Updates no longer shipped to several older processors

Apr 28, 2017 08:50 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft’s own policy states that the latest generation processors, like Intel’s Kaby Lake and AMD’s Ryzen, can only be used on Windows 10 PCs, with older Windows versions listed as unsupported and not getting any updates should these chips be detected.

However, it looks like Microsoft’s chip detection system isn’t working 100 percent correctly, as there are several complaints that systems running older processors are banned from getting updates as well.

Posts on Tweakers (via InfoWorld) reveal that Windows updates were blocked on systems powered by Intel Pentium Dual Core E5400 2.70GHz and Celeron J1900 processor, with an error identical to the one received by users whose Windows 7 computers are running the latest-generation chips.

“Your PC uses a processor that is designed for the latest version of Windows. Because the process is not supported together with the Windows version that you are currently using, your system will miss important security updates,” the error reads.

Graphics card also banned?

What’s more, it looks like the software giant has also banned computers that are using an AMD Radeon RX480 graphics card, even though Microsoft is specifically referring to CPUs in its restriction of running Windows 10 with latest-generation chipsets.

“Because of how this support policy is implemented, devices that run the following Windows versions and that have a seventh generation or later generation processor may no longer be able to scan or download updates through Windows Update or Microsoft Update,” Microsoft says without even mentioning graphics card as unsupported in Windows 7.

Microsoft is yet to provide a statement on this, but we’ve reached out to the company to ask for more information and we’ll update the article if this is indeed a restriction that’s being applied by accident.

In the meantime, users whose computers are no longer getting updates can try a third-party workaround to unlock updates, at least until Microsoft provides a fix or some details on what went wrong.