On May 26, a user on HP’s support forums reported that a forced, automatic BIOS update had bricked their HP ProBook 455 G7 into an unusable state. Subsequently, other users have joined the thread to sound off about experiencing the same issue.

This common knowledge regarding BIOS software would, then, seem to make automatic, forced BIOS updates a real issue, even if it weren’t breaking anything. Allowing the user to manually install and prepare their systems for a BIOS update is key to preventing issues like this.

At the time of writing, HP has made no official comment on the matter — and since this battery update was forced on laptops originally released in 2020, this issue has also bricked hardware outside of the warranty window, when previously users could simply send in the laptop for a free repair.

Overall, this isn’t a very good look for HP, particularly its BIOS update practices. The fragility of BIOS software should have tipped off the powers at be at HP about the lack of foresight in this release model, and now we’re seeing it in full force with forced, bugged BIOS updates that kill laptops.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I read this as talking about BadBIOS at first - did that ever turn out to be real, or was it just paranoia?

    • EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 months ago

      firmware updates that come through windows update are from your PC’s manufacturer.

      I’ve heard that some antivirus programs, such as comodo, can sometimes cause that to happen after certain windows updates.

      This is why you need to delay your windows updates with the group policy editor…Or policy plus if you don’t have windows pro