Black Screen of Death Fix Available; Debate Rages On

As Microsoft and independent firms alike try to find out more about the "black screen of death" issue plaguing some users of Windows 7, the firm which first reported the problem has earned its fair share of criticism. However, that same firm maintains that despite getting the cause wrong, it still has the best solution.

Fix for Some, Not All Cases

Although it's now clear that Prevx misidentified Microsoft's update as being responsible for the problem, and grossly overestimated how many people could be affected, the firm has produced a fix which is reported to work in many, but not all, cases.

The fix involves using the Windows Task Manager (which can still run during the black screen issue) to launch Internet Explorer directly at a page which downloads a program to fix the problem. Full details are available at prevx.com.

Irresponsible Disclosure?

There's also some debate about the way Prevx publicized the issue. Some have claimed that the firm should have followed "responsible disclosure" principles which say that people discovering a software problem should bring it to the attention of the manufacturer to give them a chance to fix it before they announce it publicly; it appears Prevx did not do this.

However, it can also be argued this principle only exists to prevent hackers learning about a security issue and exploiting it before a patch is produced, which may not be relevant in this case. (Source: pcworld.com.

Issue Not to be Confused with "Blue Screen of Death"

One important difference to note between this and the better known "Blue screen of death" is that the latter involves both Windows and hardware: it's often caused by devices mistakenly taking over the entire memory of a computer, forcing it to shut down all other activity.

The Windows 7 bug appears to involve only the operating system itself, with an as-yet-unidentified flaw or alteration by malware blocking the entire system from loading properly.

Official Fix Not Yet Available

One similarity between the two is that they are both symptoms rather than causes. The blue screen issue can be caused by a wide range of problems, often making diagnosis and repair a tricky issue. At the moment it's too early to tell how many different problems can lead to the black screen, but Microsoft will surely be hoping they are few and easily identified. Until it can issue its own fix, it will continue to be the subject of heated debate. (Source: eweek.com)