Microsoft Looking Into Reports of Windows Phone 7 Update Stalls

Microsoft is investigating reports that the latest Windows Phone 7 update is causing problems for an unknown subset of users.

Microsoft first made the update available Feb. 21, describing it to media as a "smaller infrastructure update that will help future updates." The company's roadmap suggests a much-anticipated update, introducing cut-and-paste and faster mobile-application loading, will appear in the first two weeks of March.

"While it may not sound exciting, it's still important because it's paving the way for all future goodie-filled updates to your phone, such as copy and paste or improved Marketplace search," Michael Stroh, a writer for Microsoft's Windows team, posted Feb. 21 on the Windows Phone Blog. "You'l need to connect your phone to your computer and update it using either the Zune software for your PC or the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac."

Within a day, though, some users reported their Windows Phone 7 devices stalling in mid-update. On the company's Windows Phone 7 help forum, commenter threads sprouted with titles like, "WP7 Stuck on Step 7 of 10, How long should this update take?" and "Update error with Optimus 7." Many affected users seemed to be reporting stalls when the update reached either Step 6 or 7 of 10.