BORK! BORK! BORK! A Blast from the Past: Classic Windows BSOD in Seville

Today’s bork harks back to the days when Windows exhibited proper crash screens — a nostalgic reminder of the classic Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). This particular display was captured by an alert reader of The Register in the charming Spanish city of Seville.

The image features the five-star Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento hotel, known for its striking curved walls and architecture reminiscent of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. With such grandeur, one might expect high-end signage, but this is not the case, especially when it comes to the hotel's digital displays.

An Unfortunate Digital Glitch

Part of the hotel serves as a conference venue, and the “What’s On” screen shows an unusual, unhappy message. It appears that the display might be an early version of Windows (perhaps Windows 7), warning visitors that the only upcoming event involves a safe boot — a clear sign that the operating system is in distress.

There’s a humorous note about a pizza restaurant serving up “raw” Windows, suggesting a glitch or misconfiguration—perhaps a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the state of the system.

Decoding the Error

The displayed error code, 0x00000024, indicates a disk issue. During startup, pressing F8 could allow running a chkdsk scan to diagnose and repair disk corruption. Alternatively, recent driver updates may have caused kernel issues, reminiscent of the chaos unleashed in the 2024 CrowdStrike incident, where a faulty update spread havoc across Windows devices globally.

A Rare Sight and Modern Changes

The classic BSOD has become increasingly rare, not because Windows is inherently more reliable, but because Microsoft introduced updates that replace the stark blue screen with a more subdued emoticon to signify errors.

However, seeing the old familiar crash screen still brings a certain nostalgic thrill—assuming, of course, that the venue isn’t hosting sessions on obscure error code troubleshooting!

— The Register