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By Steve Horton |
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So you’ve got a recurring Blue Screen of Death, and, like many BSoDs, it’s because a bad driver is at fault. However, the screen isn’t giving you the correct information, either because it’s not listing a driver at all, or because it’s listing a system driver that’s acting as a false positive.
Driver Verifier is a free utility included with all versions of Windows from Windows XP onward. It literally verifies each of the drivers on your PC until it comes across the one causing the problem, intentionally generating that same Blue Screen, but then recording the information in a log file, helping you to track down the problem.
If you’ve been getting the same Blue Screen often, and you’d like to become proactive and fix it, here’s how to use Driver Verifier.
In Windows XP:
In Windows Vista and 7:
In Windows 8 and 8.1:
All verisons of Windows:
Note: If you’re not able to perform the above steps because the Blue Screen keeps happening, try booting in Safe Mode first.
You must restart your PC at this point. Then, try to cause the BSoD again by doing what you did before. Windows is placing extra stress on your drivers to help you along. If you can’t reproduce the BSoD, try letting your computer run overnight. Once the BSoD occurs again, restart your PC in Safe Mode and read the Minidump file.
Driver Verifier will run, trigger the Blue Screen and record a log file. That log file is found in C:\Windows\Minidump\. Read it, and you’ll see what driver is causing the problem. Try Googling the driver name to find out what piece of hardware on your PC uses it.
So how do you read it? You need a debugging tool, which you can download from Microsoft.
The Windows 7 version is here, and The Windows 8 version is here. Download the SDK, install it, select the debugging tools, and deselect everything else.
Note that debugging tools for previous versions of Windows are no longer available; you’ll have to send your dump file to a Microsoft technician to analyze.
After installing it, find it on your Start Screen. It’s called windbg (x64). Run it.
Then:
Update the driver related to that piece of hardware:
In Windows XP:
In Windows Vista and 7:
In Windows 8 and 8.1:
Or, use our application Driver Reviver, not to be confused with Driver Verifier. Driver Reviver updates all the existing drivers on your PC automatically, and is especially good for updating poorly performing drivers, like this one, to the latest and greatest version.
Once you’ve fixed the problem driver, you’re going to want to disable Driver Verifier.
After you’re done using Driver Verifier, you’re going to want to disable it, as it’s quite a burden on your PC while it’s running.
In all versions of Windows:
Keep this article bookmarked in the future, so that whenever you have a Blue Screen, you can fix the issue. Also, check out our interactive Blue Screen Helper and enter in your error name for additional tips on solving your specific Blue Screen of Death. Good luck!
Update your drivers in less than 2 minutes to enjoy better PC performance - Free.
Free Driver Updates
Update your drivers in less than 2 minutes to enjoy better
PC performance - Free.
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