Imagine working late at night on a huge project that is due in the morning. You’re almost finishing up, and all you need to do is a few edits. Days of hard work will be on the show the following day when you submit your project. However, as you’re about click on the save button and call it a night, your worst nightmare comes true! The dreaded black or blue screen of loss. You quickly hit the restart button on your laptop or desktop computer, hoping that your device will come back to life and still have your work saved while shouting at it and letting your frustrations get the better of you. But, in the end, nothing happens. Behold, you just experienced the worst thing a computer user can experience – a computer crash!
Whether it was a damaged hard drive, a faulty CPU, or a computer virus that decided to disrupt your work, there can be various reasons your computer suddenly decided to give in. Whatever the reason may be, today, we will look at what you can do when your computer crashes.
Also Read: Download Google Play Music Library on your computer
Here is what to do when your Computer Crashes.
1. Check All Connections
If your system suddenly stops responding to any keyboard or mouse input, ensure all peripherals are connected correctly and are in working condition. Sometimes, when our mouse or keyboard stops working, we automatically assume we are experiencing a computer crash. To take this out of the equation, check all connections before you move further into your diagnosis.Something as simple as an improperly connected device like a mouse, keyboard, or printer can cause our computer to become unresponsive. If you have a laptop, try taking the battery out and putting it back in. It usually solves the issue, and your computer will restart without any problems. If your computer keeps crashing again and again, it is best to contact professional computer support.
2. Go Into Safe Mode
If you experience a soft crash, you can take a few steps to sort it out. The simplest and easiest one is entering your computer’s safe mode, which you can find in MacOS and Windows-based computers. The safe mode on Windows boots your computers with minimal features and disables all external drivers.To get into safe mode on a Windows computer, restart your system. While it is booting, press the F8 key to get into the boot menu. Then, from the advanced options menu, choose safe mode. If you are using a MacOS-based computer, after you turn on your pc and hear the start-up tone, keep holding the shift key and wait for the apply icon to appear. You’ll be in safe mode after doing so.Then, you can perform a restart or a clean shutdown to remove any errors causing the crash. Sometimes, incorrect drivers can cause random crashes and freezes, and safe mode automatically fixes them for you.
3. Roll-Back To The Last Known Good Configuration
After installing new hardware and drivers, you might experience sudden crashes on your computers. Even though you installed new additions, rolling back to a previous good configuration is a good idea to eliminate any hardware-related issues that lead to your computer crashing. Such an option is only available on a Windows-based PC.All you have to do is enter the same boot menu by following the previously mentioned steps. Once you are on the boot menu, choose the option ’Last Known Good Configuration’ (your most recent settings that worked) and press enter. Doing so will restart your computer using the last known working settings. Plus, it won’t delete anything, so you can backup your work.
4. Perform A System Restore
The ‘system restore’ feature in Windows is far better today than it previously was back in the Windows XP days. You can use system restore to revert to when your computer was working fine. It reverses the harmful effects a driver install or software may have left on your computer. You can also set a system restore point if you want to avoid losing your work in the future. However, Windows creates a few restore points on its own automatically for ease of management.For the actual restoration process, press the start button on your keyboard and enter ‘restore computer’ in the search dialog box. The search box will take you to your computer’s control panel, where you can click on ‘system restore’ and choose a restore point. Take note that doing such a thing won’t impact or delete your existing data. ‘System restore’ removes harmful bad drivers and brings your computer back to a crash-free state.
5. Utilize Boot Disks
This method involves storing Windows system files on an external storage device such as a DVD, CD, or USB drive. This method allows you to enter your computer’s diagnostic mode and remove any issues causing the freeze.It is a time-consuming method, but with some technical know-how, you’ll have your computer up and running in no time.
6. Give Data Recovery Software A Try
After trying every solution you possibly can to make the pesky crash screen go away but failing, your last and only option is to try a data recovery software. Hopefully, you would have made backups of your important files. If yes, you can download some free data recovery software to help you get your deleted files back. If you haven’t made backups, then look at the next option!
7. Reinstall WindowsOr MacOS
Sometimes, nothing you do can prevent your computer from crashing. Sadly, the last option is to reinstall your operating system. Sure, you’ll lose all your important data, including music, pictures, videos, and other files. But, sometimes, in order to get your computer back to a working state, a good old Windows or MacOS reinstall will do the trick. Visit the Microsoft or Apple website as they have detailed guides that teach you how to reinstall an operating system via a bootable USB or physical disc.If you think that reinstalling your computer’s operating system is a challenging task, call in your local IT support guy, and they will take care of it for you. For, a price of course!
Conclusion
If you don’t know what to do when you experience a computer crash, your best bet would be to call in an IT expert or computer technician. Even the newest variants of operating systems can have bugs that the OS manufacturer keeps working on. Ensure that all your software and OS utilities are up-to-date. Doing so will reduce your chances of experiencing a computer crash, specially while you are in the middle of some important work.
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