Technology

seems like it should be an opt-in setting in BIOS;

• HP might want to learn from the other OEM vendors what to do for BIOS/UEFI configuration

There is no BIOS anymore. It's all UEFI, which is massively fatter and more complex. Being fat and complex, they have plenty of security vulnerabilities that need to be patched.

As the enshittification of everything gains momentum, I could also see this as an intentional "oops!"

But we are talking about HP. They are now and always have been completely incompetent PC makers. I had friends back in the early 2000s with broken HP desktop computers that I refused to work on because they were the hardest to get working again.

I'd go Hanlon's Razor on this, because I've seen some stunning stupidity. It's not all evil when some of it is just plain dumb, because of incomplete testing and oversight, because they cut costs to save money, so the CEO gets a bonus, and ohhhhhhhh I see it now.

It's evil.

When I heard that BIOS updates were going out automatically via Windows update I had just assumed the devices in question must be using an A/B update scheme to prevent the risk of accidentally bricking the system, because obviously they should.

Absolutely insane that's not the case.

Why can even touch bios from system? That sound like horrible attack vector. If can infect bios, no reformat or reinstall will remove virus.

They really, really, should be doing A/B systems. Or just have an absolutely minimum loader that can load from EPROM/flash or USB so when the system storage gets messed up, you can still launch the updater from USB. That bios loader doesn't need to know more than how to talk to storage and shovel bytes to the CPU, maybe blink a LED, it's simple enough to be able to be actual ROM, never needing to be updated.

Wait, no: SD cards can talk SPI... it's not going to be fast but it's only a few megs anyway. The EPROM or Flash you're using probably speaks SPI, already. You could literally make a system which can load the BIOS from SD card for the cost of a card cage and maybe a jumper. You could have gigabytes of bios storage for three bucks by using off the shelf cheap SD cards, forget A/B storage you could do the whole bloody alphabet and people could replace the thing easily.

Thing is, all the other major manufacturers are just as bad or worse.

As a PC technician, HP still somehow has the best service and support, which speaks volumes about how bad everyone else is. Dell's support tools are a generation behind HP's, and Lenovo's build quality is atrocious. Not to mention Lenovo's technician support is so badly fragmented and poorly run, they default to having the customer send the device in for repair and avoid sending an on-site technician just so they can avoid dealing with technician support. Speaking from personal experience, getting to the right person when I have a problem or need to order additional parts is like pulling teeth, and even if I manage to reach someone, they're usually equal parts incompetent and unhelpful.

And Apple doesn't even want to service their stuff.

These days, you have to pick your poison.

It's pretty ridiculous not to have a way of recovering from a failed update.

On my desktop, I just have to plug a flash drive with the BIOS image into a specific USB port and press a button on the motherboard. It doesn't matter if the BIOS is broken and it doesn't even require a CPU or RAM to be installed.

Hate to be that guy, but I bet someone somewhere did the math of how much extra profit they can get from people having their device bricked and just getting a new one vs how many of them actually do the warranty claim

If i knew of any execs near where i live they would be getting a front row seat to my reenactment of the Office Space printer scene.

It's rare for me to viscerally hate someone just for existing, but if i met an HP exec I would have to exert quite a bit of self control to not beat them until I lost feeling in my hands

Microsoft should also be to blame here. Sending BIOS updates via automatic windows updates should not be a thing.

on these laptops you can update bios from bios, just needs to be connected via ethernet

I think it's HP that pushed the update though. So I'm guessing that it's their driver that they broke not windows in general.

It's not really Microsoft's fault, they're just delivering what HP releases via the firmware update channel.

I mean, Microsoft are a bag of dicks, but not on this one.

I have a no HP policy because of their printers and a no Samsung policy because of their TVs.

Damn that laptop is unhinged

This is something HP should have handled.

If a bad update is rolled out then it's the responsibility of the software maker partner (HP) and the distributor (Microsoft), not just one or the other.

Those laptops are THEIR products, not Microsoft’s.

Both Microsoft and HP have branding on their laptops and a responsibility post-sale for the reliability of their systems. Hardware, firmware and OS responsibilities are all party to this chain of failure.

Those laptops are THEIR products, not Microsoft’s.

Microsoft: All your PC are belong to us.

This logic breaks down when you realize the laptop is mine, and not HP's or Windows. And any software that is mine, my copy of windows should also be mine and not microsoft's, can modify my device if I have selected some of my software to do that.

To expand: said M.2 SSD contains all of your data, and can be plugged into another computer to recover it, put it on a USB drive or upload it to an online drive. A local PC repair shop is going to be unable to make the PC work again at present, but they can help you with extracting the SDD and your data for less than $100.

HP is the one responsible here, Windows is just the delivery service HP uses to deliver their updates.

I’m all for hating on Microsoft, but you don’t blame the UPS driver for delivering a bomb to your house.