Blue screens of death are the worst! Hence, the name. But, with a little sleuthing, you you can back in business again.
What is a blue screen of death?
It’s essentially an incompatibility within Windows. A recent Windows update may have knocked out the more optimal video driver you just had installed. Windows updates is a big culprit, installing Windows generic drivers that may not be compatible with your high-end, proprietary peripherals and hardware. Or you may have a virus or software that is outdated. There are tons of causes.
So, let’s get to it. How can you fix a blue screen of death, or BSOD error?
If you’re lucky enough, Windows will provide you with an error message. You’ll have to look hard for it and may have to put a magnifying glass on it, but it may be there.
As you can see from the image in this article, there’s an unhappy face that’s followed by gibberish which then leads to the error message way down at the bottom.
All the way at the bottom of this blue screen image, look for a “stop code.” To the right of that you’ll see: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL That means you have a failing or incompatible driver. Look further and you’ll see “What failed: ipeaklwf.sys” Great! We have something to go on.
Time needed: 15 minutes
Here’s how you fix a blue screen of death (BSOD) error:
- Blue Screen Page
View and read the contents
- Find the Error message code
Usually the error message is way down below on the screen. And it is followed many times by DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
- Research the error message
Google it and see if there’s a known problem with it. What’s the resolution. For a more methodical approach, you can go on Microsoft’s blue screen troubleshooting wizard page.
- Take action.
If the forums and online searches come up with legit-looking solutions that have worked for others, try it! Perform the solution.
When researching this ipeaklwf.sys, it shows that there’s a known issue with an HP velocity driver. On HP computers, if you have this driver installed, you should remove it. Why? Apparently, it’s hogging up your computer’s memory resources and clashes with Windows when it attempt to run diagnostics and real-time tests. In short, it’s doing too much preemptive troubleshooting! After removing this app for our customer, her computer no longer shut down randomly every 10 minutes. Problem solved. Thank you blue screen error gibberish.
So, the point of this blue screen story is read the blue screen!
It may point you into the easy direction of fixing your BSOD on your own. Of course, life is not always that easy. If you are not able to fix your own BSOD DIY-style, then there are a ton of PC blue screen error repair companies out there that are happy to help whether locally in NYC or by way of PC repair mail-in service.