Comment by bearjaws | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bearjaws | Hacker News Reader

Semi-related, I have an HP envy x360 with 4500u (same one as the laptop posted) and I have to say, the way HP applies BIOS updates is reckless at best.

The battery had died and when I first plugged it in, it immediately powered up, and started installing a BIOS update. If someone tripped on the power cord, or had a power outage, it would brick the laptop. I guess it downloaded the update the last time it was powered on (months ago).

They should put a minimum battery % (could be as low as 10% I imagine), but it seems very likely to me if someone has just plugged in their laptop, there is a strong chance it may get unplugged as well.

I only use this laptop to tune my AEM ECU on my car, and it rarely gets used, but I bet I am not the only one who has a HP laptop that isn't used every week.

I think they need minimum estimated battery time rather than battery %, since old batteries that have very little capacity remaining could still brick with a high % remaining.

Or, like most laptops, just require power cable + some level of battery to install something so critical.

The real real Copy of final_2024_last solution is, of course, to make the BIOS chip twice as big as it needs to be, and flash the other half, then atomically change which is selected.

I believe that's called shadowbios or similar. I think a few laptops have it.

I'm sure this has a name, Android uses A/B partitions for system updates, everything crucial should...

The few cents for larger flash or the one-time cost to write less bloated firmware would cut into their budget for gambling, drugs and hookers.

Shouldn’t there be 2 BIOSes and you only update 1 at a time? I feel like this has been a solved problem for 20 years.

Solved problem for some but not for these end consumer laptops?

This is still not something you can take for granted, even on a mid to high range desktop motherboard. Flashback is still something you must pay extra for, and a secondary BIOS is the same. Laptops are even further behind!

I think that's fine, though maybe surprising. Regular PCs don't have redundant power at all and we still update their firmware all the time.

You are way more likely to unplug a laptop than a desktop.

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