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

Event ID 219 The driver \Driver\WudfRd failed to load for the device ROOT\WPD\0000.

How to fix this warning:

Event ID 219
The driver \Driver\WudfRd failed to load for the device ROOT\WPD\0000.

Cause:

Error is caused by Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework
"Service" being disabled or will load sometimes in manual, should be automatic.

Fix:

Start/Run/services.msc
Go to Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework
Change startup type to automatic.

Note: the driver WUDFRd.sys is associated with Logitech keyboards and mice

Sublime text 2 auto format HTML

1. Go to Edit / Line / Reindent
2. Type Alt+E+L+R
3. Type CTRL+SHIFT+R
     3.A. Go to Preferences / Key Bindings - User (a blank file will open)
     3.B. In that file paste the following piece of code:
     [
      { "keys": ["ctrl+shift+r"], "command": "reindent" , "args": {"single_line":      false}}
     ]
     3.C. Save and close that file.

Zenburn for gedit

Zenburn is a low contrast theme suitable for coding. How to get that theme for gedit, Ubuntu's default text editor?

Get the XML theme file here:

https://github.com/mig/gedit-themes/blob/master/zenburn.xml

download it, and import to gedit via edit/preferences/font & colours/+

Note: if you can't see anything when you highlight a word, add these two lines to the downloaded zenburn.xml file:

<style name="selection" background="#ef7950"/>
<style name="selection-unfocused" background="#ef7950"/> 

 and import it to gedit again

#ef7950 is a softer brother of the #dd4814, which is Ubuntu's trademark orange

Remove IE extension data manually

Example:

Send to OneNote

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49}

Onenote Linked Notes

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{789FE86F-6FC4-46A1-9849-EDE0DB0C95CA}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{789FE86F-6FC4-46A1-9849-EDE0DB0C95CA}

Remove them all!

Hello world

First blog post of a programmer. Seems legit