of that scale), which can impact the tiny circuitry in modern computers. Whilst it's typically not an issue in most offices, sources of radioactivity can also cause computer issues.


If all else fails or if you are not very confident in some of the possible fixes, raise a ticket with us, including:

  • A photo or other accurate image of the bluescreen
  • Any commonalities between when the issue occurs (at a similar time per day, when you perform a specific task, anything that may occur to you).
  • Whether and when you have recently connected a new device.
  • Whether and when you have recently installed Windows or software updates.
  • Which if any of these steps you have tried.

We may need to perform a warranty return (or quote a replacement for the computer where the warranty is expired), reinstall the operating system or perform other work that requires we take the computer for some time.