Kernel panics are serious computer errors caused by malfunctioning hardware or poorly written software. They freeze or restart the system and display diagnostic information. They are triggered by various error conditions, including invalid memory access and faulty hardware. Kernel panics originated with early UNIX systems and are also known as “blue screens of death” in Windows. They shut down the system to prevent further damage and provide useful debugging information for technicians.
A kernel panic is an operating system’s response to certain types of serious computer errors. It usually displays and saves diagnostic information and then freezes the computer system or restarts. Kernel panics are usually caused by problems with malfunctioning hardware or poorly written software. They are used by operating system kernels to warn users and prevent further problems once errors are found.
Many error conditions can cause a kernel panic, including kernel code attempting to access invalid memory. Most computer hardware devices include drivers that are part of the kernel or are dynamically loaded. Problems with these devices or their drivers can also trigger kernel panics. Interrupt handlers, present in many parts of the kernel, often cause panic if critical errors occur during execution. A faulty or damaged hard drive, system file, processor, or memory can also cause a panic.
The term kernel panic originated with early UNIX® systems. Many of these only displayed a short error message and then repeated endlessly, waiting for a reboot or power cycle. As UNIX® evolved, more useful debugging information was generated during the panic. The Linux® operating system coined the term “Linux® kernel oops” to reflect a number of serious mistakes. Some Linux® “oops” errors cause a kernel panic while others do not.
Microsoft Windows® users are usually familiar with “blue screens of death”. Also known as bug checking, this is the Windows® equivalent of a kernel panic, triggered by similar conditions. Like modern UNIX® and Linux® systems, Windows® attempts to save a snapshot of system memory to the hard drive during a bug check. In some cases, the image will be written to non-volatile memory during the panic and copied to the hard drive upon reboot. However, if the cause of the panic is a disk failure, the system may not be able to preserve the memory dump.
Quite often, it is possible that the operating system will continue to work after a critical failure has occurred. The reason a kernel panic shuts down the system is to prevent any further damage to the software, hardware, or memory contents. Shutting down the system in this state may retain enough information for a technician to determine the cause. The data displayed often includes specifics about the type of error and the module of code that was running at the time. It can also show all loaded drivers and allow a user to run a debugger to look into the problem.
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