Sat 22 Nov 2008

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Users come second to HP finances

No Nvidia BIOS downgrade for you

HP IS SHOWING its usual customer-unfriendly ways over the lastest Nvidia defective chips fiasco. The outfit is not putting up older versions of the BIOS for people to downgrade to once they are hurt by the latest BIOS-based 'fix'.

There is no question that the so called 'fix' hurts users in both acoustics and battery life, but it very well may protect the Nvidia and HP coffers as well. So, what happens when consumers put the 'fix' in and realise they have been had? How do they downgrade?

According to the HP website, you don't. Near the bottom, you see the wonderfully customer centric statement :"I do not see the previous BIOS version on the HP Support Web? What happened to the previous versions of the BIOS?

"In order to eliminate any confusion on which BIOS version is the latest, only the latest version is available on the web.

"NOTE: The current version of the BIOS contains all content/modifications from the previous BIOS versions."

How magnanimous of them. They are protecting the poor customer from picking an older BIOS version. They trust you enough to update a BIOS, not a trivial task, but not to pick the latest BIOS from a list with *->USE THIS ONE<-* in blinky text next to it.

"To eliminate an confusion" my Aris. At least Dell is doing the right thing by offering older versions on a different page. Now you know which side cares more about their customers than their pockets. µ

Comments

Paranoia?

Hasn't this always be their standard policy? Because if it has, maybe they just didn't think of taking special measures in this particular case...
posted by : Alexko, 01 August 2008

What confusion

Simple solution to help the unejukated public to determine if they have the latest BIOS version

Put a date against the BIOS version number

Jeez, it's not like every motherboard manufacturer doesn't already do this. Why can't a major system manufacturer grasp the obvious?
posted by : R Barczewska, 01 August 2008

hardly matters

if the apple rumor turned out to be true, it would offset their current trouble.

of course, it all depends on how much r&d work apple has done on their graphics side. it won't hurt to ask around...

posted by : a reader, 01 August 2008

Who Cares More

For the time being, I would have to say that HP cares more than Dell, because they recently extended the warranty for affected products by 24 months. No such action from Dell yet. As an owner of a new Dell laptop with a 8400GS, I will be waiting for them to state how they will be addressing the known faulty parts.
posted by : MasterYoda, 01 August 2008

Dell has

Dell has downgrade bios. HP if it doesn't you just ask help from a forum to upload small older bios. I think I won't buy HP because it doesn't have previous version. Toshiba and DELL has.
posted by : Hok, 02 August 2008

Yup

That's why you only buy what HP is really good at, printers. They do make the best printers from all my experience with them and seeing tons of HP printers being run constantly when I was in th Air Force. None of them ever broke and there is no need to update printer bios yet, pray that never happens.
Buy a Mac :-)
posted by : regulas, 02 August 2008

Good grief...

... someone who cares even less about customers than Dell!

Who'da thunk it. But then, customer-friendliness does tend to be inversely proportional to commercial success.
posted by : Tom Welsh, 02 August 2008

non issue

Everybody saves their old bios first before flashing don't they?
posted by : Squeetard, 02 August 2008

Carla Loves Hon McCain

Saw Carla on TV Today, Face d' Nation. not as dumb drashek reported, on meet d' press, yet I looked pretty good on both, tv on TV that is.

Carla is NOW Deeply involved with Hon McCains' campaign, So NO computing was even mentioned. NO Loss.

So this TV Goes on to LANES, Bit String Length & 48X Pcie Slot. Obvious Solution to Todays UnderPerforming DeskTop. TOP is Word to beat & internal speed is what makes TRUE 64 bit readily writeable. Now How to FORCE Microbum to reengage the redesign phase from fundumental standpoint.
Everything NEW, It is BEST to maintain NO Identifiers, AS that ALLOWS Virtulization to Engage easily, Even Better Yet.

Why? Both Virtulization Server & DeskTop Software Should RUN Same Bit String Lenght, To avoid Humps & Bumps of Unpackaging Signal.

Some How Cap'n Crunchier, Gotta Getta My TV on Top of MY Carly.
drashek
posted by : Carla_Ultiee', 03 August 2008

Never Think

Grow the company, increase the bottom line, and increase stockholder worth.

Those are the three things corporations put in their mission statements. Customer services is several tiers down and will always take a backseat.

posted by : Doug Glass, 03 August 2008

Everything Comes Second to HP Finances

If you only knew....

The CIO, Randy Mott (formerly of Wal-Mart) is infusing the Wal-Mart attitude throughout the entire company. EVERYTHING is secondary to finances.

It's no longer a question of "What do you need to be able to respond to customer requests?".

It's "Why do you have so many servers? Those things cost money. You need to get rid of 50% of your servers.". Never mind that they are all HP servers...
posted by : Bubba Gump, 03 August 2008

Actually...

I can still get my older BIOs from HP, so...err?
posted by : Johnny, 04 August 2008
IThound
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