ASUS based Motherboards - Windows update can kill your computer

So witch motherboard are they Making people buy?

a reply to: Vroomfondel

I am still using windows XP- Pro with PS-3. Last summer I had a serious problem
with my computer that gave my son no choice but to completely wipe everything
off my computer.Then he re-installed everything and I didn't have anymore problems.

A couple of weeks ago,I received a message from Microsoft that my version of windows
might be counterfeit.I still haven't responded to them because I think they are trying
to force me to switch to another windows version.

I don't know what kind of motherboard my computer has installed I have a PowerSpec.

I had been a Linux user for several years - on my laptop and secondary computer systems - but had resisted switching from Windows to Linux on my main system because of my games. Up until very recently it was quite difficult for me to get many modern titles functioning in the Wine emulator to any degree of acceptability, but now Linux video drivers and Wine have progressed far enough where I could finally play my games at pretty well near the same quality as within Windows.

I switched from Windows 7 to Xubuntu six months ago and haven't looked back since. It is a shame though because I was a great fan of XP and Win7. They were awesome operating systems but I suppose Microsoft had to kill them because they were too good; they weren't making money because they were so stable consumers didn't upgrade. Which I can understand from a business standpoint, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

But now I have an operating system that is stable, infinitely customizable and configurable, and free. Although it does have a bit of a steeper learning curve to grasp initially, especially if you've been raised on nothing but Windows, I can't believe not more people are using Linux.

I'll never again pay $200+ dollars every four years for a product that is then intentionally broken by its company.

originally posted by: ArchAngel_X


... It is a shame though because I was a great fan of XP and Win7. They were awesome operating systems but I suppose Microsoft had to kill them because they were too good; they weren't making money because they were so stable consumers didn't upgrade.
...

I'll never again pay $200+ dollars every four years for a product that is then intentionally broken by its company.

BINGO!!!

WINNER-WINNER....CHICKEN DINNER!!!!

And just think about all those poor saps who ran out and got Win 8...or the Micro Shaft geeks sitting there gnashing their teeth and wringing their hands saying..."We've just GOT to figure out a way to blow up Win 7!!! Just GOT to!!"

originally posted by: Vroomfondel
Resolving the issue by disabling secure boot is great, if your computer boots up. If it doesn't...

It doesn't have to boot up. In fact, it won't, all you'll get is the secure boot warning.

This is a BIOS setting fix. No boot needed. You actually don't WANT to reset the BIOS. You can do the fix faster than the time you took to type your post.

From a link provided on the first page...

The update in question is KB3133977 and what this does is fix a problem that stops BitLocker encrypting drives because of service crashes in svhost.exe. If that’s a problem you have, you’ll welcome the fix.

So, Bitlocker encrypts your drives, and KB3133977 stops it from doing this. Why is it that I can't help feeling security agencies are involved in this issue? If your drives are not encrypted, and your computer connected to the internet, what is there to stop certain insidious agencies from prying? I don't want to come across as all paranoid, but for Microsoft to intentionally 'break' an earlier version of one of its operating systems just to force the public to upgrade to their latest OS seems to me to open them up to a court case?

I installed that nasty update two weeks ago.....I'm still here...do I still have to worry????
I have a Dell PC.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

If your pc does not have an ASUS based motherboard you are probably ok. You can check at the Dell website using your pc serial number to see if yours is one that may be affected. If you haven't seen any issues by now I think you probably won't but it couldn't hurt to check.

Just turn secure boot off - UEFI to legacy and UEFI mode, should be fine. Doesn't brick the system.. just forces you to make a change in the BIOS.

Imaging computers is a PITA with UEFI.. I turn off secure boot and UEFI to legacy by default on all systems we get in. While I do think MS is forcing Windows 10 upgrades in many ways, I don't think this is one of them, since there is a workaround.

originally posted by: elysiumfire
So, Bitlocker encrypts your drives, and KB3133977 stops it from doing this.

No, KB3133977 is the correction for Bitlocker not working, as it says on the Microsoft page about KB3133977.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

If you can restart the computer without any problems then it wasn't affected.

a reply to: fleabit

How does one turn off secure boot????

originally posted by: ArMaP
a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

If you can restart the computer without any problems then it wasn't affected.

Thanks....that is more or less what I was hoping.

I am regretting the "free" upgrade I did from 8 to 10 a few months back. I do NOT like 10. It's time to clean wipe and reinstall 8. Damn. I hate reinstalls.

originally posted by: rollanotherone
I am regretting the "free" upgrade I did from 8 to 10 a few months back. I do NOT like 10. It's time to clean wipe and reinstall 8. Damn. I hate reinstalls.

Don't do it; reinstall 7 instead.

originally posted by: vethumanbeing

originally posted by: rollanotherone
I am regretting the "free" upgrade I did from 8 to 10 a few months back. I do NOT like 10. It's time to clean wipe and reinstall 8. Damn. I hate reinstalls.

Don't do it; reinstall 7 instead.

Have a big laptop I use (more like a portable desktop), an Alienware 18 with a pair of 990 graphics cards in for the Cuda power.

It came with 8.1. I was all set not to like 8, and I didn't until I installed Start8 and Fences from Stardock. It's like having a much faster 7 with fewer bugs and quirks. Then they started pushing this 10 thing, and Dell says 10 will work on it, but in fact they never ported any of the small stuff over, like the utilities that make the fn keys work. So you can't adjust the brightness or switch to the lower power graphics anymore. And you can't set the background lighting for the keyboard, or a dozen other things the utilities do for you in 8.1. So yeah, it *works* but not totally.

On top of which, and where this comes from I don't know, but when I tried installing 10 on it, it installed ok, but developed this penchant for telling me I didn't have admin privileges, and you could fix it, but it kept reverting to thinking that. And it wouldn't let me access USB storage devices, saying that I didn't 'own them' or have sufficient security to see the contents. Apparently I wasn't the only one, because there was a small but persistent group on their forums with exactly the same issue and they never solved it.

So, knowing that 8.1 would be around until the laptop had likely fallen apart, I bid 10 adieu. I bought a windows 10 laptop last week for light work, a lot of my stuff won't run on a mac, and it doesn't have the same issues. But I still ended up plastering Start10 and Fences on it to get the irritating interface under control. I do NOT like it updating without my permission. And I'm pretty sure it's going to be a security issue with that 'running home to mama' thing it seems to do on the net.

originally posted by: ketsuko
Is this part of getting people to swap over to Win 10?

It's important for us as both our machines are ASUS. Thankfully, I turn off auto-update.

I thought exactly the same thing

a reply to: Vroomfondel

Yep thankyou bloody Microsoft. I nearly had to go to court because the company denied having any records of an extended warranty. Luckily I kept the receipt but I was without a laptop for about 3 weeks.

Dodgy bastards all round.

Bedlam had the answer. Take your Bios out of Secure Boot.

Once the system is up, remove that KB.

Then if you really need the secure boot, re-enable it.

I'm feeling lucky today that I haven't done any windows updates in over a month.
MS has been known for doing unethical things in the computer business.
I hope my pc isn't affected by these updates but will check.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: fleabit

How does one turn off secure boot????

 

originally posted by: ArMaP
a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

If you can restart the computer without any problems then it wasn't affected.

Thanks....that is more or less what I was hoping.

It's just a setting in your BIOS, usually under security. A simple "secure boot" on or off. I'd recommend just turning it off.. permanently. And for UEFI, you usually get the options of UEFI, Legacy, or both. Select both, legacy a priority if you get the choice.

Secure boot is about pointless.. imo, developed to make it more difficult for people wanting a second OS on their computer to do so. We turn it off by default, legacy boot priority.. and we have no issues. How many malware / pup / other malicious software has invaded our computers as a result? Probably next to none. So.. it's pointless. UEFI itself is kinda useful.. gives you mouse in BIOS, among other things.. still a PITA to image and work with.

This is overblown though. For example.. I can take any computer we turned secure boot off on.. image, run it.. and then one day, turn secure boot back on.. and the system will look dead. It won't boot. But.. just switching secure boot back off fixes it. It's not doing anything to your OS, it's all still intact. : )