Rolling bearings are robust and reliable components in mechanical engineering and custom machine construction. Under certain conditions, however, bearing damage to these widely used machine elements can occur, usually resulting from unusual behavior during operation. In the worst case, bearing damage can result in a complete failure of the rolling bearings, which can result in unwanted downtime. Therefore, it is important to detect the first signs of rolling bearing damage early on and to remedy their causes. In this article, we discuss the symptoms of bearing damage, its causes and typical failure modes.