Janet Jackson’s song can crash older laptops

Music track Rhythm Nation by American singer Janet Jackson can crash laptops from 2005. That is according to Microsoft software developer Raymond Chen. The song is said to contain frequencies that interfered with some 5400rpm laptop HDDs of the era.

Chen shared a story on his blog that came from the Windows XP support team. In it he wrote that a “major computer manufacturer” had discovered several years ago that some models of laptops could crash when playing the song around the year 2005. Rhythm Nation by American pop singer Janet Jackson. Laptops located near the computer on which the song was playing were also reported to crash. The man did not specify which models were involved and which manufacturer made the discovery.

Investigation revealed that Janet Jackson’s song contained frequencies that could cause parts of the laptops’ built-in hard drive to crash. The problem was given a CVE code, CVE-2022-38392, and could be remedied by the unnamed manufacturer by providing a digital audio filter. It filtered the frequency from Jackson’s song and prevented the hard drives from failing. If these laptops were next to another device playing the song, they could still crash.

Update, 9.45 pm: Introduction and body text adjusted. Previously it said ‘The song would have the same resonant frequency as some 5400rpm laptop HDDs of the era.’ Thanks to Exirion.

2TB 5400rpm SATA 2.5 HDD for illustration.