Anniversary update freezes machines with combo SSD/hard drives

[Bill Joyce]

Yesterday I took two laptops to a relative's house to install the Anniversary update for Windows 10, to not use 3GB per machine on my cellular plan. On one laptop it went fine, everything works. The second was my new laptop and it was not a pretty sight. Once installed I could not do anything with the laptop but log on, it would freeze. Turns out I am not alone and I had to find the instructions to go back to the previous build until Microsoft comes up with a fix.

 

The new laptop has a 128GB SSD primary drive and a 1TB hard drive and I was putting apps and data on the hard drive. This combination is not compatible with the Anniversary update. More info:

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-anniversary-update-freezing-microsoft-offers-temporary-fix/

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2467934/solid-state-of-mind-borked-by-microsoft-windows-10-anniversary-update

 

The laptop is happy again running the previous build.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Two of the PCs I upgraded in Annapolis are SSD machines and are doing fine.

 

I have one laptop there and it is hanging on the second reboot after installing the update. The problem is that when it hangs there is no more talking to it remotely.

[Bill Joyce]

The problem happens when the machine has two drives, with one an SSD and the other a hard drive, not with only one SSD. This is now a common configuration for higher end laptops, a 128 to 256GB SSD in a slot, not hard drive form factor, and a normal hard drive to provide more storage. Dell, Toshiba and HP all have these laptop configurations. Mine is a Dell 15 7000.

[RV_]

Bill,

Mine is that configuration, and a Pro 10 machine, thus I've deferred performance updates until a few months down the road just in case of glitches like this. Mine is a 32 GB SSD and a 2 TB HD.

 

Thanks for the heads up! I did update all other machines in the house but my Dell 2720. Most had an SSD as the only drive and one with only a HD. Glad I waited now.

[pugsly]

I've run into the same issue. It boggles the mind that Microsoft still treats using an SSD for system and programs and a hard drive for data is something new and unusual.

[docj]

The problem happens when the machine has two drives, with one an SSD and the other a hard drive, not with only one SSD. This is now a common configuration for higher end laptops, a 128 to 256GB SSD in a slot, not hard drive form factor, and a normal hard drive to provide more storage. Dell, Toshiba and HP all have these laptop configurations. Mine is a Dell 15 7000.

 

My Dell has the SSD/HD configuration but all programs are installed on the SSD. The D: drive is only used for data, photos, etc.

 

According to the articles you posted: Microsoft has received a small number of reports of Windows 10 freezing after installing the Anniversary Update on systems with the operating system stored on a solid-state drive (SSD) and apps and data stored on a separate drive.

Does this mean that my computer would be Ok since the operating system and all apps are on the SSD drive?

[Bill Joyce]

docj: I have no idea. But, I would wait until they give the go ahead since the recovery is a pain.

 

On another note when we took my wife's laptop to a place with wifi to update it today, the Anniversary Update (called a Feature Update) errored, the rest of the updates installed and when rebooted Windows Update said it was up-to-date. I found that interesting. Her's just has a 1TB hard drive.

 

My next bummer was Costco just sent me email with a dream machine in it, for $1300 they have a 15.6" Asus with 4K video, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 2TB drive, a Blu-ray writer and touchscreen. Just a bit more than I paid for a similar Dell with 128GB SSD, 1TB drive and no optical disk a month ago. Oh well.

[pugsly]

docj: I have no idea. But, I would wait until they give the go ahead since the recovery is a pain.

 

On another note when we took my wife's laptop to a place with wifi to update it today, the Anniversary Update (called a Feature Update) errored, the rest of the updates installed and when rebooted Windows Update said it was up-to-date. I found that interesting. Her's just has a 1TB hard drive.

 

My next bummer was Costco just sent me email with a dream machine in it, for $1300 they have a 15.6" Asus with 4K video, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 2TB drive, a Blu-ray writer and touchscreen. Just a bit more than I paid for a similar Dell with 128GB SSD, 1TB drive and no optical disk a month ago. Oh well.

 

I'm a big fan of Costco computers. I bought a fairly basic Win10 laptop and after a few weeks decided I needed a bit more so returned it and got a nicer one with backlit keyboard and touch screen. no muss, no fuss.

[docj]

 

My next bummer was Costco just sent me email with a dream machine in it, for $1300 they have a 15.6" Asus with 4K video, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 2TB drive, a Blu-ray writer and touchscreen. Just a bit more than I paid for a similar Dell with 128GB SSD, 1TB drive and no optical disk a month ago. Oh well.

 

Sounds as if you and I have the same Dell. Mine in 8 months old and has already had a motherboard replacement which was necessitated by the fact that the unit wouldn't charge its battery--it would recognize the charger but wouldn't charge. Other than that it's been an excellent performer.

[Bill Joyce]

 

Sounds as if you and I have the same Dell. Mine in 8 months old and has already had a motherboard replacement which was necessitated by the fact that the unit wouldn't charge its battery--it would recognize the charger but wouldn't charge. Other than that it's been an excellent performer.

Mine is a 15 7000.

[fortytwo]

Bill,

I also have the Dell 15 7000, bought in December 15. Must have been lucky; mine has worked ok after the update. However, Win 10 continues to destroy my MIFI data allocation with 400-700 mb updates on a regular basis. In the past 5 days I've gotten over 2GB of downloads.

 

I've long been of the "if it's not broke don't fix it" philosophy. Microsoft updates seem to break almost as much as they fix. Does anyone know how to completely turn off updates? I'm absolutely certain that given my usage habits the probability of an update hosing my laptop is far greater than from malware. I've set my connection to metered, but that doesn't seem to stop the downloads.

[Bill Joyce]

I did a few things to cut down the data usage.

1) I uninstalled McAfee and used Windows Defender. This did require a big update of Defender.

2) I uninstalled the Office version they had installed, since I had my own.

 

You might install networx, https://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/, and find out what is using your bandwidth.

 

I am not fully moved to the new machine due to being very busy. I should finish the move next week and will see what else I find.

[RV_]

Bill,

I use defender and Malwarebytes premium. Did you get the lifetime movable Malwarebytes when it was available too? I feel more secure with those two than I did with any of the resource hogging retail products.

 

I am still deferring the Anniversary update on my main system, despite not having any issues with it on the other 8 machines here. At this point, like previous waits to upgrade to a new version of Windows, I may have dodged a bullet or not.

 

I am trying your recommended networx program just for grins.

[chuckbear]

Expect lots and lots more of these kinds of issues with the forced Windows 10 updates.Chuck

[budeneighe]

I struggle frequently with my BIL and his "if it ain't broke..." philosophy. Just because something does not fail today does not mean that it is OK forever. Staying up to date with fixes is how one protects themselves from more catastrophic failures as products age out and become incompatible by design. This is clear in the stepped upgrades to Windows and other platforms which stop supporting old iron.

 

My only system is on win 10 64bit w/16gb ram, 1 250gb SSD (C:) and multiple HDs ranging in age into IDE only drives. MY last motherboard upgrade (actually the first one since 2006) left me with no IDE ports and only 2 PCI express slots. One is hidden under my new Display card so I really only have 1 unused slot.

 

Now, I had previously had some problems with the SSD because the BIOS was not really compatible with SSD drives. Never could get an update that would fix that. Enter the new Motherboard. Fully supports the SSD as an SSDS. Supports UEFI and GPT, too. Now interesting thing is that WIn 10 did have a few glitches appear in rare cases with no real definition other than it had something to do with the SSD/HD setup. New MB, same thing so you think WIN 10, right?

 

Nope, Intel chip drivers on the MB finally got an update from the MB mfr (ASROCK) and no more SSD / HD problems and glitches. No update to windows to fix it. Just an update to the programming on the chipset on the MB for the Disks. Never had a problem under Linux, any version. That does not mean the problem was not still there all the time. Just that Linux did not trip over it or trigger it. Not worth my time to figure out exactly why nor to pronounce Linux as more bulletproof than Windows.