Windows and Hard Drive Error Codes

Error codes.

When your XUM product encounters a problem, it will often display an error code. These codes are designed to help direct you to identify the source of the problem and if possible direct you to a solution.

These error codes generally fall into three distinct categories. For more information, click the hyperlinks in the category titles, (they link to the code explanations):

1. Windows Error codes. These are most often referred to as Blue Screen errors as many Windows errors are displayed on a Blue screen with white text.
2. Hard Drive Error codes. The hard drive in your system has a built-in diagnostic capability called S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) which can report pending failures or report the cause of a failure.

What can I do when I get one of these errors?

1. Windows Error codes.
   • When Windows encounters certain situations, it halts and the resulting diagnostic information is displayed in white text on a blue screen. The appearance of these errors is where the term "Blue Screen Error" has come from. These error codes usually start with "STOP 0xXXXXXXXX" (the Xs represent various letter and number codes that point toward the cause of the error. For Windows 8, the blue screen has changed significantly, and now displays an ASCII frown face =( and the statement "Your PC ran into a problem that it couldn't handle, and now it needs to restart." followed by the error type. The familiar "0xXXXXXXXX" error codes are only listed in more information links on the error page.
   • XUM article on Windows errors please refer to our article for Windows 10 crashes to a blue screen
   • For additional assistance with these types of errors, refer to these Microsoft articles check out this article to Troubleshoot blue screen errors with Windows 10

1. Hard Drive Error codes.
   
   Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) may have specific internal diagnostic capabilities called S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) which work in conjunction with the system Basic Input/Output System (BIOS).
   • Hard drive error codes usually appear as alpha-numeric codes on plain text messages before Windows loads such as:
     
     "SMART Failure Predicted on Hard Disk 0: (Manufacturer and model information)
     WARNING: Immediately back-up your data and replace your hard drive. A failure may be imminent.
     Press F1 to Continue."
     
     In most cases, S.M.A.R.T. errors will trigger a message to run diagnostics. If you encounter a S.M.A.R.T. error confirm the error with XUM support.