leeshor
Well-Known Member
Some of you, who have been here for a while, may know that I'm in the computer business. I build them, install them, diagnose problems, configure networks etc.
I was finishing up a system this morning when it started having errors on 2 USB HUBs. The device manager said everything was fine but I subsequently found that I couldn't install 6 updates that were waiting to be installed. In fact, it would go to 8% downloading then totally quit. The error number doesn't matter because Microsoft's database provided zero information no matter how I searched. I went through the usual tests including removing the HUBs in device manager and letting it re-detect. I even tried several Microsoft fixit utilities. No help.
I did a total of 3 fresh installs of Windows and after the updates had the same problem. I got pretty frustrated and thought maybe I had a bad motherboard. I took it to my local hardware vendor (who also builds systems) and came to find out they had 7 systems in house that they were building with exactly the same problem, 2 were 2012 R2 servers.
I don't know exactly which one but we finally determined it was one of the "optional" Microsoft updates that was causing the problem. Doing yet another fresh install without any option patches, at least at this point, works.
I have mentioned in posts before, (yes, I know, this was an optional update), that Microsoft does this 2-3 times a year on average. They post a faulty patch, sometimes it only affects users with certain other 3rd party software installed, sometimes not. At least once a year a Microsoft patch will cause problems for the majority of the systems I support which becomes a pain. It is very rare that it will happen on a fresh install.
I don't blame Microsoft, they can regression test every patch for every situation and configuration but this is a cautionary note. Don't rush to get patches just because they are available.
About 4 years ago the IT manger for one of my system customers used WSUS to selectively roll out patches to over 100 systems only to realize the next day that all the systems were having network issues. He only patches the last and first weeks of the month now. When there is a problem with a patch it takes Microsoft a couple days to get enough of the same complaint to realize there is a problem.
I can only hope this helps 1 person down the road.
I was finishing up a system this morning when it started having errors on 2 USB HUBs. The device manager said everything was fine but I subsequently found that I couldn't install 6 updates that were waiting to be installed. In fact, it would go to 8% downloading then totally quit. The error number doesn't matter because Microsoft's database provided zero information no matter how I searched. I went through the usual tests including removing the HUBs in device manager and letting it re-detect. I even tried several Microsoft fixit utilities. No help.
I did a total of 3 fresh installs of Windows and after the updates had the same problem. I got pretty frustrated and thought maybe I had a bad motherboard. I took it to my local hardware vendor (who also builds systems) and came to find out they had 7 systems in house that they were building with exactly the same problem, 2 were 2012 R2 servers.
I don't know exactly which one but we finally determined it was one of the "optional" Microsoft updates that was causing the problem. Doing yet another fresh install without any option patches, at least at this point, works.
I have mentioned in posts before, (yes, I know, this was an optional update), that Microsoft does this 2-3 times a year on average. They post a faulty patch, sometimes it only affects users with certain other 3rd party software installed, sometimes not. At least once a year a Microsoft patch will cause problems for the majority of the systems I support which becomes a pain. It is very rare that it will happen on a fresh install.
I don't blame Microsoft, they can regression test every patch for every situation and configuration but this is a cautionary note. Don't rush to get patches just because they are available.
About 4 years ago the IT manger for one of my system customers used WSUS to selectively roll out patches to over 100 systems only to realize the next day that all the systems were having network issues. He only patches the last and first weeks of the month now. When there is a problem with a patch it takes Microsoft a couple days to get enough of the same complaint to realize there is a problem.
I can only hope this helps 1 person down the road.
