This video explains why your computer crashes

Shawn Knight

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It’s not uncommon to be plodding along in any given computer program when disaster strikes. For whatever reason, the program locks up and ultimately crashes completely - maybe even taking down the entire system in the process. But have you ever wondered why that is the case or what caused the issue?

Dr. Steve Bagley from Computerphile recently published a YouTube video that shines some light on what’s happening behind the scenes.

In the clip, he uses an Atari Falcon from the early ‘90s for the simple fact that it can really only run one program at a time. This makes it easier to crash a program and see what went wrong versus using a modern, more complex computer.

The video covers everything from basic and “bad” software crashes to hardware faults and even cosmic rays!

Found is a TechSpot feature where we share clever, funny or otherwise interesting stuff from around the web.

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My computers never crash except the partition having games on it, which is due to secure rom or whatever it's called, a rootkit. The att uverse crashes about once a week tho, usually out for an hour. I've found lots of reputable websites like the chicago tribune or the emails from the library I used to work at have router altering malware or scripts that alter my outlook and internet explorer settings. I noted that the tribune website was once logging on to the ip address of my router, and lately even going to it in firefox without linux disables uverse for some time.
 
So... with today's computers, can a game running in user-mode cause system lockups or is that only possible with exec level programs like device drivers and interrupt handlers? I'm thinking of Battlefield 4 prior to the last few client patches. There were both "friendly" and unfriendly crashes. Could I justly blame the latter on nVidia?

BTW, that M68000 assembly language is so sexy. I used to be fluent in its use on the Amiga 1000 and B2000 during the late '80s and early '90s. Sadly, I developed an allergy toward assembly language when I met the Intel x86 and never advanced further.
 
And there I was thinking that it was Julie Bishop's Death Stare that crashed computers.
 
I guess this guys brain has been hit by to many cosmic rays. Hahahaha. That is why he speaks funny. Wow to make things interesting for him you have to go out there for he is out there. hahaha. There is a thing called magnetic shielding. Can't do nothing about it?
 
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