Latest Microsoft patches cause black screen of death

[Gwarsbane]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...creen_of_death

Latest Microsoft patches cause black screen of death
By Jeremy Kirk
November 30, 2009 07:05 AM ET

IDG News Service - Microsoft's latest round of security patches appears to be causing some PCs to seize up and display a black screen, rendering the computer useless.

The problem affects Microsoft products including Windows 7, Vista and XP operating systems, said Mel Morris , the CEO and CTO for the U.K. security company Prevx.

Prevx was alerted to the problem by users of its security software last week, Morris said. Microsoft apparently made changes to the Access Control List (ACL), a list of permissions for a logged-on user. The ACL interacts with registry keys, creating visible desktop features such as a sidebar.

However, the latest patches appear to make some changes to those registry keys. The effect is that some installed applications aren't aware of the changes and don't run properly, causing a black screen, Morris said.

Security applications seem to be particularly affected. Morris said users of other security products have also complained about the issue, even going so far as trying to reinstall the operating system to fix it.

"If you've got this problem, it's massively debilitating," Morris said.

Prevx has released software that fixes the registry to match the ACL settings, which should resolve the problem, Morris said. Users could do this on their own by modifying their registry settings, but making alterations to those settings is risky since it can severely affect how the operating system runs.

On Nov. 10, Microsoft released 15 patches for vulnerabilities in Windows, Windows Server, Excel and Word.

Morris said Microsoft was likely just trying to fortify the security of the operating systems when it inadvertently made the error in its patches. "It's one of those things that happens from time to time when you have a dynamic operating system," he said.

Morris said his company hasn't contacted Microsoft yet but will send the company a copy of the software fix.

Prevx has more detail on the issue on its blog and posted the software fix, which is free.

Windows has at least 10 different issues that could potentially cause a black screen, wrote Dave Kennerley who works in support for Prevx.

"Our advice is try our tool first," Kennerley said. "If it works, great. If it doesn't, you are no worse off."

Microsoft officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...reen_of_death_

A few links at the above URL

Microsoft investigates Windows 'black screen of death'
Looking into reports that recent security updates trigger blank screens
By Gregg Keizer
November 30, 2009 03:59 PM ET

Computerworld - Microsoft today confirmed that it is looking into reports that November's security updates have triggered a black screen on some Windows users' PCs.

"Microsoft is investigating reports that its latest release of security updates is resulting in system issues for some customers," said a company spokesman in an e-mail Monday. "Once we complete our investigation, we will provide detailed guidance on how to prevent or address these issues."

The reports Microsoft alluded to stemmed from U.K.-based security vendor Prevx, which claimed last Thursday that the Windows security updates issued on Nov. 10 changed Access Control List (ACL) entries in the registry, preventing some installed software from running properly. The result, said Prevx, is a black screen, sometimes dubbed "black screen of death" in a sop to the "blue screen of death" that Windows puts up after a major system crash.

Prevx added that security software seemed to be especially affected.

Although the Microsoft spokesman said the company would provide additional information once its support and security teams complete their investigations, it was unclear Monday exactly how extensive the problem was, or how many users were affected.

Searches of Microsoft's support forums today, for example, turned up only one "black screen" thread with posts after the Nov. 10 security updates had been released. Four different users on that Windows 7-specific thread said that they faced a blank screen.

On Nov. 19, a moderator of the support forum suggested a workaround that involved starting another Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) process. Prevx essentially gave the same advice a week later when it told users with blank screens how to download a free tool it said would fix the problem.

Microsoft's November collection of patches addressed 15 vulnerabilities in six security updates.

Only one of the half-dozen updates included a known issue. According to the detailed support document for MS09-065, one of the month's three critical updates, customers running Windows XP and using an ATI Radeon HD 2400-series video card "may find that the computer does not start correctly."

Microsoft's next security update release is slated for Dec. 8.

[CocaCola]

my computers been crashing alot lately although im not sure if this is the cause... mabey i just borked something up somehow.

anyway its gotten to the point where it crashes during the begining of a game, i cant watch movies, abd i can barely browse the web....

[Agent Buckshot Moose]

That sounds more like viruses or spyware.

But yeah, Microsoft breaking things with a patch? That's never happened before.

[Anshinritsumai]

That would explain why some family called me up asking why their screen went black...

[Innoc]

Originally Posted by Agent Buckshot Moose

That sounds more like viruses or spyware.

But yeah, Microsoft breaking things with a patch? That's never happened before.

it can happen for any software builder. Microsoft doesn't possess something unique there.

[MonoXideAtWork]

except that their software runs other software. So it's not like switching from VLC to winamp for a few days while they get things sorted out

[Innoc]

Originally Posted by MonoXideAtWork

except that their software runs other software. So it's not like switching from VLC to winamp for a few days while they get things sorted out

I've seen similar issues with Linux. Of late was the upgrade to RHEL/CentOS/SCEL 5.3 where glibc changed significantly to the point that you needed to upgrade in a certain order. glibc then rpm and then yum then everything else. If you didn't do it in that order you risked corrupting grub and a few other things. Possibly resulting in a nonbootable system.

Like I said...it's not unique to Microsoft...

[Gwarsbane]

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/new...ws-patches.ars

A few links at the above URL

Microsoft says B(lack)SODs not linked to latest patches

Microsoft is denying that the latest Patch Tuesday has resulted in some PCs locking up and displaying a Black Screen of Death (BSOD), calling the reports "inaccurate." Prevx, the security company that started all the hubbub, has apologized.
By Emil Protalinski | Last updated December 1, 2009 3:21 PM

Microsoft is denying reports of the Black Screen of Death on a number of PCs. A fraction of Windows users have been complaining their computers were locking up and displaying a Black Screen of Death (BSOD, not to be confused with Blue Screen of Death, which is usually due to hardware or driver failure) after the last Microsoft Patch Tuesday on November 10, 2009.

"Microsoft has investigated reports that its November security updates made changes to permissions in the registry that that are resulting in system issues for some customers," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "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."

"While we were not contacted by the organization who originally made these reports, we have proactively contacted them with our findings. Our support organization is also not seeing this as an issue. The claims also do not match any known issues that have been documented in the security bulletins or KB articles."

Security company Prevx first claimed the latest patches were making changes to the Access Control List (ACL), a list of permissions for a logged-on user, in the registry. The result was some installed applications (especially security products) failing to run properly, causing a BSOD on Windows -2000, NT, XP, Vista, and 7, according to Prevx. The security company released their own fix that reportedly makes the appropriate changes in the registry (this can also be done manually) to match the ACL settings.

Today though, Prevx has changed its stance on the issue: "Having narrowed down a specific trigger for this condition we've done quite a bit of testing and re-testing on the recent Windows patches including KB976098 and KB915597 as referred to in our previous blog. Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor."

"We apologize to Microsoft for any inconvenience our blog may have caused. This has been a challenging issue to identify. Users who have the black screen issue referred to can still safely use our free fix tool to restore their desktop icons and taskbar."

When we contacted Microsoft yesterday, the software giant wasn't yet ready to comment on the reported issue. Instead, the company said it was investigating, and apparently that stage is now complete; Microsoft has concluded its patches are not to blame. We have not encountered computers that have had this problem, so we're not sure of the scope of affected users, but since the problem still remains, we'll follow this story closely as it unfolds.