HP bricks ProBook laptops with bad BIOS delivered via automatic updates — many users face black screen after Windows pushes new firmware ( www.tomshardware.com )

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.

CaptainBasculin ,

The idea of forced automatic BIOS update is dumb. BIOS only should initialize its required components and fuck off afterwards.

Cornelius_Wangenheim , (edited )

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.

skeezix ,

This is Hilary Clinton's fault.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Nah, somehow it's Ronald Reagan's fault.

davidgro ,

After the first 4 words of the title I was assuming it was intentional - Glad it doesn't seem to be, but HP's reputation is just that bad.

cosmicrookie ,
@cosmicrookie@lemmy.world avatar

HP expanding their bad practices from printers to PCs now?

tibi ,

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

SaltySalamander ,
@SaltySalamander@fedia.io avatar

The alternative is that BIOS updates simply never get applied.

freeman ,

Which is better than bricking a machine

Voyajer ,
@Voyajer@lemmy.world avatar

Not sure when the sentiment changed, but it used to be heavily recommended against updating the bios on any computer unless there was a specific feature or fix your computer needed.

jj4211 ,

Sentiment changed when the "BIOS" became a component for enforcing security architecture via "SecureBoot" and also Bitlocker sealed to PCRs only does so much if the BIOS code is vulnerable. Now they really badly want a "trusted" chain from some root of trust until the OS bootloader takes over. Problem is that the developers have historically enjoyed being in a trusted, single user context for decades and so the firmware has been full of holes when actually pushed.

recursive_recursion ,
@recursive_recursion@programming.dev avatar

On the offhand chance that someone with a bricked HP laptop stumbles here looking for what to do (prob via smartphone or public library computer),

  • I'd recommend on removing the M.2 SSD (gumslice-shaped PCB that contains your data) to protect your data
    • this can be found by googling your laptop's serial number and looking for the manual, after downloading the PDF file you'll be able to open it with Firefox
    • you'll typically need a philips-head screwdriver to remove the laptop's case and remove the SSD

I'm assuming the users might be coming from Windows

hopefully this helps someone out there

breakingcups ,

I'd strongly recommend against that at this point since it will be useless without your Bitlocker key form the laptop's TPM.

SaltySalamander ,
@SaltySalamander@fedia.io avatar

Since probably 99% of Windows PCs don't run Bitlocker, I think your recommendation is a bit overblown.

jj4211 ,

Even if it isn't "bitlocker" branded, most Windows PCs ship with "BitLocker" enabled. The distinction between Windows Home disk encryption and "BitLocker" is that BitLocker additionally allows external management of the key material, while Home only supports the TPM and your microsoft account for the key/recovery codes.

SaltySalamander ,
@SaltySalamander@fedia.io avatar

most Windows PCs ship with "BitLocker" enabled

No, they simply do not. Microsoft branded hardware, sure. But I've never seen a Dell or an HP with Bitlocker enabled from the factory, and at this point I've put my hands on thousands of them.

jj4211 ,

I can tell you every factory preload of windows on a Lenovo I have seen for the past few years has disk encryption on by default (windows home, so not "bitlocker", but it's the same thing with respect to being tied to TPM.

breakingcups ,

When did you last check the statistic you just pulled from your ass? Bitlocker is on by default on all machines that support it, which is all pc's and laptops being sold the past few years.

The only exception used to be when you bypass oobe to create a local user account, which also isn't supported anymore.

SaltySalamander ,
@SaltySalamander@fedia.io avatar

Part of my job description includes repairing PCs. I see quite a lot of them over the course of a month. I also set up lots of new PCs for people when they buy them. All I see Bitlocker enabled on by default are Surface devices and the occasional Lenovo laptop/tablet hybrid POS. So I pulled that statistic from my own personal observations.

Xanxia ,

My wife's Elitebook was also bricked by the most recent forced BIOS update.

sir_pronoun ,

Ugh. Microsoft really trying to advertise for Linux again

skillissuer ,
@skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

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

aniki , (edited )

But that's not automatic or forced. Linux would never automatically update a BIOS.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Is it even possible to update BIOS on Linux? AFAIK, the installers are either for Windows or directly through the BIOS itself.

aniki , (edited )

I think its highly manufacturer dependent but I install BIOS updates from Ubuntu on all my Dells.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux

Vilian , (edited )

yes, but the manufacturer need to support, thinkpads update bios fine under linux for example, usinf fwupd

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Right, but so few do that. In general, updating BIOS through Linux isn't really a thing.

jj4211 ,

Updates for my laptop show up in the 'update' view of Discover. I currently manually decide whether to proceed, but the 'click to update all' I suspect is close enough for most people to be fully automatic, and perhaps even is fully automated for some people.

FenrirIII ,
@FenrirIII@lemmy.world avatar

HP did the damage.

alphacyberranger ,
@alphacyberranger@sh.itjust.works avatar

Is it just for ProBooks?....I think something similar is plaguing my Pavilion Gaming as well.

foggy ,

Presumably any model using the same motherboard/chip set, running that OS, I would think. Not my area of expertise.

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