Discussion Buggy Lenovo V15 G3 IAP BIOS update makes it into Windows Update...

[mikeymikec]

Well that was a great waste of an hour or so!

I suppose it was inevitable that peddling BIOS updates with no user choice in the matter was going to cause problems at some point, but a BIOS update that came in automatically via WU just caused this brand-new Lenovo laptop to be completely unable to resume properly from sleep mode. When I attempted to resume from sleep mode with a key press, the laptop would come on, show me a full-screen display of what the battery level was, then switch back off again. Switching on with the power button resulted in Windows booting from scratch and recording an improper shutdown. When I skipped attempting to resume via keypress it still booted from scratch and reported an improper shutdown.

I understand the potential need to issue a BIOS update and getting it to as many users as possible, but logically IMO it should only be reserved in the event that a device has a critical security issue that say turns it into botnet fodder.

 

[Tech Junky]

BIOS

Never should an OS be able to do a bios update. Maybe notify but never execute. There are a few companies that have update utilities you can launch from windows but, they don't run themselves automatically either.

Usually you either download the ROM and then boot to the BIOS screen to select and apply or plug in Ethernet and run an update utility from the BIOS.

Are you sure it wasn't the Lenovo utility that downloaded the update? Even then they don't apply low-level updates like that without your permission or interaction usually.

 

[WelshBloke]

Never should an OS be able to do a bios update. Maybe notify but never execute. There are a few companies that have update utilities you can launch from windows but, they don't run themselves automatically either.

Usually you either download the ROM and then boot to the BIOS screen to select and apply or plug in Ethernet and run an update utility from the BIOS.

Are you sure it wasn't the Lenovo utility that downloaded the update? Even then they don't apply low-level updates like that without your permission or interaction usually.

My dell laptop will update the bios through WU if given the choice. It's in the advanced section of windows update.
It does ask first though.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Well that was a great waste of an hour or so!

I suppose it was inevitable that peddling BIOS updates with no user choice in the matter was going to cause problems at some point, but a BIOS update that came in automatically via WU just caused this brand-new Lenovo laptop to be completely unable to resume properly from sleep mode. When I attempted to resume from sleep mode with a key press, the laptop would come on, show me a full-screen display of what the battery level was, then switch back off again. Switching on with the power button resulted in Windows booting from scratch and recording an improper shutdown. When I skipped attempting to resume via keypress it still booted from scratch and reported an improper shutdown.

I understand the potential need to issue a BIOS update and getting it to as many users as possible, but logically IMO it should only be reserved in the event that a device has a critical security issue that say turns it into botnet fodder.

Tangentially related but I have a Lenovo desktop that had sleep broken by a bios update and then they never released another bios again. Lenovo has a firmware A team, for sure...

 

[Tech Junky]

Lenovo

I had one of their laptops and never had any real issues with it IIRC. I just tend to not hold onto things like a normal consumer as I'm always keeping things up to date when new tech comes out that's sufficient enough to warrant an update.

My quandary right now is waiting out the next round of AMD options to 9000 series CPUs or ponder Intel ARL when it comes out. Though I'm leaning more towards AMD since I dumped Intel on my other use case last fall. The one item holding me back right now with AMD is a TB port but, since on the desktop side they made them mandatory with X870 series boards hopefully this will carry over to the laptop side as well.

 

[mikeymikec]

My dell laptop will update the bios through WU if given the choice. It's in the advanced section of windows update.
It does ask first though.

Under 'optional updates'? This Lenovo laptop has a firmware update sitting in that section at the moment.

 

[mikeymikec]

Never should an OS be able to do a bios update. Maybe notify but never execute. There are a few companies that have update utilities you can launch from windows but, they don't run themselves automatically either.

Usually you either download the ROM and then boot to the BIOS screen to select and apply or plug in Ethernet and run an update utility from the BIOS.

Are you sure it wasn't the Lenovo utility that downloaded the update? Even then they don't apply low-level updates like that without your permission or interaction usually.

I'm pretty sure I've seen Lenovo BIOS updates come through WU before, but I don't have evidence on this occasion because very shortly after the update, I nuked the Windows install and started a clean install (mainly to get rid of OEM rubbish).

 

[WelshBloke]

Under 'optional updates'? This Lenovo laptop has a firmware update sitting in that section at the moment.

I think so. I can check later. Pretty sure it's there though.

 

[Tech Junky]

nuked the Windows install and started a clean install (mainly to get rid of OEM rubbish).

That's the first thing I do with laptops out of the box. Besides the crappy partitioning of the drive there's always more junk installed than I would ever use or want. I've collected so many drivers over the years I just run through device manager and have it searched my folder before bothering with OEM releases.

Besides I tend to order with the cheapest windows option or if I have a choice of excluding the OS I will to avoid the ms tax.