BIOS Update M85 01.42 Rev.A Question

[SJ00884]

Version 1.38 Rev. A was billed as the patch for the Spectre/Meltdown vulnerabilites.  Update "Provides improved security of UEFI code and variables. HP strongly recommends transitioning promptly to this updated BIOS version which supersedes all previous releases". 

That version was "problematic" and 1.41 Rev. A was released to roll back the code. For my device this fix cured the BSOD issue that 1.38 seemingly induced. All has been stable since.

01.42 Rev.A has been released that "Updates the Intel CPU microcode to provide improved stability. " Is this NOT the anticpated update to patch for Spectre/Meltdown as the "HP strongly recommends..." wording is lacking and only references "improved stability".  Is another update pending in the near future.

Since device is stable I am a little more than gunshy about implementing an interim update after the first failed attempt resulted in neding to perform a complete clean install of Win10 which is time consuming to say the least.

Any insights are greatly appreciated. 

[IT_WinSec]

Hello @SJ00884

Welcome to the HP Support forum.

Security will always be in direct "fight" with stability.

Your PC is running stable now, and if you had problems in the past - if I were you I'd skip this BIOS update.

General recommendation I provide to users/customers is NOT to upgrade BIOS/UEFI unless they experience any kind of specific BIOS/UEFI issue. Updating just for updaing and just for using the latest verson is not solution. Any kind of update (no matter for what and who relesed it) can fix 2 issues but may introduce 10 more issues. Additionally, upgrading the BIOS (for any vendor) poses more risks because BIOS recovery is not that easy as compared to typical software updates IF something goes wrong.

Same applies for Windows Updates, OS update, drivers updates, etc - upgrade/update IF you have issues which you know are fixed in the newer version or for some severe security issues. Otherwise, keep the existing version as long as possible.

Second opinion on this matter >> https://www.howtogeek.com/136881/htg-explains-do-you-need-to-update-your-computers-bios/

With regards to the Spectre/Meltdown protection:

- Keep your OS updated,

- Keep your antivirus/firewall products updated

- Keep your browsers updated

and the risk is very very low (if any).

[soccer_dan · Accepted solution]

a bit of explanation on the recent bios releases related to security

With the announcement of the potential seecurity vulnerability so-called spectre and meltdown that affected all systems over many years, one of these vulnerabilities required a processor patch/microcode update to fix. these fixes always come in the for of a BIOS update. Intel released updates that HP released for most systems over the past few generations, including the 9480m laptop

now, these updates from Intel generated some customer's complains about system reboots once deployed. i have not received any issues but may be there. HP removed the bios with that version of microcode and have released new, updated, processor update from Intel in a new BIOS, which is what is now available, version 1.42 in the case of the 9480m

as an fyi, any time hp releases a bios update, there is usually a number of other fixes or enhancements released as well

So, if you want to take care of the vulnerability in the CPU instructions, go ahead and update the bio to 1.42

[SJ00884]

Security trumps stability.

Appreciate the comments on BIOS/driver updates in general as it seems that WIN10 Pro 1709 "overrules" a lot of the driver updates and does not allow then to install.

Hopefully this rough patch is behind us until, wait, the graphics driver security update is released!