Microsoft® Windows® Internals: Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000, 4th Edition
by Mark E. Russinovich, David A. Solomon
The Blue Screen
Regardless of the reason for a system crash, the function that actually performs the crash is KeBugCheckEx (documented in the Windows DDK). This function takes a stop code (sometimes called a bug check code) and four parameters that are interpreted on a per–stop code basis. After
KeBugCheckEx masks out all interrupts on all processors of the system, it switches the display into a low-resolution VGA graphics mode (one implemented by all Windows-supported video cards), paints a blue background, and then displays the stop code, followed by some text suggesting what the user can do. Finally, KeBugCheckEx calls any registered device driver bug check callbacks (registered by calling the KeRegisterBugCheckCallback function), allowing drivers ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access