How To 

How Do I Fix a Red Screen of Death?

Just like other screens of death, Red Screen of Death (RSOD) is also sometimes displayed on the computer. When Red Screen of Death is displayed, the computer does not allow any modifications and it stops accepting any commands from keyboard or mouse. The only option in such cases is that users have is to cold boot the computer.

Red Screen of Death occurs due to the issues with the graphics card that a computer system may have. Many times the graphics card driver and/or its corresponding application automatically installs softOSD.exe and sds64a.sys files that are the main cause of the issue.

Sometimes cold boot in the computer rectifies the issue. However there might be times when some advanced modifications are required to be made to the computer in order to resolve the problem, and make Windows 8 run flawlessly.

The modifications involve the removal of softOSD.exe file along with removing sds64a.sys file, provided the latter is not located in the ‘C:\Windows\System32\drivers’ folder.

Since the Red Screen of Death issue is related to the graphics card, it is unlikely that the error would prevent the computer from booting successfully each time it is powered on. However, in case the appearance of Red Screen of Death is quite frequent, Windows 8 can be restarted in safe mode by going to PC settings window and clicking on the Restart now option under Advanced startup section, and following the on-screen instructions thereafter.

Even if Windows 8 is started in normal mode or in safe mode, the process given below remains identical when it comes to removing the programmatic files from the computer.

How to Fix a Red Screen of Death in Windows 8?

In order to fix a red screen of death in Windows 8, step-by-step instructions given below must be followed:

    ■Log on to Windows 8 computer with the administrator account.

    ■Click Desktop tile from the Start screen to go to the desktop.

    ■Once on the desktop screen, hover mouse to the bottom right corner.

    ■From the displayed options, click Settings.

    ■From Settings pane, click Control Panel.

    ■On Control Panel window, click Programs category.

    ■On Programs window, click Uninstall a program option under Programs and Features
    category from the right pane.

    ■On Programs and Features window, from the right pane, search for softOSD software.

    ■Once searched, right-click the software.

    ■From the displayed menu, click Uninstall/Change.

    ■On the displayed confirmation box, click Yes to remove the selected application from Windows 8.

    Note: Skip the removal of sds64a.sys file when prompted for deletion which resides in
    C:\Windows\System32\drivers folder.

    ■Close Programs and Features window when done.