Microsoft Investigates Windows 7 "Black Screen of Death" 351
duguk writes "Microsoft has confirmed that it is investigating a problem described as the 'black screen of death,' which affects Windows 7 — and reports suggest it affects Vista and XP, too. The firm said it was looking into reports that suggest its latest security update, released on Tuesday 25 November, caused the problem. The error means that users of Windows 7 and earlier operating systems see a totally black screen after logging on to the system." Update: 12/01 22:35 GMT by KD : Microsoft now says that its November Windows updates are not causing the BlackSOD: "The company has found those reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports."
Problem Solved! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Problem Solved! (Score:5, Funny)
I just put a painting in front of the monitor, and then take it away before my kids come over. They think it is so cool I'm into computers.
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Re:Problem Solved! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Problem Solved! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Problem Solved! (Score:4, Funny)
Yay! I'm still young!
Re:Problem Solved! (Score:5, Funny)
Had a secretary at my first job with a similar problem. Reasons for "The computer is broken!":
1.) forgot to turn monitor on.
2.) didn't press power button on desktop
3.) kicked monitor plug near the power strip pulling it out of back of monitor.
4.) stepping on power strip rocker switch.
5.) somehow put the entire OS in dutch.
Re:Problem Solved! (Score:5, Funny)
Perfect leesbaar, toch ?
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We had to settle for volcanic plains.
At least you kept warm.. In my day the temperature never got above -10 Kelvin.
Re:Problem Solved! (Score:5, Funny)
At least you kept warm.. In my day the temperature never got above -10 Kelvin.
My home town nearly went to zero Kevins back in 1978.
It was a particularly cold winter, and we were already down to 3 Kevins (due to their low popularity at the time).
Kevin Thomas had flown out to be with his son's family for a wedding and got stuck in Boston for a whole week due to the weather. 2 Kevins left.
Kevin Lemmer was rushed to the hospital during my shift. I still remember the call from the EMTs as the ambulance was rushing toward us. "It's Lemmer. He's in bad shape. Drove right into the fucking ditch." We called the time of death at 6:15 PM.
At 6:16, all eyes turned to room 2217. Kevin Spencer was 82 and on his death bed with leukemia. His family being Catholic, he had already been given his last rights. If he couldn't hold out until Kevin Thomas returned, we would be at zero Kevins. Sure, we had 4 perfectly healthy Calvins, but they're just not the same.
It was 7:15 when Carla Brooks and her husband James burst through the main entrance. "She's not due for 2 weeks!", James exclaimed. As the staff bustled around getting the Brookses settled, they exchanged darting glances with each other. This was their first child, and they wanted to keep the baby's sex a secret. Of course, in a small town, secrets don't get kept. Nearly all of the hospital staff new that the child about to rip open Mrs. Brooks was indeed a boy.
The delivery was routine, and Kevin Brooks was born healthy, if a tad underweight, at 10:52 PM. Kevin Spencer was pronounced dead at 10:54.
It was, as they say, a close one. Kevin Thomas arrived two days later, the weather having finally cleared up. To this day, we still rib him about it.
Cedar Falls is currently at 5 Kevins.
BSOD (Score:4, Funny)
Re:BSOD (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft heard all the buzz about 'skinning' apps and figured they'd one up them and skin an integral part of windoze
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It won't be Windows 10 though. Because Microsoft expects to crush all competition by that time, 'Windows' will become simply 'OS'. And because the number 10 isn't marketable enough, it will be replaced with a Roman numeral.
Can confirm the issue from personal experience (Score:4, Informative)
in that instance another forced reboot brought the system back as normal - I have no explanation
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A little off-topic, but I've been recommending people stay away from AVG free and check out Microsoft Security Essentials.
Yes, I know I'm recommending a Micrsoft product. But it has a much lower footprint, and better detection.
Re:Can confirm the issue from personal experience (Score:4, Informative)
Or at the very least, just don't use AVG Free.
Last I tried it (don't know if it's improved) it would tell you about an infection in a file, but wouldn't offer any way to clean the file. To clean infections you had to manually run a full scan. IIRC, this was AVG 7, though it sounds like the behaviour of a v0.7 virus scanner to me.
When I found out that Avast Home (aka free) would not only allow me to clean infected files when they were found, but would go as far as scanning incoming HTTP replies and cutting connections if it saw an incoming infection attempt, before the data got to the browser, I switched and haven't looked back.
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It takes a lot more than something that is a slightly different way of doing things than the user+group model to get "light years beyond" it - let alone every other feature on the different platforms. Personally I see the ability of people to grant their own permissions to others without authorisation as a major security hole in the entire way it is implemented on the MS platform so consider it a step backwards. Yo
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This is the one thing I wish linux had... Windows style file/directory permissions.
The 3 bit file permissions of RWX is so... 20 years ago
Not all the permissions in Windows are useful but here are a couple that I would love to see in *NIX systems -List directory contents -Create new files/folders -Delete
Sorry but after reading that, I have to conclude you are not very knowledgable about Unix and Unix-like systems. All of these apply to *nix:
A user can list the contents of a directory if he has execute (X) permissions for that directory.
A user can create new files/folders in a directory if he has write (W) permissions for that directory.
A user can delete a file if he has write (W) permissions on that file.
*nix permissions have three categories: owner, group, and all users. It does not matter fo
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A user can list the contents of a directory if he has execute (X) permissions for that directory.
A user can create new files/folders in a directory if he has write (W) permissions for that directory.
A user can delete a file if he has write (W) permissions on that file.
You actually only got 1 out of 3 correct.
A user can list the contents of a directory if he has R permissions on that directory. The X bit controls whether that directory can be an element of a pathname which is being accessed. In other
Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:4, Interesting)
Firewall the bugger & leave it be. Works for me
Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:4, Funny)
What the hell do you do with an unpatched box from 2003?
Play Solitaire?
Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:5, Insightful)
He might not do much with it, but the botnet it's on has plenty of uses.
Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:4, Funny)
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Heh, you couldn't be more wrong if you stood on your head & farted to the tune of "When Johnny comes marching home again"
Hey, don't knock it. That's how I welcomed my family on Thanksgiving.
solitaire? (Score:2)
Play Solitaire?
It also shipped with Calculator and Pinball. Loads of fun right there.
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Install Office 97 and load up the flight sim?
Disconnect all the fans and use it as a space heater on cold nights?
By now, though, I suspect this is the only possible outcome:
http://xkcd.com/350/ [xkcd.com]
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Cue the characteristic Slashdot flavor of older-than-you elitism! Oh wait, I'm too late...
But seriously, completely irrelevant age differences aside: There's a reason why Microsoft catches flak for security holes, and also a very good reason for why they so adamantly encourage people to update their OS as often as possible. Microsoft (and certainly your full comprehension of the vulnerability of the OS) are far from infallible; their software is extremely complicated and will always present new bugs and des
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Your machine, by contrast, is probably as stable as a two legged cow. However it's most likely fully patched
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Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:5, Funny)
Securing windows is like pushing water uphill with a sharp stick.
So, if I follow what you're saying, securing windows is much easier when it freezes?
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No, no, you're looking at it all wrong. What he really means is that securing windows is much easier when you use a blunt stick. Like, say, a sledgehammer.
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I only use minimal manual antivirus (mostly just with www.virustotal.com on occasional suspect files) and work behind a firewall
I've installed the service packs after they've been out for a while, but that's really it
the most dangerous activity -- web browsing -- is made nearly perfectly safe by using firefox + noscript
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Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:5, Insightful)
Let me just start by saying... You are soooo cool. You're running an Operating System from 2003. I hope you're not in IT. I can imagine you telling your management, "we're running Solaris 8/9 and have never applied any patches." I also hope you're not a developer that has made updates/fixes to your products so you can say to your customers, "How come you've never applied any of my updates? I've slaved over this code for the past seven years!"
And since this is /., where everyone brags about their personal machine in their basement, I hope you've never run apt-get update and still run firefox 1.x/2.x (or whatever version was around in 2003).
Or do you think that all fixes in linux/firefox are better than even service packs in winXP...
I also hope you've never fixed your car or a leaky faucet..
Because that would make you a hypocrite.
Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score:5, Funny)
Lookeee here, guys! Someone who claims to be a senior IT security "technician" who has never heard of defense in depth!
He even thinks server-side virus-scan can catch as much malware as the client-side stuff does. Guess he's never heard of behavior-based virus detection, either? And his grand security architecture posture is simply "don't use much of the internet." There's sophistication for you.
But then, he's extrapolated his advice based on a single poorly-measured datapoint. Who are we to question him?
Nice of them to change the color (Score:5, Funny)
i was getting tired of the blue screen
Re:Nice of them to change the color (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Nice of them to change the color (Score:5, Interesting)
I believe the change was implemented in order to prevent phosphor burn-in on older CRT monitors.
Actually, blue was chosen deliberately because zinc sulfide silver (blue phosphor in CRTs) is more resistant to burnout than the other phosphors, thus ensuring more even color rendition over time. It was a feature, not a bug :-). With no burnout problems in LCD panels, they went with black.
Re:Nice of them to change the color (Score:4, Funny)
Microsoft felt guilty about not allowing you to change the desktop picture in Windows Starter Edition, so they realeased this variation of the BSoD to everyone, to make up for it.
See: they're not totally evil*.
*may be totally evil
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Black is the new blue?
Re:Nice of them to change the color (Score:5, Funny)
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Wait, you got that mixed up with a screenshot from Doom 3.
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I also BSOD after 10 hours or so due to IRQ conflicts, which cannot be resolved until I buy a floppy drive so that windows can install RAID driviers in the most archaic way possible.
Thanks Windows
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Is this a WHQL certified driver or a bleeding edge driver? Might try a WHQL.
IRQ conflicts? Are those even possible on modern hardware and OS--what version of Windows are you running? Anyway, you could always slipstream drivers onto a Windows CD, it's really not bad to do.
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Actually, under Vista with the latest drivers for my video card and sound card, it would bluescreen with "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" about ten or fifteen seconds after login. Under XP, it got "BAD_POOL_ERROR" randomly.
Fortunately, both Linux and Windows 7 work just fine on it.
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It's a WHQL. It has something to do with their nv4_disp.dll library.
"IRQ conflicts? Are those even possible on modern hardware and OS--what version of Windows are you running? Anyway, you could always slipstream drivers onto a Windows CD, it's really not bad to do."
Win XP pro. It's on a DFI Lanparty UT CFX3200 Mobo, so you can determine if that's modern or not.
I'm still looking into slipstreaming the drivers and how that might aff
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What the heck version of Windows are you using? Vista and 7 both support installing RAID drivers from USB in the installer.
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it's a joke
i can count the number of blue screens and viruses i've had on my windows PC's in the last 10-15 years on one hand.
and i am counting each finger only once.
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Still not that many though.
Henry Gates Ford: (Score:5, Funny)
"You can have any screen of death color you want, as long as it's black"
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Hmm (Score:2)
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It's too dark because of the power failure to tell if the cord is plugged in
The more things change (Score:2)
It's nice to see they decided to forgo the cryptic error messages and offer the goth crowd a nice abyss to stare into.
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Don't stare too long into the abyss. If you do, Steve Ballmer's head appears and starts chanting, "Developers! Developers! Developers!" and occasionally cackling maniacally.
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If you gaze into Windows long enough, Windows gazes also into you...
*slain by zombie Nietzsche*
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It's nice to see they decided to forgo the cryptic error messages and offer the goth crowd a nice abyss to stare into.
The message is there. However, the preceding line is: COLOR 00
Had this myself.. not a showstopper (Score:3, Informative)
Had this the other day (Win7 Ultmate, Q6600 8GB RAM) it sat for a couple of minutes (there was some disk activity). Afterwards everything was fine; I chalked it up to an update and looks as though I was right.
Finally... (Score:5, Funny)
The headline should read "Microsoft finds way to make an Operating System 100% secure".
Once the Black (screen of) Death Security Pack is installed, the computer locks up after login, meaning the user will not be able to surf to dangerous pages, will not be the victim of even the most clever social engineering hacks, and best of all won't see any spam any more, ever.
Users protected by the BsoDSP can feel free to emerge from their basements and experience RealWorld 1.0. It's like a MMORPG, but with real sex.
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Well, true, but I assume the BsoDSP is like the BSOD - the network card isn't operating any more, and therefore by definition the computer is not connected to the Internet.
However, if this leaves the machine running in the background AFTER login, then reverse that, "Microsoft finds a way to make an Operating System ONLY accessible to hackers!"
If that's the case, we can pretty much call this Windows 7 Service pack ME.
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Sadly, reports of real sex have been greatly exaggerated.
Optical problem (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Optical problem (Score:5, Funny)
I looked into my suitcase
And much to my surprise
I realized I couldn't see a thing
If I closed my eyes.
Headline is misleading (Score:5, Informative)
The issue is not limited to Win7 but effects most versions of windows. A ACL bug causes the black screen http://www.prevx.com/blog/140/Black-Screen-woes-could-affect-millions-on-Windows--Vista-and-XP.html [prevx.com]
Re:Headline is misleading (Score:4, Informative)
2) Logon and wait for the black screen to appear
3) Make sure your PC should be able to connect to the internet (black screen does not appear to affect this)
4) Press the CTRL, ALT and DEL keys simultaneously
5) When prompted, Click Start Task Manager
6) In Task Manager Click on the Application Tab
7) Next Click New Task
8) Now enter the command:
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" "http://info.prevx.com/download.asp?GRAB=BLACKSCREENFIX"
And this my friends, is exactly why Windows is not ready for the desktop in 2009. I mean, you have to type in random junk into the command line to fix a buggy Microsoft patch - Can we expect grandma to be able to do this? More must be done to make Windows user friendly to all!
Re:Headline is misleading (Score:4, Informative)
that's actually the really dumb way of doing it. Turns out, you can just run explorer, and continue as if you had booted normally.
So:
1) Boot
2) Login
3) Get Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del)
4) File -> New Task (Run...)
5) Type "explorer" (no quotes) - Windows should now be running normally
6) Click on ericthughes's link above
7) Download and run the file they have linked there
It's even simpler if you just understand that the screen is blank because explorer (desktop process, should always be running) didn't start.
Or at least, that's how I've experienced the problem. It's not so much a BSoD as a "this process forgot to start."
Honestly, the only part that scares me is that I have to run their exe. I can function without this fix, and will wait for the official fix next week.
happened to me over a month ago (Score:4, Interesting)
On my MSI Wind netbook running Windows 7, I once woke the system from sleep and got a black screen. The machine was still working, the mouse cursor was on screen and moved with the touchpad, there was disk activity, it connected to the wireless network, caps lock/num lock were still responsive, but nothing else appeared on the screen and nothing I did made it work. I had to manually power the system off. I was able to wake the system from sleep many times before and after without any problems.
I didn't notice any updates that the problem could have been correlated with.
How much more black can it be? None more black. (Score:2)
I guess a bunch of people were sitting around at Microsoft after watching Spinal Tap and decided to do a tribute patch.
Happened to me on a Server 2003 box (Score:5, Interesting)
I had this happen a year or so ago on a Server 2003 box and never could find the actual cause. I don't know if the fix is the same in this case, but in my case it was simple:
Check out [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors] - if everything is set to [0 0 0], modify those values to something other than black. The easiest thing to do, actually, is to export that key from another box that's good, then import on the box that's got the problem.
Windows Genuine Disadvantage (Score:2)
Anyone know if some descendant of WGA is part of Win 7? The description of the problem in TFA (and also the corresponding Inq article [theinquirer.net] reminds me of a botched WGA "software self-help" thing.
Of course, it could just be a garden-variety bug in something besides WGA.
patches may make Win 7 not genuine (Score:5, Informative)
11/28 come back from vacation turn my computer on and it updates itself with the 11/25 patches. As soon as they are installed all of a sudden my copy is no longer genuine and I get all the warnings.
Spend 2 hours with Microsoft last night. product key is valid. They tell me that windows updater is corrupted and I need to reinstall the entire OS. I was told it is an "issue" when doing a custom upgrade from Vista.
Now this article is out I am wondering if their patches tried to tighten some DRM and broke a lot more then being reported.
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11/24 my windows machine is working perfectly,....11/28 come back from vacation turn my computer on and it updates itself with the 11/25 patches. As soon as they are installed all of a sudden my copy is no longer genuine and I get all the warnings....Spend 2 hours with Microsoft last night. product key is valid. They tell me that windows updater is corrupted and I need to reinstall the entire OS. I was told it is an "issue" when doing a custom upgrade from Vista.
Best argument for mac, linux, freebsd (insert your favorite non-DRMed OS here) ever.
It angers me to NO END that tech supports answer to all computer problems is "re-format and re-install". It is somewhat understandable since it can be very hard to figure out what kind of mess a machine is in on the end of a phone... but all consumer OSes should be able to boot into a live CD version of the OS that gives tech support access to the machine so they can diagnose the actual problem.
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i visit the Mac forums because i have an iphone and a Mac Mini as well as a bunch of PC's. Apple is just as bad. some of the oldtime Mac users will even tell you never to buy Apple hardware when it's first released and buy a silent revision that comes out a few months later. and they say that most products have problems. the big thing now is DOA quad core iMac's due to crappy packaging
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Apple is just as bad.
Yes, Apple customer care will also recommend reformat and reinstall all too often. Although, if you take the time an effort and drag your machine into the genius bar, they will often do better.
some of the oldtime Mac users will even tell you never to buy Apple hardware when it's first released
Umm... not some. ALL mac users worth their salt know that you never buy the first version of a new design.
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Ummm... what? Mac OSX is just as locked down as Windows.
Mac OSX is proprietary, but it isn't DRMed. There is no license-key to enter when installing the OS, and it never "phones home" to check if it is a valid copy.
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Re:patches may make Win 7 not genuine (Score:4, Informative)
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All of them? (Score:2)
The error means that users of Windows 7 and earlier operating systems...
Whew! I'm so relieved I'm running Windows 8 on my main pc. My server running Windows 3.11 is probably in trouble though, I'll have to see...
Happened to me twice ... (Score:3, Informative)
Solution (Score:2)
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"Last known good configuration" only rolls back HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet. I imagine if it's truly been borked by an update you'd need to go into the recovery console and roll-back the system to an earlier restore point.
Hit me twice in 2 days (Score:3, Informative)
first was while playing a game online, and I though it was the game that crashed. Black screen, nothing worked, but the background music from the game kept playing. I waited longer than 5 minutes to see if the game would exit. When it did not I got suspicios since protected memory in 7 should not have allowed the gamr to crash the kernel. NOTHIGN was in the error logs related to it (other than the obligitory "you did not shut down properly" errors after I hit the reset button on the tower.
Next day, I had just turned it on about 20 minutes earlier, and the only thing running was Opera. Same deal, complete lock up.
7 has been running great on this machine since the day it hit my MAPS dowload queue and I installed it. Not one crash prior except an issue installing HP's printer system first time around (second try, it worked flawlessly).
A step back ward. (Score:2)
But in an effort to push Windows7 footprint small enough to be used in netbooks, thus eventually killing WinXP, they have sacrificed this improved version, going back even farther than XP's blue screen of death to black screen. It is truly sad, Microsoft is not even able to improve the Screen of Death experience.
blackscreen ? (Score:2, Funny)
Ah Ha! (Score:2)
'Ah ha!' said the blind man, as he fell into the hole.
I can confirm it happens on Vista 32-bit... (Score:2)
I had the "Black Screen of Death" happen in the past week on two full-patched (and legal) Windows Vista 32-bit machines after recent patches. Both times the display wouldn't come back up. The system did not display anything when access via Microsoft Remote Desktop, VNC, and Dameware Utilites Mini Remote Control--these are all various ways to access a machine remotely. However, the systems was still allowing access to file and printer shares and I could perform remote administration via various utilities and
It's a feature (Score:3)
Translation of Microsoft's Official Denial (Score:3)
> Microsoft now says that its November Windows updates are not causing
> the BlackSOD: "The company has found those reports to be inaccurate
> and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently
> released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports."
"We know those reports are inaccurate because we already knew about this before releasing the November updates and so it couldn't possibly be related to the November updates. It is an issue that we are having considerable difficulties fixing hence not being fixed in the November updates and hoped that nobody would have commented about it so soon."