White Screen of Death

All you want to know about White Screen of Death

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Contents

Windows

In Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, and (possibly) also Windows NT, a White Box of Doom or White screen of death will appear if an error occurs while loading a system-critical application or process, such as the system shell (e.g. Explorer.exe). It has a similar appearance to a General Protection Fault, or GPF.

Clicking "OK" will normally cause the computer to shut down, or it may result in another similar error. This error may also appear if, at startup, an illegal operation occurs during the startup process. Also it will make your computer freeze and you have to shut the computer down.

Some computers, such as Dell computers, have boot errors that result in a WSOD
Some computers, such as Dell computers, have boot errors that result in a WSOD

This error may occasionally be ignored, as it may just have been a single occurrence of a failed startup sequence; however, if it should occur repeatedly, the user may then be required to reinstall Windows.

A possible workaround for this, which doesn't require reinstalling Windows, is to set the shell to a different program such as Winfile.exe.

On an AST Windows 3.11, if you press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and end desktop.exe, a White Box of Doom will appear.

Some other cell phones have a WSOD, like this Sony Ericsson showing the WSOD.
Some other cell phones have a WSOD, like this Sony Ericsson showing the WSOD.

Nokia N-Gage/ N-Gage QD

In all versions of this phone, there is a software bug that continuously causes the phone to reboot if the main memory exceeds a certain capacity. The only way to fix this is by flashing the phone. Although the problem results from a design flaw, Nokia denies any responsibility, forcing its users to pay for a firmware upgrade. This problem also affected the Nokia 3650 and Nokia E65.[citation needed].

White Screen of Death - IDX

In the latest version of IDX software, users frequently get white screens. The best solution is to remove all temporary internet files and try again. If that doesn't work, reboot the computer. The IDX Corporation has yet to provide hospital users a solution to this problem.

iPod

The Apple iPod MP3 player also experiences WSOD requiring the user to restart possibly several times, or even reset to factory settings, depending on the severity. The WSOD also happens when you, in some cases, plug your iPod into an Xbox 360.

MacOS

In Mac OS, users might experience the "white screen of death" which is the case when the system freezes with a white screen (or white screen with a locking folder flashing in the center of the screen) after a reboot of the operating system. This means that the computer cannot recognize the operating system. This error could be caused by errors in the operating system, or it could be a sign of hardware failure, such as the hard drive.

PHP web applications

A web application powered by the scripting language PHP will display an empty white page in the browser under certain conditions. If the PHP installation suppresses error messages and encounters a fatal error before any output is produced, PHP will exit and return an HTTP response without content.


External links

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Screens of death
Colors
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 Stylised bomb symbol
Other screens
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_screen_of_death"

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