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Microsoft Pulls August Update Over BSOD Crashes

By - Source: Microsoft | B 16 comments

Microsoft released a security bulletin on Monday reporting that it is currently investigating system crashes associated with four updates released on August 12: 2982791, 2970228, 2975719 and 2975331. The bulletin said that any of these four will cause a 0x50 Stop error, which may prevent the system from starting correctly. For now, Microsoft has removed the download links.

There are actually three known issues stemming from these four updates. For starters, if fonts are installed somewhere other than the default directory, then they cannot be changed when loaded into an active session. The bulletin said Windows customers will get a "File in use" message when they attempt to delete, replace or change the fonts. The second known issue is also font-related; when these updates are installed, fonts will not render correctly.

Until Microsoft finds out what is going on, customers can uninstall these updates. Instructions include booting into Safe Mode, deleting the fntcache.dat file, and editing the registry. Of course, if you've never edited the registry, then don't try this yourself.

Microsoft began receiving complaints on August 13. According to one user named "Frank," he updated his notebook, shut it down, and then restarted, only to be greeted by the Blue Screen of Death. The error, he said, was a Stop 0x50 in Win32k.sys. He couldn't even boot into safe mode.

After restoring his laptop, he decided to download the updates again. He had the same problem as before.

"I went through the updates and found update KB2982791 which relates to Win32k.sys and fonts," he wrote. "I also found this KB article (Stop error 0x50 in Win32k.sys) which says that a Stop 0x50 occurs because Win32k.sys crashes when the font cache is not correctly maintained. Quite a bizarre behavior to crash the whole operating system because a cache seems to be invalid. A decent programmer would have just cleared the cache and continued."

Update 2982791, the most important of the four, addresses MS14-045. According to the bulletin, it fixes three privately reported vulnerabilities in Windows. One of them could allow a hacker to log into the system and run a malicious program to elevate his/her privilege. However, the hacker would need the valid credentials and have hands-on access to the system.

"The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting the way that Windows handles thread-owned objects, by correcting the way in which specially crafted font files are handled in memory by Windows, and by correcting the way in which memory is allocated," the bulletin said.

To uninstall the updates, head here for the instructions. Again, if you're not comfortable with editing the registry, then wait until Microsoft provides a fix via Windows Update.

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  • 1 Hide
    Joseph DeGarmo , August 18, 2014 6:42 PM
    Would a system restore back to restore point created last Tuesday automatically remedy the issue on Windows 8.1 and allow only the good updates to be reinstalled?
  • 1 Hide
    Shin-san , August 18, 2014 7:16 PM
    The Registry isn't too bad. It's just a bloated database. Back up Windows before you edit it, and you should be fine.

    Quote:
    Would a system restore back to restore point created last Tuesday automatically remedy the issue on Windows 8.1 and allow only the good updates to be reinstalled?
    It probably would. If your system is running though, I wouldn't do it.


  • 1 Hide
    SteelCity1981 , August 18, 2014 7:44 PM
    I didn't have any issues with these updates....
  • Add your comment Display all 16 comments.
  • 1 Hide
    Dan Neiman , August 18, 2014 8:11 PM
    Why should you have to mess with the registry? Just go to Control Panel, Programs and Features, View Installed Updates and uninstall the ones that are bad
  • -2 Hide
    TechyInAZ , August 18, 2014 8:22 PM
    No wonder, I've been having weird issues also.

    (this Is with both win 8 & 7) On my laptop, when I plug in both my TV via HDMI and my laptop cooler via usb, all of a sudden my computer would just shut down, and after continuous testing to see what was causing the problem, I couldn't even boot to windows 8. Then I reinstalled to windows 7 and still had the same problem, so I plugged my cooler into a usb wall adapter and everything works.

    Could these updates be causing this issue?
  • -3 Hide
    Weboh , August 18, 2014 8:24 PM
    Windows 8: The only version Windows that had automatic updates break it. Upgrade to the future today!
  • 1 Hide
    ickibar1234 , August 18, 2014 8:46 PM
    This issue has already been discussed in a previous article today by Jill Scharr.
  • 3 Hide
    Vorador2 , August 19, 2014 1:20 AM
    Quote:
    Windows 8: The only version Windows that had automatic updates break it. Upgrade to the future today!


    You're new to this newfangled "Microsoft Windows" thing i take. Microsoft has released botched updates from time to time since Windows 95.
  • 1 Hide
    Christopher1 , August 19, 2014 2:34 AM
    Quote:
    Windows 8: The only version Windows that had automatic updates break it. Upgrade to the future today!

    Um.... no. Microsoft had issues with updates for Windows XP, Vista and 7 that did this in very specific situations. Personally, I updated my system with this update and had absolutely no issues whatsoever so I am wondering how exactly this issue crops up.
  • -1 Hide
    Joseph DeGarmo , August 19, 2014 5:23 AM
    During the past few days, I had issues with the network cutting off. I reset the modem by shutting down the PC, unplugging the Ethernet and modem power, reconnecting them, and rebooting. That seemed to have resolved the issue, but did the faulty updates have anything to do with the network connection issue?
  • 1 Hide
    digicat , August 19, 2014 5:49 AM

    Quote:
    No wonder, I've been having weird issues also.

    (this Is with both win 8 & 7) On my laptop, when I plug in both my TV via HDMI and my laptop cooler via usb, all of a sudden my computer would just shut down, and after continuous testing to see what was causing the problem, I couldn't even boot to windows 8. Then I reinstalled to windows 7 and still had the same problem, so I plugged my cooler into a usb wall adapter and everything works.

    Could these updates be causing this issue?


    No, that is an unrelated issue. Read the article again to see what the updates affected.
  • 0 Hide
    ssdpro , August 19, 2014 6:57 AM
    I experienced no issues with the updates running Windows 8.1 update 1. Before I install any updates I always take an image with Acronis 2014 or Casper. It takes about 5 minutes.
  • 0 Hide
    Aron Gustafson , August 19, 2014 7:26 AM
    I was affected by this. Woke up to find my system froze in a Repair Screen. Nothing would work not even Safe Mode. Had to delete the Font Cache related files and then it worked no problems after.
  • -1 Hide
    DragonFireXY , August 19, 2014 9:40 AM
    Quote:
    Why should you have to mess with the registry? Just go to Control Panel, Programs and Features, View Installed Updates and uninstall the ones that are bad

    It stops your PC from booting at all.
  • 1 Hide
    KS2Problema , August 19, 2014 12:03 PM
    Looks to me like this article joins others in the general computer press telling people to go through the elaborate mitigation steps for *Known Issue #3* -- which appears from the MS page on the issue to be ONLY for those with lockups/BSOD/boot-loop issues.

    Look at the mitigation steps for the less severe issues under Known Issue #2 -- they involve ONLY using the standard update uninstall commands and can be done in a minute or two.

    Is this yet another case of sloppy tech writers cueing off each others' misunderstanding and/or bad writing and putting unsuspecting, gullible users who *don't* have lockup/boot-loop issues through an elaborate -- and somewhat risky -- set of mitigations for MS doesn't even suggest for their issues?

    Looks like it.
  • 0 Hide
    Alethinos , August 19, 2014 12:55 PM
    Quote:
    Would a system restore back to restore point created last Tuesday automatically remedy the issue on Windows 8.1 and allow only the good updates to be reinstalled?


    Using a restore point fixed this issue on one of my win 8.1 machines. Didn't actually know about it at the time, so just went ahead and tried the restore point.
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