Linked by snydeq on Wed 5th Aug 2009 19:11 UTC
Windows Windows 7 RTM Build 7600.16385 includes a potentially fatal bug that, once triggered, could bring down the entire OS in a matter of seconds: "The bug in question - a massive memory leak involving the chkdsk.exe utility - appears when you attempt to run the program against a secondary (i.e. not the boot partition) hard disk using the "/r" (read and verify all file data) parameter. The problem affects both 32-bit 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," reports InfoWorld's Randall Kennedy. Microsoft is claiming the bug is a chipset driver issue, but Kennedy's testing of the latest Intel INF Update Utility driver set and VMware virtualized chipset drivers suggests otherwise. "This is clearly a Microsoft bug - and the fact that it manifests itself via the chkdsk.exe utility makes me wonder if it isn't something intrinsic to the Windows 7 version of the New Technology File System (NTFS) driver stack." Worse still, user comments suggest that Windows Server 2008 R2 suffers from the same flaw.
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RE: Show stopper yes...
by satan666 on Wed 5th Aug 2009 20:42 UTC in reply to "Show stopper yes..."
satan666
Member since:
2008-04-18

...but it should literally take the engineers one day to find and fix the bug. It's probably something relatively simple, possibly an optimization that they did not think through.


Maybe, but quick, untested fixes tend to require more fixes later.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 4

RE[2]: Show stopper yes...
by Tuishimi on Wed 5th Aug 2009 20:50 in reply to "RE: Show stopper yes..."
Tuishimi Member since:
2005-07-06

There is that... sometimes.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE[3]: Show stopper yes...
by Delgarde on Wed 5th Aug 2009 21:49 in reply to "RE[2]: Show stopper yes..."
Delgarde Member since:
2008-08-19

There is that... sometimes.


Only "sometimes"? In my experience, a quick fix made under time pressure will almost inevitably introduce at least one new bug...

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2