The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

Black Screen of Death


    [prob.: related to the Floating Head of Death in a famous Far Side
    cartoon.] A failure mode of Microsloth Windows. On an attempt to launch a
    DOS box, a networked Windows system not uncommonly blanks the screen and
    locks up the PC so hard that it requires a cold boot to recover. This
    unhappy phenomenon is known as The Black Screen of Death. See also Blue
    Screen of Death, which has become rather more common.