Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) on an Element

A blue screen (often referred to as a Blue Screen of Death, or BSoD) is a rare type of error message that can appear if the console experiences a critical error that prevents further operation. This is sometimes a one-off error, but it can also indicate software corruption, driver problems, or hardware failure within the console. If you experience a blue screen, please contact ETC Technical Services for troubleshooting and assistance. Please take a picture of the blue screen to assist in troubleshooting.

If this is a show-critical emergency, there is a 24/7 pager line that will return your call in 15 minutes or less.

Windows XPe	Windows 7	Windows 10

Take note of the STOP code listed on the blue screen, which is an eight-digit hexadecimal number preceded by 0x (for example, 0x000000F4). The location of the STOP code is shown above in magenta.

Once you have taken a picture of the blue screen and recorded the STOP code, take note of the time and date that the blue screen appeared and what you were doing on the console when it appeared, along with any other pertinent information (see Help Your Technician Help You). Then reboot the console. If the console successfully boots, save logs and a copy of the current showfile to a USB drive. If another blue screen appears, take a picture of it and record the STOP code.

Once you have collected all the information above, please send it to: