“Microsoft’s Windows 7 RTM [Release To Manufacturing] build 7600.16385 includes a potentially fatal bug that, once triggered, could bring down the entire OS in a matter of seconds,” Randall C. Kennedy reports for InfoWorld.
“The bug in question — a massive memory leak involving the chkdsk.exe utility — appears when you attempt to run the program against a secondary (that is, not the boot partition) hard disk using the “/r” (read and verify all file data) parameter. The problem affects both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and is classified as a ‘showstopper’ in that it can cause the OS to crash (Blue Screen of Death) as it runs out of physical memory,” Kennedy reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, look blue lipstick! Knowing Microsoft, they’ll just rename it “Windows Goth.”
Kennedy continues, “I also verified that the problem exists with the integrated disk check utility in Windows Explorer. When you use this function, explorer.exe starts consuming RAM like it’s going out of style, pushing my test system to 98 percent memory utilization in just a few seconds. Worse still, explorer.exe failed to release the RAM when I canceled the disk check and grew even more despite the fact that the check was now deliberately aborted. My only recourse was to either reboot the system or try to manually kill and restart explorer.exe.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Shitastic Microsoft strikes yet again. Get A Mac.
Ballmer to hold news conference to extol the “Exciting New Windows 8! Coming Soon! Just You Wait!” in 3… 2… 1…
It’s truly stunning that Microsoft with it’s army of programmers, billions of dollars, enormous wealth of talent (yeah..they DO have talented people there…really!)…can’t avoid stepping in huge piles of crap…
It’s funny and tragic at the same time
Hahahahahahahahaha….
Ex windoze-junkie as of Jan this year, and lovin’ it!
Get with the program, MDN. The problem has already been shown to be minor, but of course you don’t bother to report the latest news on this.
Truth be told, big bugs do arise in programming…. however this _should_ have been caught in a pre-alpha version of Win7, not the pre-release version! Sloppy coders, and even sloppier QA folks. But then again, this is M$ we’re talking about, so, nice work, guys!
Aw, if they keep this up, I’m going to flip from satire to downright sympathy.
Yet on ZD-Net the buzz is how Windows 7 is more secure than Mac or Linux, and Ed Bott poopoos the notion of a show-stopping bug in Windows, and Mac security comes into question after Apple releases a patch that fixes said problem. That website sucks, hard.
PcFreak, what you doing on a mac website? Are you a closet mac user?
“Windows Goth!”
LMMFAO!!!
When the patches and bandads exceed the amount of original code… Its time to grab a which sheet of paper and start again…
This mummy need to be put into a tomb…
I also park my 10-year-old Yugo just across the street from BMW auto dealerships and gaze longingly from afar with a pathetic mixture of jealousy, malice, and spite.
There’s obviously an easy fix to this. Simply delete the chkdsk.exe utility.
Just wait, Windows 8 will be awesome. Don’t switch, hold on until 2012 for 8.
PcFreak
“InfoWorld contributing editor Randall C. Kennedy describes his test results today in his Enterprise Desktop blog. Kennedy notes that the bug is more likely to affect IT administrators than everyday users, since admins are more likely to run Windows 7’s diagnostic and repair functions. But he speculates that the bug may affect the core NTFS file system, either delaying the planned Windows 7 release date or causing IT to hold off on deploying Windows 7 until Microsoft issues a patch or service pack.” From MacWorldUK.
“Comment from: MacGeek Pro
PcFreak, what you doing on a mac website? Are you a closet mac user?”
Other way around. I use Windows7 and OSX side by side at work. And Windows7 has worked flawlessly for two months, and so I use it as my primary computer, even though the IT crew wants us to use only Mac. I simply popped in my own harddisk in the MacBook, and uses Windows7 through Bootcamp. The IT crew are angry of course, but since I’m more productive this way they let it slide…
Oh, I’d just love to see that happen! Now That’s entertainment!
Aaaaacheeeewwwww!! Sorry, I’m alergic to hyperbole.
I’m an an Applehead to the core, but come on is it really that bad. you guys sound like effin Fox News.
I don’t think Microsoft needs our help pointing the AK47 at their feet.
Just report the news please.
Reply to “Silverhawk” – this is what a later news report states:
“After emailing back and forth with the VP Sinofsky, it was found that the chkdsk /r tool is not at fault here. It was simply a chipset controller issue. Please update you chipset drivers to the current driver from your motherboard manufacturer. I did mine, and this fixed the issue. Yes it still uses alot of physical memory, because your checking for physical damage, and errors on the Harddrive your testing. I’m currently completed the chkdsk scan with no BSOD’s or computer sluggishness. Feel free to do this and try it for yourselves. Again, there is no Bug.”
So – it’s a non-story.
PcFreak,
You’re more productive using Windows 7 than Mac OS X?
Oh, I get it, you work for Symantec testing Anti-Virus “solutions.”
Or you’re just another astroturfer.
Sorry PcFrea (and freak you must be), but it isn’t just the chipset. It works in a virtual environment as well. It is a story, one that freaks like yourself will attempt to talk down.
Windows – for your daily dose of pain and frustration.
To “Superior Being”:
I wish. I would love to be on Microsofts payroll, if they wanted to pay me for writing on websites…
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Hey, I’m not saying that Windows7 is always better. But it helps me get things done more quickly in my line of work (and no, I don’t work for Symantec et al…)
If you want to find problems with Windows7, please go ahead. But please make sure that it’s real.
@ Brian Taylor,
“I’m an an Applehead to the core”
I can’t believe you are still using an Apple ][. You really should try out the Mac. With OS X and an Intel Core 2 Duo you’ll be happy you did. Apps just fly on these babies.
“Just wait, Windows 8 will be awesome. Don’t switch, hold on until 2012 for 8.”
Good post!
Sent the link to this article to my kid.
Her response sums it up nicely.
“Unsurprising”
To “Macaday”:
Either way, how many users will encounter this problem? 0,0001 percent? Yes, I guess that’s a “fatal flaw” in Windows7, as MDN puts it…
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Once again, please find a problem that means shi*t,
Well PcFreak, seems you know nothing. PC admins in every business using Windows uses chkdsk.exe
So as you so, probably no big deal there then…
I’d love to know the specifics of how Win 7 makes someone all of a sudden so much more “productive”. I used Win 7 (to be fair, only for an hour or so), and other than a SLIGHT GUI makeover, it’s practically a clone of XP. I was almost without exception able to go to the same files/boxes/radio buttons/placement and get the same things as XP. How exactly is that being more productive?
The fatal flaw in Windows 7? Starts with a ‘wi’ ends with a ‘ven’
Ugh. It’s a non issue guys. Some of these comments are ignorant and uninformed.
But, go ahead, enjoy all the little “knowing” chuckles you give yourselves, you’ve earned them.
Sorry Guv! the photocopier was not working properly by the time I was trying to copy the last 20 pages of OSX Snow Leopard, so I stuck and pasted the bits that were not so clear!!!!!!! I think, but I’m not sure, that I may have got it wrong…… would you like me to copy the bits that I stuck and pasted again??????
Somebody please tell those poor suckers that Windows itself is the fatal flaw!
I can’t wait for Windows 8, in which Windows makes the processor run so hot the PC actually melts.
Of course, no one will catch this “bug” until 1,023 PCs melt down, and then Microsoft will try to blame it on a virus.
I think its quite obvious, no one is using CHKDSK, especially on secondary drives. This problem would have surfaced otherwise, and we wouldn’t be chuckling about it today, if everyone wasn’t just fixated on the candy coating.
Way to go IT. All you QARs who signed off on the work blew it, big time.
What’s really telling are the comments that follow the author’s viewpoint. Just like PcFreak, they’re all downplaying this bug’s impact saying a simple patch will solve the problem but what they fail to realize is, this is yet another example of the systemic problems plaguing Microsoft whose initial response is to cover it in astroturf.
You don’t understand how my Microsoft works. It is perfectly normal that this application behaves that way since the OS is highly sophisticated. Anyway, many power users like myself won’t have to use this chkdsk because the system is very stable. It is like most of the rest of the OS: you don’t use it until you need them (and then… this happens?). It it fails it’s because you are dumb.
Your slip. Our fault.©
It MAY be minor-that hasn’t been independently confirmed at this point-and it is something that seems to come and go according to some posts I’ve read elsewhere. The root of the problem has NOT been found, and it is something that apparently does NOT happen in Vista.
All you IT pros: Would you risk your job, and the future of your company on Win 7 as we speak? Quick, not whatever is patched next week or next month, right now? And this is in RTM mode? Incredible!
To Cleetus: Well, you know, gay porn is really taking off right now, and I think Apple is foolish to let Microsoft corner this market, which probably has more potential revenue than iPhone+iTunes+Appstore combined…
Either way, I think it’s telling that MDN – and a lot of its cohorts – latches on to this thing to find something – anything!- that indicates that Windows 7 is not good. I smell fear.
@pr
It is a tragicomedy, no doubt. I ascribe it to Microsoft’s hubris and arrogance. The company has held such a dominant market position for such a long time by churning out mediocre, barely functional crap that it has never been forced to actually make a decent product that could stand on its own merit, as opposed to just cruising on market dominance alone. Now, the inherent problems of designing a stable and efficient operating system that works well on myriad hardware configurations produced independently from the code writer is becoming readily apparent…
I think that MS PR is finding new ways of fighting for it’s OS good name. So they invade the usual spaces people used to talk bad things about Vista and try to sabotage the truth by making people believe that those who talk bad about MS Windows 7 are in fact exaggerate or mislead
@Big Al’s MBP
Apple’s the company, Mac’s the computer. I use Apple products exclusively but I try not to drink Kool-Aid while doing so…..and using my real name on the Internet.
Windows Standard Answer: Just get more RAM.
@PCFreak,
“Either way, how many users will encounter this problem? 0,0001 percent? Yes, I guess that’s a “fatal flaw” in Windows7, as MDN puts it..” interesting replys. However, in the current world, there are (as PC/Windows lovers say) around 250 million computers running windows and I disagree with your .00001 multipler. So many people were affected by a similar problem in XP running a similar program that there was and still is tons of postings on line.
Say 5 percent of users run into this problem (IT and all) that works out to 1.25 million users. Guess it really does suck to be a PC user.
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Just a thought.
en
It’s good to see that Mac OS X Leopard: Service Pack Snow I mean Snow Leopard won’t have these problems. Sheesh
Tune Zang©
I believe that should be “Our screwup. Your fault.” Or, possibly, even “Who cares? Your problem. Just keep buying Windows and Office.”
It’s reassuring to know that Apple never has to issue any kind of patches for Macs,,, oh wait:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3757
And this is just the most recent of many.
Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle, all the way home.
Let the delays of a release date begin!
A round of applause for the PC freaks who successfully turned this thread into something hilarious!
You couldn’t make it up if you tried…
@Techguy & Pcfreak,
i could care less about all this banter… but you both realize that Apple/Macs have been given this kind of treatment in the past regarding non-issues as well, but portrayed as fact on general/non-tech sites. It doesnt justify the same thing going on here on this site as well. But hey, this is a Mac site… so are you surprised?
just let it go… i ‘mostly’ hear good things about 7 from the Mac IT guys i know who have to use multiple OSs. I have no need for 7 myself… but it’s a huge improvement over Vista.
@mac people… Win7 runs fastest on a Mac. so no worries there. besides the real OS X that matters is already ruling on the iPhone. But it’s too late for MSFT to catch up. Only Android has a fighting chance.
@ stucktrader:
Nice. And nicely put.
Buhahahahaha. I KNEW that they couldn’t do anything without screwing it up.. hahahaha. OS X forever!
Just because it’s crap doesn’t mean they won’t release it anyway.
That’s never stopped them before.
@Brian Taylor :you guys sound like effin Fox News.
That’s hardly surprising. There’s more than a little evidence that the admins at MDN are fairly hard-core afficionados of Fox News, Limbaugh, et al.
Still, I love the site all the same, which is why I’ve followed it for five or six years now. Yeah, the “MDN Takes” can be childish and distorted, but they cover any piece of news even remotely of interest to a Mac fan. Besides, it’s entertaining.
——RM
Does that lipstick come in blue?
Randall Kennedy is to M$ as Enderle is to Apple–clueless and without a hint of insight.
Enough said.
@ Brian Taylor,
If you’d been using Apple products long enough, you’d know that Apple heads used Apple computers and Mac heads use Mac computers.
Not that ‘Mac heads’ or ‘Apple heads’ for that matter are what we call ourselves. They are derogatory terms used by PC weenies to make fun of people who use Apple products.
Which begs the question, When did you stop being a PC Weenie and switch?
@ TechGuy & Fortheloveof
It’s telling that in Microsoft’s dying throws of continued mediocrity(at best), its defenders don’t concentrate on the flaws, solutions, and merits of Microsoft’s product, but instead point to the alleged flaws of the competition.
Informed Citizen: “Good god! What is Microsoft doing, releasing this dreck!”
TechGuy: “Uh, hey look over here, everybody! Apple released a patch for something … a while ago!!”
@stucktrader
I appreciate your level-headed view of the endless Apple/Microsoft debate. Your points are well taken and I apologize to any thread readers that I may have offended with the negative delivery of my comments.
I think most commenters here are missing the point.
The issue isn’t just that running chkdsk.exe with the /r parameter under Windows 7 will trigger a massive memory leak bringing the computer to its knees.
The issue is that an error this massive could have made it through the QA process to the finalized shipping version of Windows 7 – prompting any sane sysadmin or potential customer to wonder what *else* has slipped through the review process.
Microsoft has recently gone through some ill-concieved and extremely distracting headcount reductions recently. How much has that affected the quality and security of the code they produce? How much can we really trust the recent work they’ve done, considering the circumstances? If you’re not giving these questions serious consideration, you’ve got your head in the sand.
@NHL If you consider yesterday “awhile ago” ummmm, ok.
Timing wasn’t the point, but you know, I consider something issued yesterday pretty timely.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Apple-Mac-OS-X-Update-Plugs-18-Security-Vulnerabilities-295702/
The true fatal flaw in Microsoft anything is Ballmer.
May he rule until the lights go out in Redmond.
Hey Tech Guy and PcFreak:
How many Windows PCs were involved in the DOS attack on Twitter today? What percentage of the total bot network were Macs? I’d wager the number of Macs involved was zero. That’s Apple’s advantage that Windows 7 will never overcome. Until M$ produces a real OS with Unix security it’s checkmate, game over.
@MacRaven, Ballmer is a Lunatic. No disagreement there
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@Zeke, I don’t at all disagree with you on the supposition that the attacks were very likely all PC’s. I never even considered that there might be a Mac in the mix. It’s a good question though. I went on a little internet scavenger hunt and there is some research indicating that it might be possible. I don’t put a ton of weight behind this because it was Symantec doing the research and I believe the antivirus industry thrives on FUD to sell their products.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3157
One thing I do know with certainty is that none of my PCs were involved in the DOS, lol. All of them are clean and 4 of them were asleep at the time.
Is this really such a big deal?
I’ve noticed stuff on Leopard, like if an external hard drive fails to mount, a process named ‘mount_hfs’ would consume 100% processor power, and need to hard-restart the computer to quit that process. Is this really any less than a specific check disk error that will hardly be used before the patch fixes it?
Hahahah.
It’s amusing to watch the Microsoft astroturfers here either try to spin this not being a bug in Windows 7(when it is indeed a bug in Windows 7. Like someone else mentioned, this problem happens in virtual environments, too), or point to smaller and often patched flaws in OS X as if that somehow absolves Microsoft from having fucked up with this memory leak.
chkdsk.exe is hardly an obscure utility at all. Although for this to have slipped past them is business as usual for Microsoft’s non-existent team of product testers. I wonder if they’ll even bother fixing it before release? I recall they didn’t bother fixing another memory leak that caused either Windows 98 or Windows ME to crash after 2 days of uptime until after released.
For windows users I suggest the following remedy for all that hardware going to waste with microsh*t rubbish running on it. Go to http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download and hit the download button and when done, install. When done, welcome to the free world of GNU/Linux.
What a shame they found it before the final release.