Wednesday, February 20, 2013

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION BSOD in Windows 8

TL;DR: If you're looking for a solution, uninstall the Windows Update number 2778344.

Note 2: Microsoft seems to have fixed this issue by update 2818604

Note: Update 2778344 was available on Feb 11, 2013, so if you had the BSODs before that (for example in January or last December), this solution is not for you.

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Last Sunday I started getting the SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION BSOD:


This is how I see it:


These are the minidump files:


So many drivers involved! So the next logical thing to do was updating the drivers. I had done the following:

- Updated the bios: 1.08 -> 1.11
- Updated the Atheros wireless driver:10.0.0.204 -> 10.0.0.221
- Updated the Atheros ethernet driver: 2.1.0.7 -> 2.1.0.13
- My graphic driver was already up to date, so no need to update.

Still BSODs.

I also did a full virus scan, did a junk files removal and registry cleaning session with CCleaner.

Still BSODs.

I did chkdsk /f, sfc /scannow

Still BSODs

I knew for sure that this was not a hardware problem. Why? I triple boot Windows 8, Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.10 on my laptop, and I used Windows 7 and Ubuntu without any problem.

So this must be a software problem, of Windows 8 alone.

But I haven't install any new apps or software since last week. So logically, it may have been Windows Update.

I checked the installation log for Windows Update, looked for those installed since last Saturday, and figured one of the following could have been the culprit:

2805940
2799494
2790655
2778344
2795944
2803676

I uninstalled them all.

(In case you don't know how to uninstall them, go to Control Panel -> Uninstall a program -> View installed updates -> Find the updates you want to uninstall, right click and choose Uninstall)

Et voila! No BSODs ever since.

The discussion thread is here

Some people have found out that the culprit may have been 2778344 alone, so you may want to uninstall it only, or at least it is the first thing that you should do.

Also, make sure you hide the updates that you have uninstalled, so that Windows won't install them again!

How to do it:


- Go to Control Panel -> System and security -> Windows update



- Click on  "<number> important update is available". You will see the updates that you have uninstalled there.
- Right-click on each of those updates (those that you have uninstalled and don't want Windows to remind you about installing them again) and click Hide update


- Now Windows won't try to reinstall those updates that you have uninstalled.

If you do this, you don't have to disable automatic update


14 comments:

Unknown said...

how do i stop automatic updates & how do i hide it?

Chin said...

Once you have uninstalled the update, you just need to hide it away, you don't need to disable automatic update.

I have added the instruction at the end.

Unknown said...

Awesome. It's been hours since I uninstalled 2778344 and I've had no more BSOD's. And I was having them every 30 minutes before.

Unknown said...

Now, do you have a fix for FireFox constantly crashing. And I know about the FF Adobe Flash Player issue, but that's not my problem. It just keeps crashing randomly.

Chin said...

Glad to hear it worked for you.

As for the Firefox thing, I have no idea as I only use Chrome. Sorry about that.

Anonymous said...

I uninstalled the update and updated my AMD video driver. I also hid the update.
This seems to be a problem as there is a fairly large discussion going on in the Microsoft forums. However, Microsoft doesn't seem to be saying much about it.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I'm going to go ahead and uninstall this update. What bothers me is that it takes the consumer to find the solution and relay it to one another while Microsoft does nothing.

Anonymous said...

I don't have this update number, so how do I go about getting my laptop to stop crashing?

Anonymous said...

Chin, THANK YOU!!! I uninstalled update 2778344 and have not gotten a BSoD for over a week; previously, it was happening multiple times a day! Screw Microsoft... ridiculous. I have disabled Windows Update now since I don't trust it. I was forced into getting Windows 8 after my old computer died and I've never dealt with a bigger piece of crap (and I've been using windows since 1994).

Again, THANK YOU!

Titty said...

I uninstalled all six updates just like you, but in my case the problem persists.

Devon said...

When the problem occurred initially, I made sure all of my updates were current. When reading this post yesterday, I noted the mention that Microsoft seemed to have addressed the issue in a more recent update. So I updated one more time, and I've had no problems since. If the issue recurs, though, I'll be sure to try to remove the specific update mentioned here.

Unknown said...

Hi! So this has nothing to do removing 3rd party apps like adobe creative suite right? I've removed the update already but I do not want to resort into removing CS. Hopefully this will work. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Hello i just, and when i say just i mean JUST restored my computer and i got the BSoD again.