The latest version of Windows 10 has a curious bug: does not install on computers that have a BIOS date set from January 19 3001. Carey Holzman, Youtuber and hardware enthusiast, has discovered a problem already renamed Y3K, in order to remember the Millenium bug (Y2K), a great bogeyman of late 1999.
"It seems that if your motherboard's BIOS – AMD or Intel – allows you to set the date of January 19 3001 or later, Windows 10 1909 will not complete the installation, crashing during the second restart of the process, "Holzman explained to BleepingComputer – the problem was illustrated on video on Youtube.
"Also, if the BIOS date is changed, and you restart your PC in an attempt to complete the installation of Windows 10, guess what happens? Windows 10 crashes again and when you check the BIOS date, you will see that Windows 10 sets in automatic incorrect date in your BIOS! If you change the motherboard, trying to reboot from the failed installation, it will freeze again and report the wrong installation date in the BIOS of the new motherboard ".
The bug will continue to manifest any hardware changes you make, as long as you try to boot from the storage solution where the installation of Windows 10 1909 was initially attempted. The problem was shown on Gigabyte H370 HD3 (Intel) and Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite (AMD) motherboards, where users can freely set the date, although Gigabyte says the maximum date is 2099. Fortunately there seems to be a loophole:
- First set the correct date in the BIOS
- Restart your PC from the storage media – USB or DVD – from which you install Windows 10
- Clean up all the partitions on the SSD or hard disk where you want to install Windows 10 and only then start the installation process again.
Obviously the bug is little more than a curiosity, and we'll see if it will be fixed in some way. "I think Gigabyte needs to fix the BIOS of every motherboard it sells and Microsoft needs to add a date check during the initial installation process," Holzman added to BleepingComputer.
The date set in the PC BIOS has always been a problem, and setting it incorrectly can lead to malfunctions of various kinds, sometimes unpredictable, such as sites that do not load due to expired certificates. In short, better not to dabble too much in "playing" with the date in the BIOS.