Microsoft’s Anniversary Update is causing headaches yet again, this time for owners of Kindle e-readers. Some Kindle Paperwhite and Voyager devices are causing PCs running the Anniversary update to lock up and display the dreaded blue screen of death (BSOD) whenever the e-readers are connected via USB, as first reported by The Guardian.
The reason for this odd behavior is unclear, but Microsoft says it’s working on it.
“We are aware of an issue with a small number of Kindle Voyager and Paperwhite e-Readers causing an unexpected behavior when plugged into Windows 10 devices after installing the Anniversary Update,” Microsoft said on its support forums.
The impact on you at home: For now, there isn’t a solid workaround for anyone who’s experiencing this problem. Some users are reporting, however, that leaving the Kindle plugged in to the PC while rebooting will allow them to use the Kindle normally and transfer files. Rebooting the PC and plugging the Kindle back in again just causes another lock-up.
The hits keep coming
This is the third significant problem we’ve heard about for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, all involving somewhat common hardware.
In mid-August users reported a bug that caused the PC to freeze when they logged in. Microsoft said the problem happened on PCs where the operating system was on a solid-state drive, while apps and data were on a secondary drive—a configuration that a decent number of enthusiasts on a budget swear by.
Several days after the freezing issue came to light, news of a bug affecting webcams popped up. In this case, Microsoft blacklisted two video compression formats that many webcams relied on causing them to freeze. Trying to use the Logitech C920, one of the most popular webcams around, with Microsoft’s own Skype can force this glitch to occur.
And now this.
The glut of glitches revolving around hardware scenarios may show the limits of the Windows Insider program, as Ars Technica‘s Peter Bright notes. Microsoft says that beta testers shouldn’t use preview builds on your primary PC due to potential instability. Many Windows Insiders turn to virtual machines instead, and preview builds running in virtual machines are unlikely to catch some hardware-related issues—particularly when peripherals or less common storage configurations are involved.