Paging Doctor Blue: Attaching a Thunderbolt NVMe SSD can make Windows 10 poorly
- Reference: 1604923648
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/11/09/windows_10_thunderbork/
- Source link:
[1]The issue is serious enough for the company to throw up a compatibility hold on PCs with the afflicted drivers – "Affected Windows 10 devices will have at least one Thunderbolt port and any currently available version of the driver file stornvme.sys."
It's a little surprising, particularly given that the October 2020 Update is little more than a jumped-up patch for what was shipped back in May. While that previous update had a notoriously lengthy list of issues at release, this is a new one, and affects both of 2020's Windows 10 releases.
The issue manifests itself when a device is plugged in. Our old friend the blue screen and a "DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION (e6) An illegal DMA operation was attempted by a driver being verified" message is shown.
Windows 10 has had a chequered history when it comes to soiling the bed sheets upon the attachment of certain devices. [2]Back in 2016 , plugging a Kindle Paperwhite into a spare USB port caused an immediate visit from the Blue Screen of Death.
Doubtless keen to avoid a repeat of that fiasco, the considerably more cautious Windows team of today has slammed on the brakes at the first few whiff of Thunderbolt trouble.
The issue joins recent additions to Microsoft's health dashboard for its Windows operating systems. Another includes some users being given an error in LSASS.exe with the alarming text "Your PC will automatically restart in one minute" when dealing with dialogs showing users. This nasty only occurs when the local built-in accounts (such as Administrator or Guest) have been renamed.
The mitigation for this one (which affects both the May and October 2020 updates, according to the [3]knowledgebase article on the matter) is to rollback Windows or rename those built-in accounts prior to attempting an update.
Microsoft said it expects to have a fix for the Thunderbolt problem by the end of November. The account issue will be dealt with by "an upcoming update." ®
Get our [4]Tech Resources
[1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-information/status-windows-10-20h2#1515msgdesc
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2016/08/25/windows_10_kindle_paperwhites/
[3] https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4592802/error-when-accessing-the-sign-in-options-or-users-mmc-snap-in
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Updates?
They really need a more accurate name. Maybe "welcome to our new world of fear and loathing"
Let the readers decide
I'd wish to know why my home desktop was forced to install 2004 (being on 1909)
Saturday I was greeted by a message saying I had to reboot because 2004 was installed. I was on a Pro version with 1909 installed - so I should have not been forced to update yet. But it happened anyway without my consent. I've read about other reports - what is going on at Redmond?
"...sudden stop error." <--- WTF?
I don't use the latest and hottest Windows but, is that not BSOD?
As far as this pertaining to the article, I don't understand why you'd want Thunderbolt in the mix with NVMe when PCIe is hot pluggable and can be "directly" on the CPU (not sure how "hot plug" works on a PCH though).
Re: "...sudden stop error." <--- WTF?
The PCIe transaction-layer protocol may be hot pluggable, and the Thunderbolt interconnect can be an implementation of PCIe.
another whoopsie
Sonds like a line from 'Some Mothers do have 'em'...
Lovely reporting El Reg.
MS hardware solution:
Ms use a proprietary dock connector on their surface range of laptops instead of Thunderbolt. They say it's because the DMA nature of some protocols that Thunderbolt can carry is a security risk.
Respect my NT Authoritah
Another includes some users being given an error in LSASS.exe with the alarming text "Your PC will automatically restart in one minute"
Nice to see MS they still haven't clobbered that XP-era bug.
so in a world falling apart, a pandemic running rife, and the whole of 2020 being something we need to be rid of asap, good old MS to the rescue with some standard normality :o)
let's be honest, it wouldn't be the same if they released a package and it just worked now would it