BSODs, Automatic Repair loops, audio devices dead

The “Moment 5” preview update brought a moment of horror. BSODs sent systems into Automatic Repair loops — the repair itself failing, leaving users in an endless cycle of crash, attempt repair, fail, crash again. Sound devices stopped working entirely: USB audio, microphones, speakers — all silent. A black desktop screen greeted those who avoided the BSOD. Installation failures were widespread. Being an optional preview update, the solution was to uninstall it, but that required actually being able to boot first, which was the one thing the update prevented.