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Gamers report a BIOS update is bricking their Legion Go handhelds, and Lenovo is quoting over $250 to fix the issue outside of warranty
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I really hope there’s a class action over this. Their software breaking your hardware isn’t a failure of the device and should be a recall instead of a warranty repair.
Lenovo has been absolute trash for a while now. They took the ThinkPad brand and destroyed any reputation it may have had, I’m not surprised by this at all.
What’s left? I’m still rocking the same thinkpad since 2015 but it’s really struggling these days (almost time for Linux)
Don’t stop talking about it until they cave
You never know, they might step up. Reports like these in early stages are tough, because the one individual reddit user who was given a quote could have reported the issue before Lenovo can determine if it really is thr BIOS update.
My guess is, in two weeks or so they make good for affected users.
Sure, they might. And everyone will forget about it again.
But they tried to get away with this bullshit, and that defines who they are, not what they back down to.
While this a likely scenario, it’s also unproven. The rep that one person contacted may have had no idea what was going on.
Prevention: blocking Windows Update.
Solution: rolling back to a previous BIOS version.
Too bad most people who purchased a Legion Go won’t know how to do any of that.
This article has a bit more on the matter.
Seems people with a Linux distro avoided the whole ordeal. Good for them. 🫶
Remember when Lenovo got caught putting a rootkit in their bios? That should have been the end of anyone ever buying from them.
I brought that up to IT before, people forget so easily
Barely anyone remembers Sony shipping rootkits on their music CDs as well.
I didn’t know about this how is it not bigger news!?
Because no corporations want you to start thinking about your privacy… Because once you start pulling on that thread…
Installing SteamOS onto my OG Legion Go was the best idea.
There’s a "Computer-sabotage law in Germany, just sayin.
Lenovo enshittified the same route as Toyota.
Remember them pre-installing superfish? Pushing ads into the browser, compromising HTTPS by adding their own root certificate, and it was all kept in the bios so even a wipe of the OS wasnt going to fix it.
Or their software in the bios that pulled in lenovoo software before windows started?
Or all the CVE’s their bios had?
And then there is all the feedback software that they added that ran silently in the background.
I am not sure they enshitified or just simply always have been shit.
Checks notes
^Oh, that’s rule no. 2
The issue is Windows 11 which does BIOS updates as a part of it’s Windows Update service
On devices where I’m forced to use Windows, I ALWAYS set my network as metered so it won’t download any updates.
How To Install SteamOS On The Legion Go
Also unlocks more oomph in games.
But I’m pretty sure lvfs has legion firmware.
Handy rule to follow in the future, If it works, don’t fuck with it.
What about security updates? Those kinda work right up until they crucially don’t.
Don’t make me tap the sign.
These things don’t update the BIOS automatically do they?
No idea but I know Windows does. A Fx505DT laptop I had bricked itself with a windows-triggered bios update. Warranty covered it but I went a month without a laptop.
Is that an 11 thing? I’m still on 10, and never heard of the OS itself updating a BIOS.
It depends on the vendor. Some vendors push bios through Windows update service. Dell Lenovo and HP all do this pretty regularly.
No, happened on W10 not 11.
Not sure about the hand held but the corporate lenovo I was given autoupdates everything untile I went through and uninstalled the lenovo software center
This should be added to https://consumerrights.wiki/
lenovo out here making it shitty!
I bet it didn’t affect SteamOS versions…
Maybe. I know someone who wiped their Legion clean and installed an Arch-based OS and still had the BIOS-brick issue. No idea if they managed to fix it themselves yet but it’s not purely a Windows problem.
Yeah BIOS use happens at startup before the OS starts getting involved. While it’s potentially possible that the bug was only in the windows updater, it’s equally possible that it’s present in both, or just Linux. Any OS is equally as able to install a faulty BIOS update.
How? Did they use fwupd? It’s also not integrated into some kind of auto-update on Arch (unlike Fedora for example).