HP Warranty of 122 years!

Winuser · Feb 14, 2022

Wynona said:
Yup. My "less than a year old" HP Intel CPU system just updated my BIOS in the middle of what I was doing at the time. Second time it's happened!

I've updated my BIOS many times the old way; download to flash drive, etc., etc., so this was a shock to my system, not the computer's!

Not to worry, though . . . I've recovered.

Speaking for myself, I want to be in charge of deciding if I want to risk bricking my computer to do a Bios' update.

cereberus · Feb 14, 2022

Wynona said:
Yup. My "less than a year old" HP Intel CPU system just updated my BIOS in the middle of what I was doing at the time. Second time it's happened!

I've updated my BIOS many times the old way; download to flash drive, etc., etc., so this was a shock to my system, not the computer's!

Not to worry, though . . . I've recovered.

The old way is pretty much just that - the old way. Many (major) vendors do it the new way now. There is probably less of a risk now bricking bios as it automatically selects correct data. It was too easy on old way to flash the wrong version on some devices (not all of course).

Wynona · Feb 14, 2022

cereberus said:
The old way is pretty much just that - the old way. Many (major) vendors do it the new way now. There is probably less of a risk now bricking bios as it automatically selects correct data. It was too easy on old way to flash the wrong version on some devices (not all of course).

Agreed @cereberus. However, what if I wasn't aware I was getting a BIOS update and turned off my machine? Especially, since @Winuser wasn't aware a BIOS update was going on.

Is there a failsafe for such a thing happening?

Hazel123 · Feb 14, 2022

Someone else mentioned that happening as well, which surprised me. Mine wanted to do a bios update when I first turned it on, via HP Support. But it didn't do it automatically - it just flagged that were updates and let you choose which ones to do. So I had the choice to do the bios update. I wonder if there is something in the settings for that app that allows automatic updates. I seem to remember I opted out of automatic anything. Best way to prevent it though is just uninstall the App. I screenshotted my warranty expiry date and then uninstalled HP Support Assistant.

There is a small settings cog in the app (somewhere on the left of the page).

Fabler2 · Feb 14, 2022

Wynona said:
Agreed @cereberus. However, what if I wasn't aware I was getting a BIOS update and turned off my machine? Especially, since @Winuser wasn't aware a BIOS update was going on.

Is there a failsafe for such a thing happening?

You can't be unaware that the bios is being updated. Windows Update only facilitates the flashing. Once the update is showing it will run then reboot the computer. Only then the bios gets updated outside of Windows.

Winuser · Feb 14, 2022

Fabler2 said:
You can't be unaware that the bios is being updated. Windows Update only facilitates the flashing. Once the update is showing it will run then reboot the computer. Only then the bios gets updated outside of Windows.

Bull! I know for a fact my wife and I were never asked if we wanted to update the BIOS. All we got was the restart notice on the Taskbar.

Fabler2 · Feb 14, 2022

Winuser said:
Bull! I know for a fact my wife and I were never asked if we wanted to update the BIOS. All we got was the restart notice on the Taskbar.

Ofcourse, if you read my post, I said that you can't be unaware that the bios was updating. It updates after a reboot. IF you don't check WU that's up to you.
When I get an update showing I alway check what it is. If its a bios update I always take a screen shot of it and keep on an external before rebooting. Useful ammo if ever it happens that the machine gets bricked.

Winuser · Feb 14, 2022

Fabler2 said:
Ofcourse, if you read my post, I said that you can't be unaware that the bios was updating. It updates after a reboot. IF you don't check WU that's up to you.
When I get an update showing I alway check what it is. If its a bios update I always take a screen shot of it and keep on an external before rebooting. Usefull ammo if ever it happens that the machine gets bricked.

It wasn't a Windows update. It was a HP update, and we were never given the option to update or not.

Wynona · Feb 14, 2022

Fabler2 said:
You can't be unaware that the bios is being updated. Windows Update only facilitates the flashing. Once the update is showing it will run then reboot the computer. Only then the bios gets updated outside of Windows.

Actually, @Fabler2, I had no control over whether the BIOS updateed or not. I was not asked . . . I was told it was gonna and it did without any input from me!

Yes, my experience was a bit different from @Winuser's, but as far as I can see, neither of us had any control whatsoever.

Edit: BTW, unless Windows Update was in Stealth Mode, it wasn't WU that updated my BIOS.

Fabler2 · Feb 14, 2022

Winuser said:
It wasn't a Windows update. It was a HP update, and we were never given the option to update or not.

Wynona said:
Actually, @Fabler2, I had no control over whether the BIOS updateed or not. I was not asked . . . I was told it was gonna and it did without any input from me!

Yes, my experience was a bit different from @Winuser's, but as far as I can see, neither of us had any control whatsoever.

Edit: BTW, unless Windows Update was in Stealth Mode, it wasn't WU that updated my BIOS.

Then that's news to me. I've had manufacturers bios updates given automatically only via Windows updates. That includes HP and ASUS.

Bree · Feb 14, 2022

Winuser said:
...we found out it was a BIOS update from HP and not a Windows update. The laptops updated OK but I do think we should have been given the option to update or not.

Wynona said:
My "less than a year old" HP Intel CPU system just updated my BIOS in the middle of what I was doing at the time. Second time it's happened!

My "less than a year old" Dell Intel CPU laptop has also had two bios updates recently. Both were presented as optional driver updates in Windows Update, giving me full choice of if/when to install them.

CornishRattler · Feb 14, 2022

Bree said:
My "less than a year old" Dell Intel CPU laptop has also had two bios updates recently. Both were presented as optional driver updates in Windows Update, giving me full choice of if/when to install them.

Same

Wynona · Feb 14, 2022

Fabler2 said:
Then that's news to me. I've had manufacturers bios updates given automatically only via Windows updates. That includes HP and ASUS.

I paid a pretty penny for this system, so maybe it's a commercial PC. I know it came with a Core i7 10th gen, 16 GB RAM, a 500 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD, so it's no slouch. At some point, I'm going to give it a graphics card with (hopefully) two HDMI ports so I can eliminate the RGB cable on my second monitor.

At any rate, the BIOS updated properly, and my only concern would be if I didn't know it was going on. What happened was that I was informed of the update, then it proceeded without even allowing an OK. If I had been getting that second cuppa, or maybe a snack from the kitchen when it decided to update, got a phone call that my daughter needed me, so ran into my office, turned off my computer, then ran . . . what would happen?

Now, would this series of events happen? With the millions and millions of HP systems sold, yes, it could happen . . . And that's the only thing I'd be worried about. Otherwise, that kind of update is rather convenient . . . if, however, I had an option to delay the BIOS update for awhile.

Fabler2 · Feb 14, 2022

Wynona said:
I paid a pretty penny for this system, so maybe it's a commercial PC. I know it came with a Core i7 10th gen, 16 GB RAM, a 500 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD, so it's no slouch. At some point, I'm going to give it a graphics card with (hopefully) two HDMI ports so I can eliminate the RGB cable on my second monitor.

At any rate, the BIOS updated properly, and my only concern would be if I didn't know it was going on. What happened was that I was informed of the update, then it proceeded without even allowing an OK. If I had been getting that second cuppa, or maybe a snack from the kitchen when it decided to update, got a phone call that my daughter needed me, so ran into my office, turned off my computer, then ran . . . what would happen?

Now, would this series of events happen? With the millions and millions of HP systems sold, yes, it could happen . . . And that's the only thing I'd be worried about. Otherwise, that kind of update is rather convenient . . . if, however, I had an option to delay the BIOS update for awhile.

I agree that would be pretty bad. What I can't figure out is that my 7 year old HP laptop was last offered a bios update in 2019 and that was through Windows Update. I have all the HP junk still installed and there was nothing via HP there that was able to offer a bios flash automatically.

Wynona · Feb 14, 2022

Fabler2 said:
I agree that would be pretty bad. What I can't figure out is that my 7 year old HP laptop was last offered a bios update in 2019 and that was through Windows Update. I have all the HP junk still installed and there was nothing via HP there that was able to offer a bios flash automatically.

The only thing I can think of is that your system is 7 years old, while this one is less than a year old with an i7 10th gen. Or maybe a little older, since I usually buy systems that have been out a year or two.

Fabler2 · Feb 14, 2022

Wynona said:
The only thing I can think of is that your system is 7 years old, while this one is less than a year old with an i7 10th gen. Or maybe a little older, since I usually buy systems that have been out a year or two.

Could very well be. My ASUS (system 1) is under 2 yrs old and was within warranty had a bios update via WU. ACER (system 2) laptop hasn't been offered yet.