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Mike Halsey article on firmware upgrades/updates ...

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Eóin:
You do hear about things like firmware updates for harddisks which can improve performance. But I must admit I've never looked into getting any myself. The only time I've flashed new firmware for my PC was to update a BIOS to support a 64bit chip.

I do flash my phone quite often, but I see that more as software upgrading rather than firmware?

barney:
J-Mac brings up an interesting point:  some necessary firmware updates cannot be performed unless some other component has been updated first.  Yeah, I know, that's not what he said, but that does resemble the situation presented.  That's a conundrum we encountered back in the VAX days when I was IT-involved:  risk bricking some bit of hardware because another bit needed updates that could not be performed unless the first bit was up-to-date.  Hopefully firmware updates in the IT arena are a lot less dangerous now - but I'd be surprised  ;).

barney:
Ooh, another thought, anent Deozaan's post.  Just got an LG TV, 55" (different thread), and whilst playing around with it, trying to figure out which tab A goes into which slot B, I received notice onscreen that there was new software - and it was being installed!  No option, no reversion, just a bald, "You're getting an upgrade."  I can't help but wonder what happens if such an upgrade/update fails  :o.  They're certainly not going to reimburse me for inability to use the set.  And what happens if the update craters and the set can no longer communicate?  They gonna send a tech out to do it manually?  I don't think so.  Can't help but wonder what procedure would be in that instance.

Stoic Joker:
O_o Wow... You sure there was no (magic wand) miss-click on the LG firmware thing? Mine's got an option to check, but no auto/forced updating that I can see. Doesn't mean it wont decide to bone me tonight just for saying that...But we'll see... :)


On J-Mac's Asus/Nvidia "issue", Lie. Seriously, just lookup the latest firmware ahead of time (so you can quip it off), and if it isn't applicable ... Just lie and say it's up to date. That way you can force them to either go to step two, page next, or at least "escalate" the issue up to someone brighter than a trained monkey. I'm tired of this Knee-Jerk flow charting "Support Tech"  nonsense where their first response to any question is to update the firmware (see bricked machine commentary in earlier post).

HP is classic for this shit; 49 series "firmware" error ... Well lets update the firmware then... WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! Try cleaning/replacing the memory first because that's where the problem most likely actually lies. Firmware doesn't just up and break one day, and it sure as hell doesn't (read can't) wear out... Try looking at where the firmware is copied to at load/run time that will be an item that is (OTOH, classically) grenade prone.

I'd dare say that HP's "support " personnel have cost our company close to $3,000 in bricked formatters because of this reflexive answer in the past year alone.

barney:
OK, maybe it's different now ... one would hope so ... but when I was involved, a lie wouldn't always help.

I know, we tried  :P. 

Well, sometimes ... but sometimes the firmware update to the framifram really was dependent upon an otherwise unnecessary update to the gigawhat.  'Course, the vendors had/have the advantage of accesses that we didn't/don't, and they also had/have recovery resources that we didn't/don't  :(.

Funny you should mention HP ... one of the biggest problems we had  :).  I've been out for a decade, so 20-10 years past.  Guess some things never change  :huh:.

(I'll respond to the LG on the other thread ... some new developments  :P.)

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