Laptop won't install from Win10 boot disk

[Deleted User]

Neil_Jones said:

grumpycrab said:

doing windows updates now but is working; laptop is HP 15-bw066sa; windows update has just updated the graphics driver and its listed as AMD Radeon R4 which I guess is integrated with CPU.  It looks like the BIOS update fixed it - only the second time I've had to update the BIOS to enable a windows10 install (in his case from 1703 -> 20H2).  Normally (?) BIOS upgrades are pushed out through windows update but obviously not this one.  I don't like HP.

BIOS updates are most definitely not pushed through Windows Update.  Some machines you can update the BIOS through itself, others you have to manually intervene.

You may be thinking of the processor Microcode updates for Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities - those came through Windows Update.

BIOS updates are pushed through Windows updates for some machines, they are on my Dell:

Neil_Jones

Deleted_User said:

Neil_Jones said:

grumpycrab said:

doing windows updates now but is working; laptop is HP 15-bw066sa; windows update has just updated the graphics driver and its listed as AMD Radeon R4 which I guess is integrated with CPU.  It looks like the BIOS update fixed it - only the second time I've had to update the BIOS to enable a windows10 install (in his case from 1703 -> 20H2).  Normally (?) BIOS upgrades are pushed out through windows update but obviously not this one.  I don't like HP.

BIOS updates are most definitely not pushed through Windows Update.  Some machines you can update the BIOS through itself, others you have to manually intervene.

You may be thinking of the processor Microcode updates for Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities - those came through Windows Update.

BIOS updates are pushed through Windows updates for some machines, they are on my Dell:

Firmware and BIOS are not the same thing.  There are many parts of a computer that is "firmware", which can be something like the security chip, the TPM chip, the finger print sensor...  The BIOS comes under that category but is usually bespoke to a specific board (or in the case of mass manufactured machines like Dell, a particular model/range).  It can be done via Update but is rare, as if the user turns it off halfway because its not clear what their system is now doing, the system becomes toast.  For Windows Updates it can recover.  You can't recover from a screwed BIOS because somebody turned it off halfway through a flash.

[Deleted User]

Neil_Jones said:

Deleted_User said:

Neil_Jones said:

grumpycrab said:

doing windows updates now but is working; laptop is HP 15-bw066sa; windows update has just updated the graphics driver and its listed as AMD Radeon R4 which I guess is integrated with CPU.  It looks like the BIOS update fixed it - only the second time I've had to update the BIOS to enable a windows10 install (in his case from 1703 -> 20H2).  Normally (?) BIOS upgrades are pushed out through windows update but obviously not this one.  I don't like HP.

BIOS updates are most definitely not pushed through Windows Update.  Some machines you can update the BIOS through itself, others you have to manually intervene.

You may be thinking of the processor Microcode updates for Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities - those came through Windows Update.

BIOS updates are pushed through Windows updates for some machines, they are on my Dell:

Firmware and BIOS are not the same thing.  There are many parts of a computer that is "firmware", which can be something like the security chip, the TPM chip, the finger print sensor...  The BIOS comes under that category but is usually bespoke to a specific board (or in the case of mass manufactured machines like Dell, a particular model/range).  It can be done via Update but is rare, as if the user turns it off halfway because its not clear what their system is now doing, the system becomes toast.  For Windows Updates it can recover.  You can't recover from a screwed BIOS because somebody turned it off halfway through a flash.

I have to disagree with the above in bold.

Firmware is any embedded code / data that is held in non-volatile environments, BIOS is a perfect example of a type of firmware.

I know what I'm talking about, this Windows update was BIOS (which is a really outdated term now anyway) but is the same BIOS you are referring to that was updated by Windows.

See the BIOS version in the system information below - it is the exact version that Windows update provided and it is not the first time I've had this with this 2 year old Dell.



When it installed it still provided the usual protection from power outages by reverting to a "BIOS" information screen before the update providing all the relevant warnings about power before I gave it consent to proceed with the update.

Also you can recover from a screwed BIOS. I've bricked a couple of machines in the past during BIOS updates, it is fairly straightforward to fix. Many modern PC's are protected by BIOS recovery code that is not changed when flashing a new update that can be initiated to flash a fresh copy in the event of corruption. Some also have dual BIOS so you can revert to previous version if the updated one fails upon flashing.

Windows updates have been pushing BIOS updates out for about 4 or 5 years now.