Symptoms

My computer restarts or displays a Critical Error message (Blue Screen). What should I do?

Solution

Blue Screens are caused by an error in some installed Windows driver. It can be either a program error or a hardware fault which the driver is unprepared to deal with. When the stop occurs, it is either presented as a "blue screen" message or the computer is automatically restarted.

During blue screen Windows creates a memory dump file, a snapshot of current memory status containing important information that may help us understand the cause of an error. Based on your configuration, it's either a small file (around 64KB) - a minidump - with the most important data, or larger file (with roughly the size of your installed memory) - a kernel memory dump or complete memory dump file.

Minidumps are created in the C:\Windows\Minidump folder, the file with a random name and a ".DMP" extension. Full memory dump is a file C:\Windows\Memory.DMP.

You can configure the options concerning the blue screens and the memory dump files creation in the System Properties Control Panel.

avast! antivirus contains several drivers. Although we test them carefully it is possibly there is a problem we are not yet aware of. If you believe your problem is caused by avast! you may send us the memory dump file for analysis. Minidumps are small enough to be sent by email (zipped and accompanied with a description of steps that cause the computer to stop). If you want to send us your complete memory dump, please use the public ftp server (at ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming) to upload the file.

For more info about upload larfer files please refer to: http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=18