How to debug blue screen of death (BSOD) problems simply!

I was having some dreaded BSOD problems recently and managed to narrow my problem down to my USB device by doing the following so hopefully this will be useful for you too!

I didn't want to bother with using the command line so this method gives you a quick idea of the problem and you only need to install one tool.

1. Download and install the Microsoft Debugging Tools for your OS (32 bit or 64 bit) from the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/Debugging/default.mspx

2. Once installed open WinDbg from

Start Menu -> Deubugging Tools for Windows -> WinDbg

3. Open the File menu then 'Symbol File Path' and enter this as a symbol path and OK it.

SRV*c:\localsymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

4. Now you go to the File menu and select 'Open Crash Dump'. You can then browse to either:

C:/WINDOWS/MEMORY.DMP

or

C:/WINDOWS/minidump/

and open one of the latest memory dumps. The debugging tool should then point you in the way of the problem driver or device.

Hope it helps you!