Windows 10 V1909: Year 3000 Setup Bug

[German]Windows 10 users are already facing many issues. Now there's another blunder: On some mainboards a year 3000 bug strikes when the BIOS has a certain date. Then the operating system can no longer be installed.


Advertising

IT expert Carey Holzman, who deals with BIOS and motherboard issues, has tracked down this phenomenon. He has put the video LIVE – Windows 10 Y3K Bug EXPOSED! online on YouTube – but you don't have to view the 48 minutes.

I myself became aware of the subject through the article by Bleeping Computer. Carey Holzman must have given them some information.

Problem: BIOS date after 18.1.3001

The issue in brief: Users who attempt to install Windows 10 version 1909 on a system will fail if the motherboard's BIOS date (AMD or Intel boards) is set to January 19, 3001 or later. Bleeping Computer quotes Holzman as:

It seems if your motherboard BIOS (AMD or Intel) allows you to set a date of 1-19-3001 or beyond, Windows 10 1909 will not finish installing, but locks up during the second reboot of the installation process.

Now only few people will enter the date, which is in the distant future, in their BIOS. However, there seem to have been boards where the date was wrong. Windows 10 version 1909 can not complete the installation after the 2nd restart and hangs.


Advertising

But it comes still worse. If someone knows about the error and changes the BIOS date during the installation to complete the installation of Windows 10, the setup intervenes. After the next reboot, Windows 10 simply freezes. If you check the BIOS date, you will find that the old date is set again. On restart, the Windows 10 setup will reset the previous BIOS date. Holzman is quoted in Bleeping Computer as saying this:

Windows 10 freezes again and when you check your BIOS date, you'll find Windows 10 automatically puts the incorrect BIOS date back in your BIOS! If you change the motherboard, then attempt to restart from the failed install, the install will once again freeze and set the incorrect installation date back into the new motherboards BIOS!

So even the exchange of the mainboard does not help anymore. This problem affects at least the users of Gigabyte H370 HD3 (for Intel CPUs) and Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite (for AMD CPUs) motherboards. These were used by Holzman in his tests.

Remedy with radical cure

The solution is a radical cure with a new installation. In the first step the BIOS date on the mainboard is set to a value before 19.1.3001. Then the system has to be booted from an installation medium and Windows 10 version 1909 has to be reinstalled. After that the installation should work.

"I think Gigabyte needs to fix the BIOS on every current motherboard they sell, and Microsoft needs to do a reasonable date check during the initial installation process," Holzman told BleepingComputer.

Addendum: An explanation why Windows 10 wrote back the date to BIOS could be found here.


Cookies helps to fund this blog: Cookie settings
Advertising


##1

This entry was posted in issue, Windows and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Windows 10 V1909: Year 3000 Setup Bug

  1. colin says:

    "The solution is a radical cure with a new installation"
    How is that an issue when the article is about a fresh install of Windows 10 anyway.
    Just sort the BIOS date, format hard disk and start again.
    Still I think I can guarantee it wont affect anyone living and microsoft have around 800 years to release a patch!!

  2. Anti Entity says:

    I think I have much worst problem my windows 10 instalation keep freezes during second boot but only difference is I'm trying to instal 1507 version of the windows

    • guenni says:

      Is it a LTSC – I guess support for chipset driver is the culprit.

      • Anti Entity says:

        I'm installing by DVD but instalation just freezes just like in carry holzmans video I haven't tried this solution yet cus my hard disc is damaged now need to buy new one

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *