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Price said users with Windows 7 Task Manager open will subsequently see memory being quickly consumed by the chkdsk.exe process, until it either stops at 90 percent or maxes out and crashes the PC. Price noted that this only happens with PCs that have additional hard drives connected.
On Tuesday, Price told Channelweb that Microsoft told him this is actually part of the Windows 7 design. Microsoft says it has engineered Windows 7 to use more memory in order to speed up CHKDSK, Price said in an e-mail.
Microsoft is aware of the issue but has no additional details to share, a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail. However, one commenter on Price's blog who claims to have been in contact with Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows division, said the issue lies with a chipset controller and can be addressed by updating chipset drivers from the PC motherboard manufacturer.
Michael Cocanower, president of Phoenix-based Microsoft solution provider ITSynergy, said his development team was unable to reproduce the bug. Given the large number of possible factors that could trigger a blue screen, he likens Price's blog post to shouting "fire" in a crowded movie theater.
"It doesn't even appear that any type of crash-dump analysis was done," Cocanower said.
Microsoft is preparing to offer the Windows RTM to Microsoft Connect and MSDN subscribers on Aug. 6. Microsoft Gold and Certified partners will be able to download it on Aug. 16.
