Blue screen errors in Windows 10 typically occur when a process has caused your laptop's operating system to unexpectedly shut down or restart.
A blue screen with an error message will appear if a critical error occurs that the laptop is not able to resolve automatically.
Blue screen errors are commonly caused if either a Windows update has not been installed correctly, or if there is an issue with the laptop's drivers or hardware.
Windows will usually provide some information within the error message to identify the cause of the problem. It may also provide a QR code, which can be scanned using a mobile phone to open a Microsoft support page related to the specific error.
If you encounter a problem of this nature, please attempt the following troubleshooting suggestions.
Please note that some of these suggestions may not be possible if you are not able to boot your laptop. If you are unable to boot, skip any troubleshooting steps that you are not able to complete.
- Restart your laptop. In many cases, stop errors can be resolved by a fresh boot of the unit.
- Disconnect all external devices, including any storage devices and drives, monitors and other hardware, then restart the laptop.
- Perform a power reset on the unit:
- Turn the laptop off completely and disconnect any external devices and cables, including the charger.
- Leave the unit disconnected and turned off for 10-20 minutes.
- Press and hold down the power button for at least 20 seconds.
- Reconnect the unit to a power supply and attempt to start it as normal.
- Update or reinstall your laptop's drivers:
- Information about how to update your Atlas laptop's drivers is available in the following guide: I Need To Update Or Reinstall The Drivers For My Kogan Laptop Or Mini PC.
- Further advice about how to update your drivers is available on Microsoft's website here.
- If you installed any new software shortly before experiencing the blue screen error, uninstall this software from your device.
- Review and uninstall recent Windows updates:
- Navigate to 'Settings' > 'Update & Security' > 'Windows Update'.
- Click 'View update history'.
- On the 'View update history page' that opens, click 'Uninstall updates'.
- Right click the most recent Windows update on the list that opens, then select 'Uninstall'.
- Follow the prompts to complete the uninstallation.
- Attempt to start the laptop in Safe Mode:
- Turn off the laptop.
- Turn the laptop back on, then as soon as it shows any sign that it is starting up, press and hold the power button until it turns off again.
- Turn the laptop on again, then again press and hold the power button until the laptop turns off.
- Turn the laptop on once again and wait for it to restart. The laptop should now launch Windows Repair, which you can use to boot the laptop in Safe Mode.
- On the 'Choose an option' screen, select 'Troubleshoot' > 'Advanced options' > 'Startup settings' > 'Restart'.
- The laptop will show a list of options after restarting. Select option 5 to launch in Safe Mode, or press F5 to launch in Safe Mode with Networking, which allows you to access the network drivers needed to connect to the Internet.
- To exit Safe Mode after startup, restart the laptop.
- Attempt to reinstall Windows 10 by creating a recovery drive using a working PC and a blank USB with at least 8GB of storage:
- Connect a blank USB drive to a working PC to use as your recovery drive.
- On your working PC, navigate to Microsoft's website here.
- In the section titled 'Create Windows 10 installation media', click 'Download tool now' to download the Windows 10 media creation tool.
- Run this tool after it has downloaded and follow the prompts.
- When asked 'What do you want to do?', select 'Create installation media for another PC'.
- Enter your language, edition and architecture (32-bit or 64-bit). Newer models of Atlas laptops typically use a 64-bit version of Windows 10; however, the architecture you should use will depend on your particular unit.
- When prompted to select which media you wish to use, select 'USB flash drive'.
- Follow any remaining prompts to complete the creation of your recovery drive.
- To use the recovery drive, connect the USB drive to the non-working laptop and then turn it on.
- You should be prompted to set up your laptop. When prompted, select 'Repair your computer' > 'Troubleshoot' > 'Advanced options' > 'Recover from a drive' to reinstall Windows 10 from the recovery drive.
- Microsoft has provided some further troubleshooting instructions for blue screen errors, which you can view here.
If the suggestions above do not resolve the issue with your laptop, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care Team through your account dashboard for further assistance. We will be happy to help.