Microsoft's 'Meltdown' updates are reportedly bricking AMD PCs
Following reports of unbootable machines, Microsoft has halted updates of its Meltdown and Spectre security patches for AMD computers, according to a support note spotted by the Verge. It made the move after numerous complaints from users who installed the patch and then couldn't get past the Windows 10 splash screen. "To prevent AMD customers from getting into an unbootable state, Microsoft will temporarily pause sending the following Windows operating system updates to devices with impacted AMD processors," it wrote.
[...] "After investigating, Microsoft has determined that some AMD chipsets do not conform to the documentation previously provided to Microsoft to develop the Windows operating system mitigations to protect against the chipset vulnerabilities known as Spectre and Meltdown," the company said.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @01:30PM
As often as not, the medicine can be worse than the disease.
(Score: 5, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday January 10 2018, @01:40PM (4 children)
While I appreciate the thought, I already have an anchor for both ends of my boat and neither of them are infected with Windows.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Funny) by SomeGuy on Wednesday January 10 2018, @03:26PM (3 children)
What, you haven't upgraded to IoT boat anchors? You can locate and control them any time using your cell phone! And they can send live status updates right to your Twitter feed! That is such a killer feature, everybody absolutely positively has to have it. In a few more years you won't be able to find those oooold non-IoT boat anchors and new boats won't work with the old ones anyway. Never mind the built in advertising or phoning home, they are stuffed full of lovely bright blue LEDs! Consumertards are buying these by the dozens, and they don't even have boats!
:P
(Or were you just saying your boat anchors run a custom Linux build) :P
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday January 10 2018, @06:41PM (2 children)
Naw, iOS. Why? Because it's just so damned satisfying throwing an iOS device in the lake.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @08:34PM (1 child)
With or without the optional rope app?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:20PM
With, of course. That way you can throw it in the lake as many times as you like.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday January 10 2018, @02:27PM (4 children)
Sounds like Microsoft skimped on the testing. I don't expect them to test their patches on millions of hardware configurations, but from the sound of this, just one check of any older AMD CPU would have revealed this problem.
As for blaming it on AMD's bad documentation, LOL. Bad documentation is endemic. A major guilty party in that is none other than Microsoft. You know, undocumented functionality in the Windows API that gives MS software an unfair edge, the "standard" known as OOXML among the deliberate mess that is the Word doc format, the whole "extend" part of "embrace, extend, extinguish". Manufacturers are always trying to keep secrets. Maybe if Microsoft changed its attitude about documentation, they have the clout to persuade others to follow suit. Meantime, wipe those crocodile tears away and suck it up, MS.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @02:47PM (1 child)
Meh... as if MS would care. It are not their own systems that are not booting any more and their Windows license should take care that they can't be held liable for this.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @02:54PM
MS uses Linux servers for reliability.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:03PM (1 child)
> Sounds like Microsoft skimped on the testing.
Sounds like Microsoft did the usual and let their users do the testing.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:20PM
Sounds like Microsoft did the usual and let their users do the testing.
Yes, which is exactly what they *should* do. Why should MS spend one red cent on testing? That'll just detract from their bottom line. Instead, they can let their users deal with any problems in the code, which costs far less. If the users don't like it, they can stop using MS software, but they never do that, so MS might as well push the testing onto them.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @02:45PM (9 children)
Bricked?... or just not booting Windows any more.... two different things.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by SomeGuy on Wednesday January 10 2018, @03:12PM (1 child)
To the the "normal" person, it might as well be bricked. They won't have any way to repair it other than to take it in to a shop. And many of them will simply throw out the machine and buy a new one - that was probably the whole idea of this "glitch".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 11 2018, @03:08AM
Oh come now, enough with the shade throwing.
Just stick in the Windows boot CD / DVD and reinstall.
Like we all do. Every six months.
(Score: 4, Informative) by tibman on Wednesday January 10 2018, @03:25PM (5 children)
Bricked is a term that laypeople have successfully stolen. It no longer means the device is permanently dead unless fixed with a hardware change (or complicated software change). Bricked is now dead without a nerd doing something (including simple software change) to fix it.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @03:55PM
FTFY.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by linkdude64 on Wednesday January 10 2018, @07:14PM (1 child)
Tech illiterates should never have been given "Write" access.
I'll see myself out.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday January 10 2018, @10:44PM
How about a compromise and let them write to /dev/null?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @07:24PM
Oh, like "hacking"?
(Score: 3, Informative) by etherscythe on Thursday January 11 2018, @05:20PM
It has become a more nuanced term.
That is what "soft bricked" means. "Hard bricked" still means what "bricked" used to mean.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday January 10 2018, @05:44PM
Not booting windows is a security improvement (not just against those bugs, as already pointed out below).
Since those people had an AMD to start with, they probably have knowledge, or know someone, who may help use this opportunity to try Linux for their non-gaming uses. That would also contribute to make us all safer.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @05:24PM
Does what it says on the tin. Fully untouchable by Meltdown now!
(Score: 5, Funny) by Bot on Wednesday January 10 2018, @06:02PM (5 children)
The first two words in the summary were encouraging.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday January 10 2018, @10:47PM (1 child)
What have you got against takyon's writing?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday January 11 2018, @01:16AM
> takyon's writing
It's too fast.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday January 10 2018, @10:55PM (2 children)
> The first two words in the summary were encouraging.
Not really. We would have to build a cement sarcophagus around Redmond just to contain the radioactive Clippys.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Thursday January 11 2018, @01:27AM (1 child)
It looks like your dosimeter is not yet glowing. Would you like help with that?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Funny) by etherscythe on Thursday January 11 2018, @05:32PM
FTFY
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"