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Last week my mother installed an update (KB4519978) on her Windows 10 machine. Since then, she has been experiencing some performance issues and is having trouble signing into her laptop.

When she opens her laptop and wakes it from sleep mode, one of two things frequently happens:

  1. it will show background, time and date, battery, etc. but will not switch to the login in screen
  2. it will only show the background, and will not switch to the login in screen

In both cases, it will not respond to any keyboard or mouse input. The only work around for this problem is to hard power the computer and restart it.

As far as performance is concerned, her computer has been running slowly since the update. Today, for the first time, it completely froze while she was on Facebook. We had to (once again) hard power the laptop.

Keep in mind that her laptop has worked flawlessly every since she bought it. There has never been any lagging or slowness whatsoever up until Oct. 16 (when she installed the update).

She did mention that the update took all night to install (it was still installing in the morning).

Why did this update wreck my mother's computer? Is there a problem with the actual update, or did it perhaps fail to install properly?

Here is some (potentially) helpful information on her laptop:

Manufacturer  Model             Name             SystemType    Installed memory (RAM)  Processor
HP            HP ENVY Notebook  LAPTOP-D8L9TS62  x64-based PC  16.0 GB (15.9 usable)   Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz 2.90GHz

UPDATE:

I tried to uninstall the update to see if it changes things, but it does not appear in the control panel under "Installed Updates:" enter image description here

It is, however, present in the "Update History" in the settings app: enter image description here

I attempted to manually uninstall it from the command prompt, but it says that the update is not installed: enter image description here

Seems the like the computer is self-contradicting now...

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6
  • It probably depends on the machine. I have this update on numerous machines with no issue. Download the vendor’s driver update app and update all drivers including BIOS to see if that helps. Check for old apps and update these as well
    – anon
    Commented Oct 26, 2019 at 18:52
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    You should uninstall that update to see if it really is the reason for these problems. You can always reinstall it again. Edit your question with the result.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 27, 2019 at 10:24
  • @IsayReinstateMonica updated
    – Cardinal System
    Commented Oct 30, 2019 at 23:05
  • This is a feature update. These don't get uninstalled like other updates. Instead, see this.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 30, 2019 at 23:44
  • Also, this is not an October 2019 update. Version 1903 was released in May 2019. Your title needs to be revised.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 30, 2019 at 23:46

3 Answers 3

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Last week my mother installed an update (KB4519978) on her Windows 10 machine. Since then, she has been experiencing some performance issues and is having trouble signing into her laptop.

While KB4519978 might have been installed on the machine, Windows 10 version 1903 was also installed, this is based on the fact your screenshots indicate this is the case and KB4519978 is only an update for Windows 10 version 1803.

Source: October 15, 2019—KB4519978 (OS Build 17134.1099)

When Windows was upgraded to Windows 10 version 1903 Windows Update history was wiped. This is the reason you are unable to find any evidence that KB4519978 was installed.

She did mention that the update took all night to install (it was still installing in the morning).

This is evidence that Windows was upgraded to 1903, if the only update that was installed was KB4519978, it wouldn't have taken all night.

It is, however, present in the "Update History" in the settings app:

Your screenshot indicates Windows 10 version 1903 was installed. It does not show that KB4519978 was installed. In fact, the only updates listed in your Windows Update history, apply to Windows 10 version 1903 instead of Windows 10 version 1803.

Why did this update wreck my mother's computer? Is there a problem with the actual update, or did it perhaps fail to install properly?

While Windows 10 version 1903 is indeed considered stable, problems with the feature update, have been a problem since it's release. However, at this time, there are very few open issues with that particular version.

Source: Windows 10, version 1903 and Windows Server, version 1903

I attempted to manually uninstall it from the command prompt, but it says that the update is not installed.

You cannot uninstall a feature update through the command line. Since KB4519978 is not actually installed, due to the fact you are not running 1803 the error message you have received is accurate.

You can revert back to Windows 10 version 1803 if it has not been more than 10 days. However, Windows 10 version 1803 support is about to end on November 12, 2019, so you will have to upgrade to a supported version. It is worth pointing out that any changes to the system configuration will be lost that were not present before the upgrade.

enter image description here

Source: How to Downgrade Windows 10 1903 to 1809 Source: Recovery options in Windows 10

If it's been more than 10 days since the upgrade to 1903 or you have used the Disk Cleanup Utility to remove the previous version you will be unable to revert back to Windows 10 version 1803.

If it has been more than 10 days or you are unable to revert back to the previous version, I suggest performing a Reset, this should solve the problems you describe. You should backup any vital information before you perform this step.

enter image description here

Source: Everything You Need to Know About “Reset This PC” in Windows 8 and 10

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  • I appreciate your comprehensive, in-depth answer. This is indeed everything I needed to know. I did miss that 10 day deadline, so at this point it's up to my mother what she wants to do. +1
    – Cardinal System
    Commented Nov 1, 2019 at 0:18
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The HP Envy line started on 2009. If the computer is several years old, it could be that the hard disk has just broken down. A major Windows upgrade is a heavy disk operation, and it is not uncommon for it to precipitate the failure of an ailing disk.

I would suggest:

  1. Backup everything that is needed
  2. Check the SMART data of the disk
  3. Run chkdsk

Further action is dependent upon the above results.

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6
  • 1
    It's possible to determine whether this is actually the case, i.e. by running disk diagnostics or at least by checking the System event log for disk related errors. While this answer contains good advice, it falls short of definitively answering the question.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 26, 2019 at 20:34
  • @TwistyImpersonator: Which disk diagnostics or log is better than SMART? How can anyone diagnose such a problem without executing my above advice? Why downvote this as useless while saying it's good advice? Please listen: Downvote may convince a poster to ignore good advice, use it sparingly.
    – harrymc
    Commented Oct 27, 2019 at 7:31
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    If Windows is having problems reading or writing to storage it will log events to the System event log. Checking SMART data is helpful, but you don't say how to do that. Containing good advice is not sufficient for a post to answer the question.
    – I say Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 27, 2019 at 10:19
  • @TwistyImpersonator: Sometimes some steps are necessary first. But this discussion is leading nowhere.
    – harrymc
    Commented Oct 27, 2019 at 10:26
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    Would you mind including steps to check the SMART data? I tried to help myself and google it, but all I got was online storage services and blog posts on how to smartly manage your data...
    – Cardinal System
    Commented Oct 30, 2019 at 23:07
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Windows updates are known to cause issues and I don't think this is any hardware related issue as such. I Suggest the following:

Download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft Website

Create a Bootable USB or DVD drive

Boot from the media and choose “Repair your computer.”

If this does not fix it then backup your date and try to reset the PC in settings choosing the option to "Keep my Files".

And even if still its not fixed, then after several years of use its always good to do a clean install of windows 10.

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