Have you been seeing the infamous ‘Blue-Screen-Of-Death‘ (BSOD) lately? So have we! As you can tell from the name, this Windows Warning Screen should not be taken lightly. The article below will explain why many users have been experiencing this warning during the South African Loadshedding Season; why you should take note of it; and how you can prevent irreparable damage to your device.
Why are you seeing the ‘Blue-Screen-Of-Death’?
This may be a sign that your hardware is failing. There are many reasons why your hardware components may fail be it old age; physical damage; incorrect drivers; temperature; moisture (etc.); but one of the most common reasons is HARD REBOOTING. Hard rebooting is when your computer suddenly powers down without a safe shutdown being performed first. If a hard reboot is performed too many times your data may become corrupted, especially if you are still using a traditional SATA / IDE hard drive. If the boot sequence gets corrupted your computer will not start up properly and you get the dreaded BSOD. This error can be fixed. However, if your personal data becomes corrupted or the hard drive gets damaged, you may experience permanent data loss.
Another way your device hardware can be damaged is due to a power spike when the power suddenly comes back on. This is more of a threat to Tower/Box PC’s than Laptops and Notebooks.
How can you prevent the ‘Blue-Screen-Of-Death’ and extend the life of your device?
- We recommend that you do not leave your device on overnight.
- Make sure to execute a Safe Shutdown (Start > Power > Shut Down) prior to loadshedding.
- Ensure that your device is plugged into a SURGE PROTECTOR. 🛒 Available here.
- Unplug your device from the main power during loadshedding and overnight.
- If you are using a laptop or notebook, set your Power Settings to execute a safe shutdown once the battery-life reaches 10-15%. Feel free to contact us if you require help with this task.
Prevention is better than cure!
We don’t know how long loadshedding will be a part of our lives, but if you apply the 5 steps, mentioned above, you will not only extend the life of your device, but will save yourself having to request data recovery, which can be very costly.
May you continue to practice good Hardware Care,
The Comp U Easy Team.