back to article Surface Book 2 afflicted by mystery Blue Screen Of Death errors

If you’re running a Surface Book 2, you might want to hold off on the latest cumulative update that is making some in the line quite poorly and their owners quite irate. The problem was first reported on Reddit, as users huddled around the virtual campfire to sing songs and exchange tales of Surface Book 2 woe. Blue Screens …

  1. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Facepalm

    *FACEPALM*

    I have to wonder how much of this is connected to build 1809 problems...

    "Let's apply the same fixes we did in 1809"

    "Ooops"

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: *FACEPALM*

      Facepalm indeed. Microsoft is really starting to look ridiculous. First it can't seem to publish updates that don't have problems, now it's actually getting into break-it's-own-hardware territory.

      From there to brick it permanently, there's just a short hop and a skip.

      So, let's break out the popcorn and see how far this rabbit hole goes !

      1. N2

        Re: *FACEPALM*

        'Facepalm indeed. Microsoft is looking really ridiculous'.

        That's more like it.

      2. T. F. M. Reader

        Re: *FACEPALM*

        Microsoft is really starting to look ridiculous.

        Has never prevented anyone from becoming the world's most valuable company, has it?

        (MSFT topped AAPL by market cap as of Friday Nov 30 close. I don't even know how to react to that.)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: *FACEPALM*

          @T.F.M.Reader

          Appropriate comment from Barnum & Bailey (appropriately circus owners):

          - "No one EVER lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public."

      3. johnnyblaze

        Re: *FACEPALM*

        MS have been pushing out duff updates to their own hardware for years. All the Surface range have been plagued with bad updates, firmware issues, compatability problems etc, all excreeted directly from Microsoft's own pig farm.

  2. 89724102172714182892114I7551670349743096734346773478647892349863592355648544996312855148587659264921

    Core Incompetence Inside

  3. Teiwaz

    I'm certain now

    MS are just doing this for the media attention.

    No large corporation with the amount of money they have could be this cack-handed.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: I'm certain now

      Of course it can. Imagine the number of hours, meetings, and so on which went into the new Office icons (there's even a damn video for them) and multiply that by everything Microsoft do.

    2. vtcodger Silver badge

      Re: I'm certain now

      "No large corporation with the amount of money they have could be this cack-handed"

      It's clear that you've never dealt with Comcast.

      Or IBM in the time of OS/360-JCL for that matter

  4. ma1010
    FAIL

    El Reg said it perfectly

    Unless, of course, shoddy updates borking hardware is the new normal.

    Anybody who reads El Reg at all knows perfectly that shoddy updates is very clearly the new normal from MS. Maybe someday they'll get a clue, but not so far, sadly.

  5. MAH

    quote - now it's actually getting into break-it's-own-hardware territory.

    Well, they already passed the break their own software territory with the .net updates hosing Exchange, SharePoint and SQL so to up the game they had to move into the hardware layer...

  6. Shadow Systems

    MS fucks up again...

    Just one more Universal Constant: water is wet, air is breatheable, the sky is blue, grass is green, I'm not wearing pants, & SCO still thinks it can win.

    *Dies laughing*

    1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: MS fucks up again...

      air is breatheable

      At the moment. But Trump and his little trumplings are trying to fix that..

  7. SVV

    A veritable smorgasbord of fixes

    I'd tend not to classify this as a fix.

    Reminds me of a classic explanation once heard at work. "It's fixed, but it's still not working". Except this is fixed and it's now not working.

    1. PhilipN Silver badge

      Re: A veritable smorgasbord of fixes

      Yes - Classified as a fix as in “I am in a bit of a fix”.

      Which means, allowing for British understatement, all hell just broke loose.

    2. Jeffrey Nonken

      Re: A veritable smorgasbord of fixes

      "It's fixed, but it's still not working".

      Let me guess... First time cat owner?

    3. Jeffrey Nonken

      Re: A veritable smorgasbord of fixes

      And then there's the classic "the operation was a success but the patient died."

  8. NanoMeter
    Mushroom

    Windows 7 to the rescue!

    Time to install Windows 7 instead.

    1. J__M__M

      Re: Windows 7 to the rescue!

      I hate to discourage the positive thinking, but that ain't gonna just work

  9. DownTheAnalysisMines

    I've cut Microsoft and Windows a LOT of slack over the last 20 years. Windows has had to run on a much more diverse platform than the various Apple OSes, making it a more impressive engineering achievement in many ways. However, for it to fail on a very narrow and specific spec of PC (the very pricey Surface Book 2, in this case) that is ACTUALLY OWNED BY MICROSOFT is what we call a mega-fail.

  10. elvisimprsntr

    I haven't experienced a BSOD in 10+ years, coincidently about the same time I excommunicated M$ from my home.

  11. Kobus Botes
    Alert

    And in other news

    In a refreshing break from tradition Microsoft has elected to give users a break on Monday, by postponing breaking things to Tuesday.

    ---------------> This seems to be the new paradigm for Microsoft victims and unfortunate sysadmins.

  12. Giovani Tapini

    I wonder if this level of service will be extended

    to physically breaking hardware. It sounds like it may be only a matter of time...

    1. whitepines
      Joke

      Re: I wonder if this level of service will be extended

      Does throwing your Surface on the floor in frustration count?

    2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: I wonder if this level of service will be extended

      POKE 59458,62

      (http://www.6502.org/users/andre/petindex/poke/index.html - possibly mythical way of destroying the build-in monitor on a Commodore PET)

  13. Baldrickk

    Win2k

    During the development of Windows 2000, MS gave bug-fixes a higher priority than any other task.

    It slowed down development a little, but resulted in probably the most reliable and least buggy version of the OS they have ever produced.

    Shame they lost the lessons learned that led to that...

  14. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    From the Usenet Oracle :

    The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.

    Your question was:

    > O great Oracle, the one who sees all and knows all, please accept

    > this humble question from thy grovelling supplicant...

    >

    > Why is Windows 95 Beta so bug-ridden it's not funny?

    And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

    } THE SCENE: A dark antechamber of the Gates estate, dimly lit by three

    } 20" monitors suspended from the ceiling. In the middle of the room is

    } a Pentium/100Hz, sheathed in a black casing. Three programmers dance

    } around the machine, chanting horribly. Their pale, clammy complexion

    } is cast hideously by the light of the monitors, rendered even more

    } repugnant to the watchful eye bye the 60Hz flicker of the monitors.

    }

    } FIRST PROGRAMMER: Thrice the brinded net hath mewed.

    }

    } SECOND PROGRAMMER: Thrice, and once the Warp-pig whined.

    }

    } THIRD PROGRAMMER: MacHarpier cries. 'Tis time, 'tis time!

    }

    } FIRST: Round about the terminal go;

    } In the poisoned upgrade throw.

    } Code, which by a student done

    } In minutes numbering sixty-one.

    } Run-time error, protection fault,

    } Crash ye first, crash ye shalt.

    }

    } ALL [as they dance around the Pentium]:

    } Double, double, toil and trouble;

    } Tempers burn and data bubble.

    }

    } SECOND: Fillet of a Sound Card bake,

    } In the Pentium no sound make;

    } Point of arrow, click of mouse,

    } Scream of user, frightened spouse,

    } OS/2's net use appeal,

    } Steve Jobs' look and Wozniak's feel.

    } For a charm of powerful trouble,

    } Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

    }

    } ALL: Double, double, toil and trouble;

    } Tempers burn and data bubble.

    }

    } THIRD: Click "Start" button, speed of slug,

    } You would think you forgot the plug.

    } Multitasking, ha ha ho

    } If just one worked you'd be good to go.

    } This should grab those straggling few

    } Who aren't using DOS 6.22.

    } Now we shall the Mac eclipse,

    } While curse words cross our users' lips.

    } Leave the errors in so we can fix

    } And sell more...Windows 96!

    } And so we will release the Beta

    } For corruption of their data.

    }

    } ALL: Double, double, toil and trouble;

    } Users buy, our profits double.

    }

    } SECOND: Compile it with errors through,

    } Since the users have no clue.

    }

    } [Enter BillGate to the other three programmers.]

    }

    } BillGate: O, well done! I commend your pains,

    } And everyone shall share i' the gains.

    } And now about the program get,

    } But NEVER use it on OUR net.

    } Security is scarce put in.

    } [Beeps of PONG heard in the background.]

    } [Exit BillGate.]

    }

    } SECOND WITCH: By the usage of my UMBs

    } Wicked Windows this way comes.

    } Open locks,

    } Whoever knocks!

    }

    } [Fade to black.]

    }

    } Remember, Obsolescence isn't an accident, it's an art form.

    }

    } You owe the Oracle a signed, handwritten manuscript of MacBeth, and a

    } copy of the Windows upgrade for the P6.

  15. MrKrotos

    Continuous Update Niggling Technique as a Service!

    I will let you work that one out :P

  16. trevorde Silver badge
    Trollface

    Introducing New MS VP of Windows Development

    Linus Torvalds

  17. andyward1983

    Peered back in

    Been a Mac user since leaving windows after XP was released. Needed a Windows laptop for work. Installed Oct 2018 update to Win10. Laptop doesn't boot anymore. Well done Microsoft, you have ratified my decision to remain a Fanboi. :)

  18. cdrcat

    Windows done gone downhill a lot much

    Got a BSOD within one minute (second click of Windows installation setup) after turning on my new very top-end Dell XPS15.

    First Dell I've ever bought - because it was the only laptop with an i9 I knew Linux would be easy to run on.

    Multiple *serious* arse problems with clean manufacturer installation of Windows (fault of Microsoft Windows, and hardware drivers: not Dell per se).

    Then Ubuntu installed perfectly, and runs great (after running a bash script that sets up config for this laptop).

    Windows gets worse and worse, Linux just gets better and better.

  19. royprime

    Good old MS.

    Must remember to send them an Xmas card this year. If it wasn't for all the naff updates, duff 2FA on Office 360 and lots of other issues I would have probably been bored sitting at home earning very little money.

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