Microsoft: Windows 'black screen of death' not a broad customer issue
by Stevie Smith - Dec 3 2009, 05:50
It was black, blacker than black. Black.
While Microsoft Corp. is currently dodging direct responsibility regarding the sudden ‘black screen of death’ problem that’s apparently affecting certain Windows 7 users, the software giant has at least now acknowledged the issue.
According to Microsoft, the problem, which causes systems to boot to a dead black screen instead of the user’s personal desktop, has only reared up on a “limited” number of computers running the new Windows platform.
While the company insists that the problematic boot process isn’t a broad customer issue, it also maintains the issue isn’t connected to Windows and is more likely the result of a malicious online program – some of which are known for causing dead screens.
Late last week, anti-virus specialist PrevX suggested the spate of black screens was connected to Windows security updates released to the masses during the month of November, something Microsoft vigorously denied.
“The company has found these reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports,” outlined Christopher Budd, security response communications lead at Microsoft.
“While we were not contacted by the organization [that] originally made these reports, we have proactively contacted them with our findings,” he added.
PrevX has since issued a blog apology to Microsoft, explaining that the recent patch updates were not to blame for the dead screens.
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