Screen of death

In computing, a screen of death, colloquially referred to as a blue screen of death (named after the infamous screen of death in Microsoft Windows), is an informal term for a type of a computer operating system error message displayed onscreen when the system has experienced a fatal system error.

The fatal error typically results in unsaved work being lost and often indicates serious problems with the system's hardware or software.

These error screens are usually the result of a kernel panic, although the terms are frequently used interchangeably.

Most screens of death are displayed on an even background color with a message advising the user to restart the computer.

The green screen of death on a TiVo digital video recorder
The Screen of Death in Windows 10 , which includes a sad emoticon and a QR code for quick troubleshooting
A Linux kernel panic , forced by an attempt to kill init
The Mac OS X kernel panic alert. This screen was introduced in Mac OS X 10.2, while the kernel panic itself was around since the Mac OS X Public Beta.
The white screen of death that appears on Dell computers.