Summary: The Orange Screen of Death (OSoD) is a critical system failure triggered by a failed GPU or a graphics driver. Read this post to learn more about this typical error screen and how to fix it using various methods like updating graphics drivers, disabling overclocking, etc.
A sudden system crash while playing a game or using a graphic-intensive application can derail your efforts. Numerous user reports have popped up witnessing such crashes with a unique error screen – the Orange Screen of Death error or OSoD. User speculations indicate that an orange screen error is related to either a faulty GPU or missing drivers.
Adding to its complexity, this error has 2 variations – simple orange screen of death with an error code or an orange colored screen with white lines running vertically on it.
There are threads filled with user queries surrounding the orange screen of death, showing that it’s not so uncommon after all. Is orange becoming the new blue? Let’s find out how to resolve this error with some quick DIY methods.
What is an Orange Screen of Death?
The Orange Screen of death or OSoD is a rare critical system failure error screen that mostly occurs due to graphic drivers or GPU issues. In some cases, it comes with an error message or a code, and in some, it shows an orange screen with white lines running vertically.
As mentioned before, the orange screen of death on Windows 10/11 sometimes displays error codes. The most common error codes encountered by the users are –
What Causes an Orange Screen of Death on Windows?
The orange screen of death is mostly associated with issues related to graphics drivers or the GPU. Possible reasons behind this issue are –
- Incorrect Windows installation media architecture selected
- Heap corruption
- Software conflicts
- Corrupt or bad device drivers
- Improperly seated GPU
- Hardware issue
- Overclocked GPU
- Running demanding graphic-intensive applications
How to Fix the Orange Screen of Death on Windows?
No one likes a crashing system or an error that keeps stalling our work. Here are some effective solutions that might help you fix the orange screen of death.
Method 1: Restart the Computer
If you are facing minor issues or bugs and have not rebooted your PC in a while, it is time to do so. Restarting your PC refreshes the RAM and the system memory, which improves its performance.
Restarting your computer also helps you resolve various peripheral and hardware issues that could be causing glitches on your PC. As the orange screen of death is related to a specific component or an underlying bug, restarting your PC should be the first step to put an end to this error screen.
Method 2: Remove External Devices
If restarting the PC does not eliminate the error screen, we can try removing external peripherals like printers, web cameras, cables, controllers, etc. from the computer. As these devices run into compatibility issues sometimes, resulting in glitches, stalled applications, or the unexpected orange screen of death.
Unplug all the external devices first and then restart your PC. This should help you resolve the orange screen error on your Windows PC in a few minutes. Also, check if various components like GPU and RAM are seated or connected properly.
Method 3: Update GPU Drivers
Running a GPU with outdated or broken drivers can result in serious performance issues and crashes while using graphics-intensive applications. A GPU with corrupt drivers can simply crash the application or system and display the orange screen of death on your PC. Updating the GPU drivers can help you eliminate the OSoD error. The steps are as follows –
- Press WINDOWS + X and click on Device Manager.
- Expand the Display Adapter entry.
- Right-click on the subordinate device(s) one by one and click on Update driver.
- Click on Search automatically for drivers.
If available, the process will look for the most recent updates and install them.
Method 4: Turn Off Hardware Acceleration for the Specific Application
Hardware acceleration is a process that allows specific applications to offload certain computing tasks onto specialized hardware components like GPU for increasing efficiency. Some applications like Google Chrome use hardware acceleration to make tasks faster. However, they can sometimes cause problems in certain setups, like computers with dual monitors running two or more intensive applications simultaneously.
If you face the orange screen of death while using the applications with hardware acceleration enabled, simply disable it. This should fix the OSoD issue.
Method 5: Disable Overclocking
Certain GPUs can handle higher clock speeds than their base clock speeds. This allows them to render graphics and perform computing operations quickly and efficiently. However, overclocking is a power-hungry process and requires supporting components and a powerful PSU.
But, overclocking also has adverse effects like overheating systems, damaged processors, and shortened lifespan. These are enough to crash a high-end computer with an orange screen of death, indicating a failed GPU or GPU driver.
Therefore, to fix the orange screen of death on your Windows PC, you can disable overclocking from your GPU and other components.
The Orange Screen of Death has Rendered the System Unbootable. What Now?
Some users encountered the orange screen of death while updating Windows or installing a fresh copy of Windows. This resulted in an unbootable system or computer stuck on BIOS. Such a situation can endanger the data on the disk drive and make it inaccessible.
Such a situation can make anyone feel distressed. However, there is a powerful tool you can use in such scenarios to recover your files from an unbootable computer in a matter of a few clicks.
A professional data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery Professional enables you to create a bootable USB drive. You can use this drive to recover data from unbootable computers or inaccessible drives safely.
Nevertheless, if you are stuck on BIOS or an endless boot loop, try this software to experience its capabilities.
Wrapping It Up
Unlike the infamous blue screen errors, the orange screen of death is majorly caused by a faulty GPU or graphics driver.
The above solutions should help fix the OSoD on your Windows PC. But if none of the methods work, a faulty motherboard or RAM module could be behind this error. In such a scenario, you should contact a hardware professional and get the faulty parts checked & replaced.
P.S. – If you want to know more about a system crash due to an orange screen of death, you can check the event viewer and use the Windbg to analyze the crash dump.
Related Reads
All you need to know about BSoD errors.
Methods to Fix the Nvlddmkm.sys Blue Screen Error
