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View Full Version : The Black Screen of Death - Windows 7, Vista & XP affected.



N2NH
12-02-2009, 09:41 AM
Malware has been blamed for a problem with the Windows 7 operating system, dubbed the 'Black Screen of Death'.

Some Windows users are confronted by a totally black screen after they log on to their system.

Initially it was thought that Microsoft's own security update could have caused the problem but that has now been ruled out.

The software firm that suggested the security update was the problem has apologised for its claims.

Reports suggest the problem also affects Windows Vista and XP.

In a blog posting on its security site, Microsoft said that it had investigated the claims and "found that our November Security Updates are not making changes to the system that these reports say are responsible for these issues".

The firm said that the behaviour was associated with malware, such as Daonol, and that this was probably the root cause.

Call me skeptical. Seems that XP was fine until Seven came out. How convenient that now it's unstable - which means the fix is in the books so we have to upgrade to Seven eventually.

LINQUE to the Black Screen of Death Story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8388253.stm)

n2ize
12-02-2009, 12:06 PM
Malware has been blamed for a problem with the Windows 7 operating system, dubbed the 'Black Screen of Death'.

Some Windows users are confronted by a totally black screen after they log on to their system.

Initially it was thought that Microsoft's own security update could have caused the problem but that has now been ruled out.

The software firm that suggested the security update was the problem has apologised for its claims.

Reports suggest the problem also affects Windows Vista and XP.

In a blog posting on its security site, Microsoft said that it had investigated the claims and "found that our November Security Updates are not making changes to the system that these reports say are responsible for these issues".

The firm said that the behaviour was associated with malware, such as Daonol, and that this was probably the root cause.

Call me skeptical. Seems that XP was fine until Seven came out. How convenient that now it's unstable - which means the fix is in the books so we have to upgrade to Seven eventually.

LINQUE to the Black Screen of Death Story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8388253.stm)


I highly doubt it's a conspiracy to get people to upgrade. In addition if affects Windows 7 as well so why would it make you upgrade if the thing you are upgrading to is also affected

W2NAP
12-02-2009, 01:22 PM
Malware has been blamed for a problem with the Windows 7 operating system, dubbed the 'Black Screen of Death'.

Some Windows users are confronted by a totally black screen after they log on to their system.

Initially it was thought that Microsoft's own security update could have caused the problem but that has now been ruled out.

The software firm that suggested the security update was the problem has apologised for its claims.

Reports suggest the problem also affects Windows Vista and XP.

In a blog posting on its security site, Microsoft said that it had investigated the claims and "found that our November Security Updates are not making changes to the system that these reports say are responsible for these issues".

The firm said that the behaviour was associated with malware, such as Daonol, and that this was probably the root cause.

Call me skeptical. Seems that XP was fine until Seven came out. How convenient that now it's unstable - which means the fix is in the books so we have to upgrade to Seven eventually.

LINQUE to the Black Screen of Death Story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8388253.stm)


I highly doubt it's a conspiracy to get people to upgrade. In addition if affects Windows 7 as well so why would it make you upgrade if the thing you are upgrading to is also affected

thats what microsoft wants you to think.... of course microshit will do shady shit to force people into shelling out $100+ for winshit 7....

real solution- convert people to linux.

kf0rt
12-02-2009, 01:29 PM
thats what microsoft wants you to think.... of course microshit will do shady shit to force people into shelling out $100+ for winshit 7....

real solution- convert people to linux.

Why do you hate America? :rofl:

W1GUH
12-02-2009, 01:30 PM
Is this the malware that makes computers "broken" and they can't be fixed, like what happened to a friend's computer running Vista?


Re: Linux...

Linux is going to have to get a lot of their act together before it'll be mainstream. It may be close, but it's still not as "Plug 'n Play" as Window, like I sure wish it was. This could only be an education/documentation issue, but the general "feeling" I've gotten about linux is that it's by geeks for geeks, and nobody seems to have realized that non-geeks would be way over their heads in some linux situations. And, being a geek, I can fairly easily let some of the more offensive "geek-speak" roll off my back. Heck, I'm an ex-Deccie, where a lot of that geek-speak originated. But...lay persons can be very offended by it.

I LOVE linux...but then I'm a geek.

n2ize
12-02-2009, 02:47 PM
Is this the malware that makes computers "broken" and they can't be fixed, like what happened to a friend's computer running Vista?


Re: Linux...

Linux is going to have to get a lot of their act together before it'll be mainstream. It may be close, but it's still not as "Plug 'n Play" as Window, like I sure wish it was. This could only be an education/documentation issue, but the general "feeling" I've gotten about linux is that it's by geeks for geeks, and nobody seems to have realized that non-geeks would be way over their heads in some linux situations. And, being a geek, I can fairly easily let some of the more offensive "geek-speak" roll off my back. Heck, I'm an ex-Deccie, where a lot of that geek-speak originated. But...lay persons can be very offended by it.

I LOVE linux...but then I'm a geek.

First of all why do computer people insist on calling themselves "geeks". Engineers, Chemists, Sociologists, Physicists, Mathematicians, Musicians all refer to themselves by their appropriate titles. But for some reason computer people like to call themselves "geeks". Beats me ?

My parents use Linux exclusively... and they are not geeks.

The lack of complete "plug and play" under Linux is mostly due to hardware manufacturers who still, even in this day and age, refuse to support Linux. It was far worst a decade ago. But it's still problematic. Some will release hardware specs and leave it up to the Linux community to build their own device drivers. Others won't even release the specs, thus you end up with a piece of hardware that needs to be hacked or reverse engineered to determine how to build a driver. But, reverse engineering is illegal under the DMCA. Thus, you end up with hardware that runs fine under windows but not under Linux. This forces the Linux user to have to be much more selective in choosing his or her computer hardware and makes PnP more difficult. The best thing that can be done is to convince manufacturers to support Linux as well as Windows.

Fine on the DEC days. I used PDP-11, a Dec 2060 , and a VAXen 11/785 when I was in undergrad school. I loved the VAX, I was beginning to know my way around it pretty well right on up to graduation day.

N1LAF
12-02-2009, 02:51 PM
This probably says it all...

[youtube:xd97jom0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpOvzGiheOM[/youtube:xd97jom0]

kc7jty
12-02-2009, 02:53 PM
Some Windows users are confronted by a totally black screen after they log on to their system.

happened to me yesterday, I turned the laptop off and when I turned it back on it was just like returning from sleep mode. I just logged in and have been running fine since. Is the evil still in the machine? Should I do something else?

PA5COR
12-02-2009, 02:58 PM
Sorry to shatter a few hopes...
XP-Pro ran 5 years 10 hours a day, 365 days a year on the other laptop, no problems.
It runs on this new laptop for 14 months, no problems.
On this laptop dual boot Windows 7 for 5 weeks, till now, no problems.


:cheers:

kc7jty
12-02-2009, 03:40 PM
did a full system scan with my free for 60 days Norton and 1 issue was detected and resolved.

N2NH
12-02-2009, 03:46 PM
Sorry to shatter a few hopes...
XP-Pro ran 5 years 10 hours a day, 365 days a year on the other laptop, no problems.
It runs on this new laptop for 14 months, no problems.
On this laptop dual boot Windows 7 for 5 weeks, till now, no problems.


:cheers:

Glad to hear it Cor. I'm really hoping that Win7 is all it's cracked up to be. I would like to run this 64 bit machine in 64 bit mode and really let it rip. But, being the conservative that I am (*DUCKING!*), I'm waiting to see if they can fix all the bugs first.

Looks like Bill has the situation in hand. I'd also check out MS Windows site and see what they have for this problem. If you do have a problem, your fix might be a temporary one and you might need a bit more intervention as in an update.

MS usually pays a lot of attention to it's current product and Win7 is new. They don't want another debacle like Vista, so it's a good bet that they'll stay on top of this.

W2NAP
12-02-2009, 03:55 PM
Is this the malware that makes computers "broken" and they can't be fixed, like what happened to a friend's computer running Vista?


Re: Linux...

Linux is going to have to get a lot of their act together before it'll be mainstream. It may be close, but it's still not as "Plug 'n Play" as Window, like I sure wish it was. This could only be an education/documentation issue, but the general "feeling" I've gotten about linux is that it's by geeks for geeks, and nobody seems to have realized that non-geeks would be way over their heads in some linux situations. And, being a geek, I can fairly easily let some of the more offensive "geek-speak" roll off my back. Heck, I'm an ex-Deccie, where a lot of that geek-speak originated. But...lay persons can be very offended by it.

I LOVE linux...but then I'm a geek.

idk ubuntu has it pretty damn close to plug and play tbh, and you dont really need to be a geek to use it :giggity:

W1GUH
12-03-2009, 09:08 AM
Is this the malware that makes computers "broken" and they can't be fixed, like what happened to a friend's computer running Vista?


Re: Linux...

Linux is going to have to get a lot of their act together before it'll be mainstream. It may be close, but it's still not as "Plug 'n Play" as Window, like I sure wish it was. This could only be an education/documentation issue, but the general "feeling" I've gotten about linux is that it's by geeks for geeks, and nobody seems to have realized that non-geeks would be way over their heads in some linux situations. And, being a geek, I can fairly easily let some of the more offensive "geek-speak" roll off my back. Heck, I'm an ex-Deccie, where a lot of that geek-speak originated. But...lay persons can be very offended by it.

I LOVE linux...but then I'm a geek.


idk ubuntu has it pretty damn close to plug and play tbh, and you dont really need to be a geek to use it :giggity:


It's true that it was mostly a learning curve that caused me to require a whole day to figure out how to do the type of dual-boot I wanted to do, and it's also true that when I installed it on it's own dedicated internal HD all was very easy -- same as installing it on my PS3 and also some of the problems were fixed quickly in updates.

You're pretty much correct in that assesment, IMHO. A not-brand new version onto a virgin computer or PS3 IS easy.

Oh, and adding to that learning curve is to use Ubuntu Software Center to get apps and don't make it more difficult that need be trying to do it in a console, at least for those apps that CAN be done that way.

Hmmm....this is starting to sound like a vade mecum of what to do and what not to do with Ubuntu. :lol:

KC2UGV
12-03-2009, 09:41 AM
The main learning curve I see in new users coming over to Linux is basic things: File system structure, not owning every file on the system, and a new command line (Most computer users do know how to do a little on the command line).

Other than that, I don't see a huge learning curve for the basic computer uses (Word processing, email, etc). The big curves come into learning how a new boot-up system works (Hasta luego NTLDR, Hola GRUB), how to do old scripting tasks in a new environment, and the new way to pass a flag to a command.

AF6LJ
12-03-2009, 06:09 PM
Never had the problem;
Both of my XP boxes are up to date so is my roommate's XP box.
The only thing I can think of is we don't visit adult entertainment sights. (translation p0rn sites)

N2NH
12-04-2009, 07:54 AM
Never had the problem;
Both of my XP boxes are up to date so is my roommate's XP box.
The only thing I can think of is we don't visit adult entertainment sights. (translation p0rn sites)

Quite a supposition to make. What would make you say that? Sounds like a personal problem.

WØTKX
12-04-2009, 10:55 AM
http://boortz.com/images/funny/fark_porn_squad.jpg

AF6LJ
12-04-2009, 11:07 AM
Never had the problem;
Both of my XP boxes are up to date so is my roommate's XP box.
The only thing I can think of is we don't visit adult entertainment sights. (translation p0rn sites)

Quite a supposition to make. What would make you say that? Sounds like a personal problem.
I should have used this :sarcasm:
Having such a large pallet of expressive emoticons takes some getting use to. :)

n2ize
12-04-2009, 12:12 PM
C'est legume !!

W1GUH
12-04-2009, 12:15 PM
The main learning curve I see in new users coming over to Linux is basic things: File system structure, not owning every file on the system, and a new command line (Most computer users do know how to do a little on the command line).

Other than that, I don't see a huge learning curve for the basic computer uses (Word processing, email, etc). The big curves come into learning how a new boot-up system works (Hasta luego NTLDR, Hola GRUB), how to do old scripting tasks in a new environment, and the new way to pass a flag to a command.
:agree: :cheers: