Microsoft's Meltdown and Spectre Patch Is Bricking Some AMD PCs (betanews.com)

Mark Wilson writes: As if the Meltdown and Spectre bug affecting millions of processors was not bad enough, the patches designed to mitigate the problems are introducing issues of their own. Perhaps the most well-known effect is a much-publicized performance hit, but some users are reporting that Microsoft's emergency patch is bricking their computers. We've already seen compatibility issues with some antivirus tools, and now some AMD users are reporting that the KB4056892 patch is rendering their computer unusable. A further issue -- error 0x800f0845 -- means that it is not possible to perform a rollback.

Comments

Score yet another for MS quality control.

[QuietLagoon]

Microsoft really seems to be de-emphasizing quality assurance in the Windows product. Makes me feel real good about the forced updates of Windows 10.

Re:Score yet another for MS quality control.

[greenwow]

After firing the vast majority of their QA, why would they expect anything different than a massive drop in quality? They knew this would happen, but decided to do it anyway.

Re:Score yet another for MS quality control.

[TheDarkMaster]

The new guys at Microsoft (the veterans who have created things like Windows NT have now retired), they have not yet understood that you can not make an operating system with the same techniques and procedures they use to create web pages.

Windows Updates broken in December

[Train0987]

I haven't seen too much online but MS did something to break Windows Updates for many users sometime around Dec 3-5. I have one customer with a couple hundred PC's and Windows Update is still broken on about 70% of them. The only fixes I've seen involve setting the date back on the PC by about 6 months, running Updates again, let it fail, then change the date back to current. The problem with this fix (and the others I've seen) erases the Windows Updates history so it appears they've never been run (and nothing installed prior can be uninstalled)

why no rollback

[HermMunster]

Why does error 0x800f0845 mean rollback is impossible?

Re:why no rollback

[Tablizer]

It causes the Flux Capacitor to revert to 2D matrix transformations, creating more matrices than normal to compensate for dimension loss, which triggers overflows in the TRXR precision-damper register. Next question?

Re:why no rollback

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does error 0x800f0845 mean rollback is impossible?

Error 800f0845 (and similar error detail codes) generally means the post-reboot stage of the auto-installer is fubar'd and since this update apparently didn't bother to create a restore point, then you can't easily rollback unless you happened create a restore point before the auto-installer tried to install this update.

About the only way around these types of errors is to wait until M$FT issues a new windows update troubleshooter which you will probably need to run in safe mode (which also might have to be manually downloaded on another computer depending on how big a mess they made with this original hot fix). Worst case it might involve an in-place upgrade (basically installing windows on top of itself).

Re:why no rollback

[tomxor]

Surely they can just remodulate the the dampening field to allow for higher dimensional transformations in the instruction capacitor in order to invoke the HCF instruction and BURN IT TO HELL!!!11!1

Re:why no rollback

[michaelwigle]

The problem here is that you can't initiate safe mode from a cold boot. Both of those methods require you to have a somewhat working OS to start with. If your Windows 10 crashes dead and you turn it off, there is no way to force it into safe mode during startup like you could with previous versions. This is a significant problem for techs who repair systems that have been unplugged to be delivered to a central location. Yes, you can still stick in a Windows 10 bootable disk and repair from there but you shouldn't have to.

Re:why no rollback

[taustin]

I just dealt with this on a computer with an AMD processor, including the 0x800f0845 error.

Safe mode would not boot.

After enough failed attempts, it offered me the "repair your computer" option.

Two system restores - the most recent and the oldest, failed with the 0x800f0845 errror.

After that, however, a "startup repair" fixed it.

I am writing this on the computer in question.

I have no idea if this will work on all AMD equipped computers, but it certainly worked on this one.

Re:The wonders of the free market

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I've been using Cuban designed CPUs since the 80's and haven't had any of these problems.

How much did Intel pay M$

[banbeans]

How much did Intel pay M$ to brick AMD systems?
*tightens tin foil hat*

It doesn't sound like it's bricked

[rsilvergun]

'bricked' means the hardware is messed up, e.g. you can't reinstall an OS.

I've got some old Athlon boards around I was using until last year. They're great for HTPC if you don't mind a bit of noise from the fan. They make good gaming rigs for e-sports style games if you pair them with something like a 1050 or an RX460. The boards came out after solid state caps were a thing so they last forever.

Re:It doesn't sound like it's bricked

[Fly Swatter]

'bricked' means the hardware is messed up, e.g. you can't reinstall an OS.

Came here to say the same thing, if it will boot from a usb/dvd/cd/floppy/network it isn't bricked.

Re:AM2+ cpus are quite old even intel system from

[The Grim Reefer]

I currently have 4 AM2+ systems running at home and while they are old, they are more then capable for what I need them to do. They're all running Windows 7. So I'll have to look into this before allowing them to be updated.

Processors are not like they were in the 80's and 90's. In the 1980's it was seriously expensive to update, so I didn't do so as often as I did in the 1990's. I probably updated my systems every 2 to 3 years back then. But I don't' see the need to do so anymore. Unless you are a serious gamer, or do a lot of video editing/transcoding there's no need. It's been a while since I played any games, but the Phenom 2 1100T with an NVidia 730 had enough power to keep all of the settings pretty high and no issues with frame rate. Why should people be forced to send perfectly usable hardware to a landfill simply because it's not the latest shiny thing on the market?

Not bricking

[samwichse]

The OS has to be reinstalled.

How is that bricking?

Re:Not bricking

[Mashiki]

How is that bricking?

It's not. You get it, I get it, most /. users get it. Average millennial braindead idiot that's pumping out clickbait? Doesn't get it. But it sure sounds shit hot in the media and drives those clicks doesn't it?

It's the same as hacker, cracker, and phreaker. Only us old people know the difference, to younger kids it's all hacker.

Re:Intel Only

[110010001000]

That doesn't make any sense. AMD is not affected by the bug, so how would Microsoft "fix it"? It is processor specific. Meltdown is INTEL ONLY. But nice spin!

Re: Cuba [Re:The wonders of the free market]

[religionofpeas]

I've been using Swedish designed CPUs

Do they come in a flat pack with a hex wrench ?

The cure is worse than the disease

[GerryGilmore]

I tried - despite down-mods - to warn everyone here that over-reacting to this issue would be a big problem, but nnnnnoooooo. We all had to jump on the Panic Train before it got too crowded. To address a vulnerability that A) requires you to be running malware anyway (specific to Meltdown) and B) is excruciatingly difficult to make work (it took over 20 YEARS to find it!!) and C) is lost in the swarm of thousands of known, easy-to-implement malware, people are ready to brick their systems, suffer XX% performance loss and God knows what next just shows that all sense of perspective has been lost to hype and hysteria. Sad!(TM)

Re:The cure is worse than the disease

[Guyle]

Once a vulnerability is known, if the vulnerability is somehow exploited, and a party is successfully hacked, then the victim becomes liable for whatever resulted from the attack. So yes, now that this is public and those individuals whose moral compasses are pointing south are most likely working to exploit it before patches become widespread, I would feel a sense of urgency about patching my shit. I wouldn't want my company being the first headline of a successful hack and then deal with the aftermath of lawsuits. Whatever probability of likelihood that exists concerning whether a hack will 1) ever happen and 2) what scope of penetration it will allow doesn't matter when it's your ass on the line. That being said, you waving your "I said so!" flag doesn't exactly help anything, either. Has this been overhyped? Probably. Is it still a serious issue? Most definitely. You make it seem like a bug in an update affecting specific systems (and a very small percentage of the market share of desktop PCs, I would add) is a travesty, whereas it's a mistake. Microsoft (like everyone else) makes mistakes. They have a long history of it. They will figure it out and fix it. I would recommend you chill out, have a beer, and let the professionals do their jobs.

Bricking?

[Dawn Keyhotie]

Kids these days don't even know what it means to brick a device.

Here's a hint: A bricked device might as well be a brick. It is unusable for its original purpose, forever.

This incident is nothing more than a fubared update patch. The device (computer) can easily be made useful again by reinstalling the OS, or even waiting for Microsoft to issue a fix. It is certainly not bricked in any sense. Although you might be tempted to throw a brick at it.

Re:AM2+ cpus are quite old even intel system from

[msauve]

"No one at Microsoft intentionally ruined any machines, "

If you think that's true, explain Windows 10.