What is the equivalent of blue screen of death in linux?

Question

Will the computer just freeze or will it display a error message like BSoD?

score 11 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 14 '14 at 11:20

11

Its called a kernel panic. Linux usually doesn't get kernel panic because it is very good at handling hardware (What led you to ask this question). In some cases Linux might get kernel panics if you have malfunctioning hardware. In such cases your system will cease to work, producing an error similar to below:

enter image description here

answered Dec 14 '14 at 11:20

Naveen

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Not just hardware. Missing core files and terrible configurations can also cause kernel panics. So can drivers (b43, looking at you) and just running out of memory. – Kaz Wolfe Dec 14 '14 at 11:26
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Widely covered in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_of_death] – ellisistfroh Feb 17 '16 at 18:45
@KazWolfe Those Broadcam WiFi cards mostly do it.It also flashes the caps lock and scroll lock (if you PC has a light) – Suici Doga Jul 21 '16 at 04:11
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In some case, the GUI freezes and you can't switch to a console. The only clue you got if the blinking LED of the CAPS lock key telling you the kernel panicked. – solsTiCe Oct 03 '16 at 08:09

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 03 '16 at 08:24

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Sometimes you even got a stack trace like this example back in 2012 when I simply unplug my phone and got this crash:

kernel panick with stack trace

answered Oct 03 '16 at 08:24

solsTiCe

9,231

What is the equivalent of blue screen of death in linux?

2 Answers2