Microsoft halts AMD Meltdown and Spectre patches following reports of unbootable PCs

Yesterday reports surfaced on some AMD PCs not booting properly after installing the latest Windows 10 security patch. As a result, many Windows users with AMD powered PCs took to Microsoft’s support forums to complain about the issue. In the face of this criticism, Microsoft has halted the AMD Meltdown and Spectre patches, instead saying it is now working with AMD to resolve the problems and issue another update soon (via The Verge.)

The halt means that AMD PCs will no longer receive the KB4056892 patch which is causing some machines to become unbootable. In fact, the reason many were experiencing issues is that the AMD chipsets would not “conform to the documentation previously provided to Microsoft.”

Microsoft further elaborated on the situation via a statement on their support website:

“Microsoft has reports of customers with some AMD devices getting into an unbootable state after installing recent Windows operating system security updates. After investigating, Microsoft has determined that some AMD chipsets do not conform to the documentation previously provided to Microsoft to develop the Windows operating system mitigations to protect against the chipset vulnerabilities known as Spectre and Meltdown.”

The following security updates are also no longer being pushed to PCs with AMD processors:

• January 3, 2018—KB4056897 (Security-only update)
• January 9, 2018—KB4056894 (Monthly Rollup)
• January 3, 2018—KB4056888 (OS Build 10586.1356)
• January 3, 2018—KB4056891 (OS Build 15063.850)
• January 3, 2018—KB4056890 (OS Build 14393.2007)
• January 3, 2018—KB4056898 (Security-only update)
• January 3, 2018—KB4056893 (OS Build 10240.17735)
• January 9, 2018—KB4056895 (Monthly Rollup)

Those who already installed any of these updates are being urged to visit Microsoft’s support website. The website explains how a user can troubleshoot Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 in the event that the operating system is unbootable.