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The techie had me call Dell's warranty line and I shipped the computer back. The techie made a grand total of $90 integrating an old laptop I own to use temporarily so I can get at least some work done.
Good to know the tech came through for you. The initial response was dismal.
Within the realm of possibility? Yea. But released firmware, such as a particular BIOS recommended by the computer manufacturer, and implemented for that particular computer, generally WON'T. The only exception to this would be in the case that some internal interface cards exist that didn't enumerate during a POST. If someone is putting some unknown BIOS into a computer, such as one they might have hacked, perhaps. But in this case, the BIOS upgrade was recommended by the computer, so the likelihood of the wrong BIOS was ZERO. In the 30 years of designing computers and interface cards for them, I have only encountered ONE occasion where software that was being developed caused a system crash that looked serious. (It was written by some idiot...oh wait, nevermind...it was ME). That episode occurred when I was developing a Windows 2K kernel mode device driver for a hard drive, and a missed pointer caused the FAT to be overwritten, resulting in the loss of a boot device. As bad as this was, I was STILL able to use a special diagnostic and manually rebuild the FAT, and the computer was able to reboot. Unless the software is corrupted- which should be caught by CRC checks- released software causing hardware failure is exceptionally rare.
There are a lot of things we do not know. I use mainstream computers at work but build my own for home. I have NEVER seen a computer generated request for a BIOS update. Every time I have updated a BIOS, and I do not like to do it, I need external media or a bootable media. While "frying" (damaging) the hardware does not seem possible it can "brick" (make it unbootable) very easily since it usually erases the current bios and puts the new one on or overwrites the existing one.
Everyone saying this is IT's fault and that they should have prevented the user from seeing it comes off to me as not knowing about computers but wanting to sound as if they do. I have to generally look for my BIOS on the manufacturers website and if everything is working I usually do not go looking for it unless it is a really new MB and they have a lot of BIOS updates for it.
This could easily be the OP's fault if she clicked on a pop-up and it was malware.
Regardless I do not think this is a big deal or something she should be held accountable for.
The Geek Squad may have said "Fried the motherboard" and that may not be technically correct but if you brick it the results are the same. If someone told me they "fried their MP3 player" by dropping it I would know that they probably broke it.
Last edited by Old Guard; 01-25-2018 at 07:18 AM..
The computer is not fried; it just needs to be re-flashed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimj
Exactly. Unless you somehow power spiked it (you didn't) or beat it with a hammer or dumped liquid on it there's really no conceivable way you "fried it" or ruined it just by hitting a key. Computers are simply not that fragile...
I agree with the above.
Here's an anecdote: I sat down at a conference table in a conference room. Someone sat down right beside me, waiting for the meeting to begin. He placed his very full non-fat Venti Starbucks nonfat latte on the table, and then he accidentally tipped it over -- the lid came off -- and essentially all of his coffee drink landed on the keyboard of my laptop computer.
I picked up the laptop, carried it out to the hallway (dripping latte everywhere), went to a drinking fountain, turned and then rinsed everything with water until the water was clear.
I then returned to the conference room, the computer worked normally, and all was well. Now -- I do not recommend doing what I did, but it is one anecdote.
I have NEVER seen a computer generated request for a BIOS update.
I'm typing this on a 6-month old Lenovo Flex 5 laptop. Just yesterday, a Lenovo message popped up requiring a BIOS update with the normal cautions to save all work & close all applications & plug the laptop in to a power source & leave it plugged in, and leave the display open (don't close the laptop) and to not touch anything until the system reboots.
I probably have some setting checked to automatically notify me of BIOS updates.
There are a lot of things we do not know. I use mainstream computers at work but build my own for home. I have NEVER seen a computer generated request for a BIOS update. Every time I have updated a BIOS, and I do not like to do it, I need external media or a bootable media. While "frying" (damaging) the hardware does not seem possible it can "brick" (make it unbootable) very easily since it usually erases the current bios and puts the new one on or overwrites the existing one.
Everyone saying this is IT's fault and that they should have prevented the user from seeing it comes off to me as not knowing about computers but wanting to sound as if they do. I have to generally look for my BIOS on the manufacturers website and if everything is working I usually do not go looking for it unless it is a really new MB and they have a lot of BIOS updates for it.
This could easily be the OP's fault if she clicked on a pop-up and it was malware.
Regardless I do not think this is a big deal or something she should be held accountable for.
The Geek Squad may have said "Fried the motherboard" and that may not be technically correct but if you brick it the results are the same. If someone told me they "fried their MP3 player" by dropping it I would know that they probably broke it.
Agreed on every point. My first thought was "computers don't pop up required BIOS upgrades, that sounds like a hacking attempt". You really have to jump through hoops to update the BIOS. It's not something I've ever seen done with the OS running.
The IT guy may be competent but was dumbing it down for the user.
I'm typing this on a 6-month old Lenovo Flex 5 laptop. Just yesterday, a Lenovo message popped up requiring a BIOS update with the normal cautions to save all work & close all applications & plug the laptop in to a power source & leave it plugged in, and leave the display open (don't close the laptop) and to not touch anything until the system reboots.
I probably have some setting checked to automatically notify me of BIOS updates.
Seems to be a relatively new thing with laptops. In some ways, "updates" have become our greatest security threat. We've been conditioned that life as we know it will end if we don't keep our computers "updated" and we dare not ignore a request to update. Everyone says to ignore phishing attempts and never click on unknown links but to apply all updates. Well, just imagine a virus that emulates an update!
There are a lot of things we do not know. I use mainstream computers at work but build my own for home. I have NEVER seen a computer generated request for a BIOS update. Every time I have updated a BIOS, and I do not like to do it, I need external media or a bootable media. While "frying" (damaging) the hardware does not seem possible it can "brick" (make it unbootable) very easily since it usually erases the current bios and puts the new one on or overwrites the existing one.
Everyone saying this is IT's fault and that they should have prevented the user from seeing it comes off to me as not knowing about computers but wanting to sound as if they do. I have to generally look for my BIOS on the manufacturers website and if everything is working I usually do not go looking for it unless it is a really new MB and they have a lot of BIOS updates for it.
This could easily be the OP's fault if she clicked on a pop-up and it was malware.
Regardless I do not think this is a big deal or something she should be held accountable for.
The Geek Squad may have said "Fried the motherboard" and that may not be technically correct but if you brick it the results are the same. If someone told me they "fried their MP3 player" by dropping it I would know that they probably broke it.
A BIOS upgrade is something that would have to be manually initiated. Even the Windows based flash tools are not going to just autoupdate it.
I'm typing this on a 6-month old Lenovo Flex 5 laptop. Just yesterday, a Lenovo message popped up requiring a BIOS update with the normal cautions to save all work & close all applications & plug the laptop in to a power source & leave it plugged in, and leave the display open (don't close the laptop) and to not touch anything until the system reboots.
I probably have some setting checked to automatically notify me of BIOS updates.
Thanks for posting this because I did not know it. I used to love Thinkpads before Lenovo purchased IBM's PC division. Now I avoid them because of things I have read. Do a search on "Lenovo Malware" if you are interested. I did not know they installed Bios. That seems a little risky, as in the chance to brick a certain percentage of laptops, to just do. I am not saying there is no need for BIOS updates but if things are working fine I would advise against them unless there is a security issue.
There are a lot of things we do not know. I use mainstream computers at work but build my own for home. I have NEVER seen a computer generated request for a BIOS update. Every time I have updated a BIOS, and I do not like to do it, I need external media or a bootable media. While "frying" (damaging) the hardware does not seem possible it can "brick" (make it unbootable) very easily since it usually erases the current bios and puts the new one on or overwrites the existing one.
Everyone saying this is IT's fault and that they should have prevented the user from seeing it comes off to me as not knowing about computers but wanting to sound as if they do. I have to generally look for my BIOS on the manufacturers website and if everything is working I usually do not go looking for it unless it is a really new MB and they have a lot of BIOS updates for it.
This could easily be the OP's fault if she clicked on a pop-up and it was malware.
Regardless I do not think this is a big deal or something she should be held accountable for.
The Geek Squad may have said "Fried the motherboard" and that may not be technically correct but if you brick it the results are the same. If someone told me they "fried their MP3 player" by dropping it I would know that they probably broke it.
I have a GIGABYTE I7 Motherboard, and it DOES inform you when new updates- including a new BIOS is available. It ALSO automatically downloads and updates the motherboard as you work, so they exist. And no 'hoops'; it is seamless, and so far I have updated twice with no problems while running CAD.
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