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

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (10 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Assuming BitLocker wasnt enabled and if so you backed up your key. Otherwise your data is gone.

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