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  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Windows takes a crash dump after one McDonald's order too many

(2026/04/15)


Bork!Bork!Bork! Windows is doing what it does best in California, with a Blue Screen of Death on the wall of a fast food restaurant where order progress is supposed to be.

Spotted by a Register reader in Healdsburg, a town in Sonoma County, the screen should inform patrons of the progress of their order in the McDonald's kitchen. It is, however, showing the progress of a Windows crash dump, which appears to be at 100 percent.

[1]

Order screen showing Windows Blue Screen of Death

The layout of the screen of baleful blue indicates that it is at least a relatively recent version of Windows. However, despite the modernity of the technology on show, some old habits never die. In this case, Windows is opting to fall into a heap rather than do something as complicated as showing columns of order numbers.

The bork desk has fond memories of the days before order screens. In years gone by, a human would take an order after the customer had scrutinized the greasy delights on the heated shelves behind to ensure the required feast was readily available.

[2]Showing the Windows 10 desktop was the yeast they could do

[3]Windows asks a networking question on a Stratford billboard

[4]When a billboard survives the wind, but not the boot

[5]To BSOD or not to BSOD? Only Microsoft knows the answer

Now a screen must be jabbed and hands washed before waiting in front of the order screen. Or, in this case, wondering if the kitchen systems are as thoroughly borked as those front-of-house.

It's hard to see, but the error looks like the classic IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL , which Windows usually spits out when a driver or other code stomps on memory it shouldn't. It could be that the system behind the scenes has undergone an update that caused instability, or that something has become corrupted.

To be fair, consuming a few too many of the products on sale in such an establishment could cause the human equivalent of a Blue Screen of Death followed by a crash dump, so the order screen could be more of a salutary warning rather than Windows throwing a wobble.

[6]

"Mummy, what's that noise from the bathroom?"

[7]

"Oh, it's just Uncle Bob, halfway through a crash dump…" ®

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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2026/04/15/bork_4.jpg

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/08/windows_desktop_bakery/

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/06/windows_asks_a_networking_question/

[4] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/03/when_a_billboard_survives_the/

[5] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/28/rsac_bork/

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ad-2IF9m4wthMj3zEvKSLwAAA5g&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ad-2IF9m4wthMj3zEvKSLwAAA5g&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/



Scrap the BSOD, read the sticker

b0llchit

The best is the sticker under the BSOD: Braille and picture menus available .

The blind will certainly be able to read this sticker and ask for the Braille menu. Oh, wait...

The analphabets will certainly be able to read this sticker and ask for the picture menu. Oh, wait...

aardvarkus

I thought crash dump was the aftermath of eating McD's "food".

xyz

Naw, that's a Trump dump

...And no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured
we may be about certain aspects of our belief, there are always painful
inconsistencies, exceptions, and contradictions. This is true in religion as
it is in politics, and is self-evident to all except fanatics and the naive.
As for the fanatics, whose number is legion in our own time, we might be
advised to leave them to heaven. They will not, unfortunately, do us the
same courtesy. They attack us and each other, and whatever their
protestations to peaceful intent, the bloody record of history makes clear
that they are easily disposed to resort to the sword. My own belief in
God, then, is just that -- a matter of belief, not knowledge. My respect
for Jesus Christ arises from the fact that He seems to have been the
most virtuous inhabitant of Planet Earth. But even well-educated Christians
are frustrated in their thirst for certainty about the beloved figure
of Jesus because of the undeniable ambiguity of the scriptural record.
Such ambiguity is not apparent to children or fanatics, but every
recognized Bible scholar is perfectly aware of it. Some Christians, alas,
resort to formal lying to obscure such reality.
-- Steve Allen, comedian, from an essay in the book "The Courage of
Conviction", edited by Philip Berman