Blue Tint Monitor & Blue Screen of Death (BSOD): Complete Troubleshooting Guide

Understanding Blue Tint Monitor vs. Blue Screen of Death

These are two distinct but often confused problems. A blue tint monitor means your display has an unwanted blue color cast — the screen looks bluish even when showing white or neutral content. A Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is a Windows system crash that forces a full stop, displaying a blue screen with a stop code such as KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE, CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED, MEMORY_MANAGEMENT, or SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION.

Both can sometimes occur together if a GPU driver failure causes both display color problems and system crashes.

Part 1: Fix Blue Tint on Monitor

Step 1: Check Physical Connections

A loose, damaged, or low-quality cable between your PC and monitor is the most common cause of a blue tint.

• Unplug and firmly reseat the HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, or VGA cable on both ends.
• Try a different cable of the same type.
• Try a different port on your GPU.
• If the blue tint disappears on a different cable or port, the original cable or port is faulty.

Step 2: Calibrate Monitor Color Settings

Via Windows Display Settings:

1. Right-click the desktop → Display settings → Advanced display → Display adapter properties.
2. Go to the Color Management tab → Color Management → Advanced → Calibrate display.
3. Follow the on-screen wizard to correct the color balance.

Via Monitor OSD (On-Screen Display):

• Press the physical buttons on your monitor.
• Navigate to Color Temperature or Color Settings.
• Set color temperature to 6500K (standard) or switch from Cool to Warm or Custom.
• Reduce the Blue channel gain manually if your monitor supports RGB gain sliders.

Via GPU Control Panel:

• NVIDIA: Right-click desktop → NVIDIA Control Panel → Display → Adjust desktop color settings → Set Color temperature to 6500K or manually lower the blue channel.
• AMD: Right-click desktop → AMD Software (Adrenalin) → Display → Color → Adjust Custom Color sliders.

Step 3: Update or Reinstall GPU Drivers

A corrupt or outdated GPU driver can cause blue tint and display rendering errors.

1. Download DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) from guru3d.com.
2. Boot into Safe Mode (press F8 or Shift + Restart → Troubleshoot → Advanced → Startup Settings).
3. Run DDU and select Clean and restart.
4. After restart, download the latest driver from NVIDIA or AMD and install.

Step 4: Check for Hardware Failure

If the blue tint persists across all cables, ports, and software settings:

• Test the monitor on a different computer. If blue tint still appears, the monitor panel or backlight is failing — contact the manufacturer.
• Test your GPU on a different monitor. If blue tint follows the GPU, the GPU may have a failing video output circuit.

Part 2: Fix Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

Step 1: Identify the Stop Code

When Windows crashes, it displays a stop code on the blue screen. Common stop codes and their typical causes include:

If your PC reboots too fast to read the code, disable automatic restart:

• Right-click This PC → Properties → Advanced system settings → Startup and Recovery → Settings → Uncheck Automatically restart.

Step 2: Read the Crash Dump with BlueScreenView or Event Viewer

Using BlueScreenView (nirsoft.net):

1. Download and run BlueScreenView (bluescreenview.exe).
2. It automatically loads minidump files from C:\Windows\Minidump\.
3. Look at the Caused By Driver column — this identifies the specific .sys file responsible.

Using Event Viewer:

1. Press Win + R → type eventvwr.msc → Enter.
2. Navigate to Windows Logs → System.
3. Filter for Critical and Error events around the time of the crash.
4. Look for source BugCheck for BSOD details.

Step 3: Run System File Checker and DISM

Corrupt Windows system files cause a large proportion of BSODs. Run these commands in an elevated Command Prompt (Run as Administrator):

sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Restart after completion and monitor for BSODs.

Step 4: Update or Roll Back Drivers

Driver-related BSODs are among the most common. If a BSOD started after a Windows Update or driver update:

1. Press Win + X → Device Manager.
2. Right-click the problematic device (especially Display adapters, Network adapters, Storage controllers) → Properties → Driver tab → Roll Back Driver.

For GPU crashes (nvlddmkm.sys, dxgkrnl.sys, amdkmdag.sys, atikmpag.sys), use DDU in Safe Mode as described in Part 1, Step 3.

For ntoskrnl.exe BSODs, the issue is often not ntoskrnl itself but a third-party driver calling it. Use BlueScreenView to find the actual culprit.

Step 5: Test RAM with MemTest86

For stop codes like MEMORY_MANAGEMENT, BAD_POOL_CALLER, KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE, or PFN_LIST_CORRUPT:

1. Download MemTest86 from memtest86.com and create a bootable USB.
2. Boot from the USB and run at least 2 full passes.
3. Any errors = faulty RAM. Try running with one stick at a time to identify the bad module.
4. Also try reseating RAM sticks (remove and firmly re-insert).

Quick Windows Memory Diagnostic:

• Press Win + R → type mdsched.exe → Restart now and check for problems.

Step 6: Fix Boot-Related BSODs (0xc000021a, INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE)

If your PC shows 0xc000021a or INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE and won't boot:

1. Boot from a Windows 10/11 installation USB.
2. Select Repair your computer → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Repair.
3. If Startup Repair fails, choose Command Prompt and run:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

4. For 0xc000021a specifically, also run:

bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

Boot into Safe Mode, run SFC, then remove the safeboot flag:

bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot

Step 7: Check for Overheating

GPU or CPU overheating causes sudden BSODs especially during gaming (VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE, nvlddmkm.sys, dxgmms2.sys).

• Download HWMonitor or HWiNFO64 and monitor temperatures under load.
• GPU should stay below 85°C; CPU below 90°C under load.
• Clean dust from heatsinks and fans. Reapply thermal paste if temperatures are extreme.
• Underclock GPU slightly using MSI Afterburner if temperatures are borderline.

Step 8: Use Driver Verifier to Isolate Faulty Drivers

If you're getting random BSODs and can't identify the driver:

1. Press Win + R → type verifier → Enter.
2. Select Create standard settings → Next.
3. Select Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer → Finish → Restart.
4. Driver Verifier will intentionally crash the system when a problematic driver is detected, showing the exact driver name in the BSOD.
5. After identifying the driver, disable Driver Verifier: verifier /reset in an elevated command prompt.

Warning: Driver Verifier increases BSOD frequency intentionally. Only use on a system that can afford temporary instability.

Step 9: Perform a Clean Boot

Third-party software (antivirus like McAfee mfehidk.sys, Kaspersky, Sophos; VPN drivers like sgravpn.sys, nordvpn) can cause BSODs.

1. Press Win + R → type msconfig → Services tab.
2. Check Hide all Microsoft services → Disable all.
3. Go to Startup tab → Open Task Manager → Disable all startup items.
4. Restart and test. If no BSOD occurs, re-enable services in batches to isolate the culprit.

Step 10: Windows Reset as Last Resort

If all else fails:

1. Go to Settings → System → Recovery → Reset this PC.
2. Choose Keep my files first. If BSODs continue after reset, choose Remove everything.
3. This reinstalls Windows while optionally preserving personal files.