Makestation

Full Version: Do you trust firmware updates?
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Back before my video card got fried, Nvidia kept pushing a major fix towards their firmware in the card. From what I had heard, the fix rendered the card useless, so I never used it (thankfully).

I've found that many firmware updates aren't properly tested, and can thus ruin hardware. Do you ever trust "important" firmware updates?
Depends. How important is it... what does it fix?
Mind you even then I'm skeptical. McAffee released a bugged patched that blocked any computer with the update from accessing the internet while McAffee was installed. For 2-3 days as they worked to fix it.

Needless to say at that time we de-installed McAffee and re-installed when fixed.
LOL, that's hilarious. You'd think they'd do a better job testing that stuff before they release it. Tongue

Norton is just as bad in my opinion. I once lost almost all of my files thanks to its failed backup system. I wasn't impressed.
I don't do them unless there is an absolute reason to. If the hardware is functioning fine, why bother. I did have to update the firmware on my RAID controller a while ago. The old firmware didn't support 3 or 4 TB drives.
"If it ain't broken, don't fix it" Tongue
I avoid firmware updates at all costs. I'm extremely skeptical of them, because if they aren't done right it can render your hardware useless.
(October 20th, 2013 at 12:46 AM)TheDoc Wrote: [ -> ]I avoid firmware updates at all costs. I'm extremely skeptical of them, because if they aren't done right it can render your hardware useless.

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same way about them. I just don't trust them. Many vendors don't really bother to properly test them before they release them.
I can't say I trust them either, after watching this.
(October 21st, 2013 at 11:46 AM)AcoG000 Wrote: [ -> ]I can't say I trust them either, after watching this.

LOL Tongue
I only trust firmware after it's been tested and confirmed by others to work as intended.
update: same as before but I want to add also, if not then I want to test it on an expendable device first... now that I've got an eeprom flasher I can afford to risk things with swapping firmware images the old fashioned way.
If you had to flash the EEprom, how would you get the old firmware back on? Finna
Darth-Apple: simple, I used a spare EEPROM and kept the old one as it was since it wasn't EEPROM but PROM Tongue