Windows 7 Update Causes Blue Screen of Death, Some Users Report

Last week, Microsoft rolled out the second pack of updates for February 2013, in an attempt to fix some of the issues it found in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows RT.

In addition, the company delivered Internet Explorer 10 to Windows 7 computers, so a so-called platform update was necessary for all systems running this particular operating system in order to prepare them for the new browser.

The update labeled as KB2670838 was supposed to resolve issues in Windows, according to Microsoft’s advisory but, instead, it causes quite a lot of problems to Windows 7 users.

Several posts on Microsoft’s support forums indicate that this particular update results in a Blue Screen of Death on specific Windows 7 computers that continue to run Internet Explorer 9 after deploying it.

“Update KB2670838 causes system crash whenever Internet Explorer Version 9 is running. I restored the laptop to a previous date using system restore and again allowed the update to install again. Getting the same results as previous installation of the update. I uninstalled the update using Add/Remove programs and laptop seems stable,” one user explains.

“KB2670838, after this update, some HP and Dell notebooks are having Blue Screen and black bar on Internet Explorer on right of its window. When they click that black bar BSOD pops and shuts down computer,” another Windows 7 user added.

The error displayed on the BSOD is PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA and is apparently related to the hybrid video card issue we told you about yesterday.

Microsoft has already confirmed the bug and said that it’s working on a fix to repair it as soon as possible.

“Microsoft is aware of an issue some customers are experiencing when installing KB2670838 on certain laptop systems with hybrid graphics. We are looking into the situation and are considering blocking the update for systems that could be affected. Customers who are experiencing issues on systems that already have installed the update should consider uninstalling KB2670838,” the company said.

The only workaround available at this point is to completely uninstall the KB2670838 update by going to Add/Remove Programs and removing the pack from the “View Installed Updates” section.