On Android, what is a "blue screen" error, and what can I do about it?

Question:

On Android, what is a "blue screen", and what can I do about it?

Answer:

My answer follows.

What is a "blue screen"?

Certain Android devices sometimes become unresponsive and display a plain bright blue screen with no text on it.

What should I do?

First of all, grab a pen and paper, and make a note of the exact time when the blue screen appeared. Hours, minutes, and seconds. This will come in handy if you decide to run adb logcat later.

If you have adb installed on your computer, and if you have enabled "USB debugging" on your device, then adb logcat might (or might not) provide you with some clues as to why the problem happened. In fact, I've always found that adb logcat works fine even while the blue screen is still showing.

If you experience a blue screen and want to make it go away, shut your device off. Either run the adb reboot command, or hold down your device's power button for ten seconds. If that doesn't work, pull the battery out. If your device has a non-removable battery, please leave a comment below.

But why did the blue screen happen?

I don't know.

What should I do once my phone is back to normal?

You should make sure that USB debugging is enabled. This will allow you to use adb logcat in the future. For instructions, see the PhoneArena article by Victor H. entitled "How to enable USB debugging on Android".

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