News from a friend at microsoft...

snoozy · #1 07/02/08, 06:23 PM

Although this is not homesteading related, it is related to any users of computers:

"The big news of the day from inside the Belly of the Beast, is that there is an epidemic of computers shutting down automatically after they've been running exactly 40 minutes.

After several hundred e-mails back and forward, the culprit has been identified as Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Seemingly it was accidentally distributed with a 14-day expiration date.

The only fix found so far is to completely wipe each computer clean, re-format the hard drive, and install everything - operating system, service pack, every last bit of software, all public and private files - from scratch.

Which is an all-day operation, for people who know what they're doing. Now multiply that by ... say ... 36,000 people working here, only roughly 20% of which understand what they're doing...

News Update: The shutting-down epidemic has been further traced to the beta version of Vista Service Pack: it had an expiration date of 06/30/08. When the final version of the service pack was released to the general public, somebody FORGOT to remove the expiration date.
So the problem isn't just that every computer in Microsoft needs everything re-installed: it means that every computer in the WORLD that has Vista Service Pack 1 installed needs everything re-installed.

Not so bad, since few people will have installed the Service Pack? Not a chance: one of the "nice" new features of Vista is that it automatically automatically installs all service packs without asking permission."

Sounds pretty extensive, so if your computer shuts down, this might be why!

Beaners · #2 07/02/08, 07:18 PM

This computer runs Vista and hasn't turned off yet. It has managed to stay on much longer than that 40 minute window, since I don't turn it off more than once a week. (Unless the power goes or it gets unplugged.)

Reformatting and reloading a computer might take a couple hours, but it definitely doesn't take an entire day to do. Trust me, I've done it more times than I can count.

Kayleigh

Pink_Carnation · #3 07/02/08, 08:03 PM

Well hubby has it at work and nothing happened. My system is vista and does auto-updating and doesn't have service pack 1.

cchapman84 · #4 07/02/08, 08:15 PM

Sounds like this may be an urban legend (or the beginning of one). My husband works at an ISP, he runs Vista on his laptop, and has had no issues like this, nor has he heard of any (he and a couple of the other guys in the office also do computer repair).

Alice In TX/MO · #5 07/02/08, 08:34 PM

We've had Vista for a year, and this isn't happening.

Windy in Kansas · #6 07/02/08, 09:29 PM

I'm running Vista with the SP1 and have had no problems.

uyk7 · #7 07/02/08, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Reformatting and reloading a computer might take a couple hours, but it definitely doesn't take an entire day to do. Trust me, I've done it more times than I can count.

That would depend on the number of programs/files to be reloaded. I to have done it and sometimes it can take all day.

.

homesteadforty · #8 07/03/08, 09:02 AM

The place to start is with the source.

The pre-release evaluation only version of Vista SP1 had an expiration date. To have the problem you would have had to specifically downloaded the evaluation version. Any automatic update downloads have downloaded the release version of the service pack.

If interested there's a bunch more information here:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/...4934&SiteID=17

FL Cracker · #9 07/07/08, 09:27 PM

Lurker Alert!! I have been slipping around this site for many months, finally decided to join about a month ago, and thought this would be a good time to "come out of the shadows"! I run automatic updates and haven't had any problem with this. I probably just cursed myself to shut down in 40 minutes?