The
Red Screen of Death (abbreviated
RSoD, sometimes called "Red Screen of Doom") is a nickname for the
error message which existed in some beta versions of
Microsoft's latest
operating system,
Windows Vista. It was dropped in Beta 1 (Build 5112) of Windows Vista for all errors except
boot loader errors. It can also be found (but rarely) in versions and early builds of Microsoft's
Windows 98 operating system, even when it was known as codename "Memphis". A tool is available to change the color of a
Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) to other colors like red, green, etc for
Windows 9x in system.ini.
It also sometimes refers to fatal errors in recent versions of
Lotus Notes. These errors are not full-screen like the
Microsoft red or blue screens of death, but rather are bright red boxes with black borders.
It can also be found on the
Atari Jaguar System when a cartridge loading error occurs or an illegally copied cartridge is inserted. When this occurs, a jaguar roaring sound plays, the red Jaguar logo appears, and the background turns from black to red.
It is also found in some of the more sophisticated flight simulators (such as those of
FlightSafety International). When a pilot crashes the aircraft, every screen in the cockpit turns red. This is usually accompanied by crashing sounds and a few violent kicks from the motion system.
It is also found in the
Playstation 2 if there is a format disc error, it says "Please insert a
Playstation or Playstation 2 format disc." It is accompanied by a sound similar to the browser, but with a more tense noise. This is caused by a disc which does not partner (eg, Xbox or Gamecube disc) or is so badly scratched that it completely fails to recognise the format, or if there is a problem with the laser.
On the
PlayStation Portable, during very rare occasions when the flash0: internal flash disk becomes corrupted, it also displays an RSoD, advising the user to contact Sony technical support. It can be simulated by deleting the INDEX.DAT file from flash0: on the PSP, but this is recommended to advanced users only.
