Discussion on:

Create your own BSOD in Windows XP

"How to force BSOD in Windows XP" would have been a better title. The article has good information though.

I was reading somewhere that MS is coming out with a Red Sod

Man with colors and options like that MS will put their self on the map ;0

This will appear in Longhorn, & will be used to signal errors that are "more severe" than those which yield a BSOD.

Without knowing precisely what contitutes "more severe," its usefullness renmains to be seen. We may find that those conditions that currently yield the BSOD are then all RSODs, and, the BSOD is used for conditions that are not now trapped, with the result that we'll see more SODs!

Me, I'm setting my machines on Orange Alert.

This key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters. is not available in IA-64 but is in x64 32 bit of W2K3 Server. Does anybody know of a switch I can set in IA-64?

Most server manufacturers have a hardware switch on the mobo that will force a BSOD.

So you want me to crawl under the desk, open the computer case, and then flip the switch on the motherboard?? I think I'll edit the registry so I can force it from my keyboard instead.

I suppose the switch on the motherboard would be handy if you had a system opened for diagnostics on the workbench.

And the workbench is exactly what the switch is for. To test how hardware/software recovers from a major error. This is for Servers, such as the IA64 machine referred to earlier, not a desktop machine.

It's nice to be able to force a BSOD when needed, but would be more helpful if we could edit the message that appears on the BSOD. Perhaps a message telling the user not to hit any further keys and to call a particular extension for help. Might help tech support locate the problem before the waters get muddied.

Ideas??

Not sure how or where or if it is even possible to edit the BSOD message.

However, being able to create a BSOD at will in a demonstrations will give you the opportunity to teach users what to do.

i.e. You could say something like: "If you ever see a screen that looks like this, don't press any keys and call tech support right away!!!"

Other than record all details in message and reboot (or call IT support), what should a user do?

I like the idea, but the benefits/options were too general for me to understand. What do I get in terms of information when I force the BSOD?
Also, I have had the BSOD pop up and then go away so fast I couldn't read it. Any ideas on how to slow/capture that?

For Testing:
If you were investigating how and where BSODs are logged in the Event logs and viewed with Event Viewer, this would aid you in your tests.

For Training:
If you were training end users how to deal with errors, being able to create a BSOD at will in a demonstration would give you the opportunity to teach users what to do.

i.e. You could say something like: "If you ever see a screen that looks like this, don't press any keys and call tech support right away!!!"

Agree that title "How to force BSOD in Windows XP" is correct.

But maybe there still an option to customize BSOD?

The BSOD is caused by the kernel - unless you edit it, no changes.

On Win2000, NTOSKrnl.Exe contains a lot of the BSOD errors I've seen in "Message Table" 1. You can open it with Resource Hacker or Restorator. MS may not approve of you altering it, but since the errors don't always tell you the correct error anyway... have fun! (=

There is just too much values for my computer to take. I have disabled Windows File Protection and when i go to ntoskrnl.exe and edit the BSOD messages, it stops responding and after a few minutes the computer crashes....

I re-read the message at the beginning of this thread this morning after reading through the tip again, and I must admit that the title you suggest would have been, "semantecally speaking," more appropriate.

One might construe that this tip would show you how to "actually" write or develop your own BSOD.

I apologize for any inconvenience or false impression that this title may have caused any readers.

Nonetheless, you have to agree that this is indeed a very cool tip!

I have absolutely no ads showing on my screen that get in the way of me viewing the article.

(since the article is about XP) If your using XP, maybe you guys aughta just use the included Internet Explorer and maybe you won't have those 'ads' in the way. Just an observation...

I have used almost all the versions of windows starting from Windows 3.1 and being an end user/support tech, i feel microsoft releases the windows versions without stringent quality testing for bugs. A classic example for this is Windows Me. Hope Longhorn needs less patches than its predecessors.

It's a great tip, but I don't have a Scroll Lock key on my notepad. Is there a "ForceCrashOnSomeOtherKey" registry hack?

Thanks for the tip! I knew about this "feature", but I forgot the specifics.

The article was interesting. It would be more useful if there wasnt a microsodt addvert box covering over some of the instructions in the article. The box defied removal.

Actually , I do not see any ads using Firefox, FlashBlock and Adblock.

Just copy the Text to Notepad or something to see the Reg Code... And yes I see the ad and I'm using Firefox...

I see the Ad and I'm using Firefox also. Maybe Tech Republic needs to fix it's HTML/XML whatever rendering code to display the text/Ad correctly. I'm not about to add more blockers to Firefox, since there's already one in it which doesn't do enough!

http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/wrongWithIE/

It explains what they are doing wrong when they program to IE non-standards, and how to fix it.

The ad does not cover any of the text of the article in either Firefox or IE when I look at it.

I hear ya! Actually, if you click on the "Print" link near the bottom of the page, you will get an un-fooled-around-with version of the article.

If you're running Firefox and the ads cover the article text (happens on MSN pages too, go figure) the only way I know of to read it is to copy the text and paste it into Notepad.

It's a hassle, but at least you can read the text.

I saw that this works for PS/2 keyboards. Is it possible to create with a USB kb?