New Win10 Patch Causes Blue Screen of Death

John Lister's picture

A Windows 10 update causing problems is no surprise, but the two latest glitches will be familiar to long-time users. Both can lead to the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death," indicating a significant problem.

The first problem affects users who run the built-in CHKDSK utility, which scans hard drives to look for errors. It appears that running "chkdsk /f" via command line (after the new KB4592438 patch has been applied) can cause the file system to corrupt, which then might result in Windows not able to boot at all.

Microsoft says a fix has already been rolled out through an automatic update, though it may take a day to get to everyone. In the meantime, its advice for affected users is as follows:

The device should automatically start up into the Recovery Console after failing to start up a few times.

  • Select Advanced options.
  • Select Command Prompt from the list of actions.
  • Once Command Prompt opens, type: chkdsk /f
  • Allow chkdsk to complete the scan, this can take a little while.
  • Once it has completed, type: exit
  • The device should now start up as expected. If it restarts into Recovery Console, select Exit and continue to Windows 10. (Source: microsoft.com)

Gamers Frustrated

The other problem affects users with a file called CorsairVBusDriver.sys installed. That's found on machines with drivers for equipment made by Corsair, which targets game players. They include specialist keyboards and mice for precision control, cooling fans and memory. Users affected by this bug have reported crashes and the computer failing to report.

While some users have reported finding a workaround, it's somewhat complex and could cause further problems. Instead, the best advice seems to be to contact Corsair directly to ask how to solve the problem on a specific machine. (Source: windowslatest.com)

BSOD Returns

The "Blue Screen Of Death", known in technical terms as an exception error or stop error, is triggered when Windows is no longer able to operate safely. It often requires a hard reset (physically switching the computer off and on again). The screen displays white text, usually with an error code, on a blue background.

What's Your Opinion?

When was the last time you saw the Blue Screen of Death? Do you think Windows 10 has more bugs than previous versions of Windows or are they just more widely reported? Do you use System Restore and similar features to mitigate the problems of crashes?

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Comments

nate04pa's picture

How widespread is this latest problem? With the millions of various systems out there there are bound to be a few problems but if a large number of reports are coming in, it indicates inadequate testing before releasing an update.

Draq's picture

Fortunately I haven't run into this CHKDSK issue. I did use /r which also implies /f, but Windows started up just fine. Makes me wonder what triggers that.

buzzallnight's picture

H1b programmers are a lot cheaper and M$ is making more money

so

that is good news

right?

eric's picture

for anyone who might wonder, this is the correct, safe, and maximum effective procedure to run chkdsk:
1) open admin cmd prompt
2) type: chkdsk c: /f /r
(can substitute c: for whatever drive letter you want to check)
3) enter Y when it asks if you want to run at next boot
4) reboot and let chkdsk run until completion - never interrupt it!

The basic check disk function from GUI (right click on drive, properties, Tools tab) is ok, but all it does is check for issues - it does not correct any issues found.

ehowland's picture

Small edit, no need to specify (type) "C:". If you just type Chkdsk /f /r it does boot drive. If you want to do a NON BOOT drive, you can add the letter and it does not need to boot. For example "chkdsk E: /f /r" will immediately run a chkdsk on the "E" drive (do not close CMD window or reboot as you will kill off process. If needed MINIMIZE CMD window (do not close).
Also do not log out (that will also kill it off), instead choose switch users

ehowland's picture

We have a bunch of Win 10 1909 machines (not happy with Win10 2004, so only a few have been moved to it), On several of my 1909 machines I have gotten issues. EVERY doc says only 2004 and 20h2, (of which we don't have many).

I hate how after 1909 they removed advanced features delaying feature upgrades. Now the only choice is to drill down in Policy group edit and clumsily do it there. Then if you want to undo it you have to mess with group policy again, (then turn it back on is a third time, it stinks)