Not just Linux: Windows can ‘brick’ Samsung laptops too - exleysuired

Late last month the word got out that some Samsung laptops have a problem booting Linux exploitation UEFI, and deep last week that problem began to look even worse.

Specifically, it now looks equal Windows rear "brick" some Samsung machines besides, suggesting that it's non a Linux-specific bug after all.

"I bricked a Samsung laptop today," wrote Linux developer Gospel According to Matthew Garrett, who is also known for uncovering the Windows 8 "Inviolable Boot" problem, in a new blog post happening Fri. "Unlike most of the reported cases of Samsung laptops refusing additionally, I never booted Linux on it—all experimentation was performed nether Windows."

Incomplete protection

A elflike background: This is apparently a job that dates back at the least to August, when the user of a Samsung laptop reportable that booting Linux via the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) rendered the car completely refractory.

The user actually complete up losing non just one but two laptops that way.

Canonical apparently au courant Samsung of the issue, but as of my last writing there was still No ETA for an update that would fix it.

In the meantime, Linux Maker Linus Torvalds published changes to the main Linux development tree designed to provide at to the lowest degree coloured protective cover against the problem, just it was clear from the start that they were not a true fix.

'In that respect are other ways'

"The recent Linux kernel commits avoid unitary mechanics away which Samsung laptops can be bricked, but the information we instantly have indicates that there are unusual ways of triggering this," Garrett wrote in a separate post last Thursday. "We're still nerve-racking to figure unfashionable the full inside information, only until then you're safest ensuring that you're using BIOS mode on Samsung laptops no matter which OS you're lengthways."

Samsung laptops including the 530U3C, NP700Z7C, NP700Z5C, and 300E5C series are among those believed to be subject.

At the heart of the trouble is that some Samsung laptops will go to boot if too much of their variable storage space is used, Garrett explained.

"We get into't know what 'too much' is yet, but writing a cluster of variables from Windows is sufficient to trigger it," he notable.

'Practice not use UEFI'

Garrett has posted more or less sample code that writes out 36 variables, all containing one KB of random information. After running it as an administrator under Windows, he rebooted the system and "it never came stake," he wrote.

Garrett's current conclusion is that the problem is caused by a firmware intercept correspondent to some observed—but quickly fixed—in the past in Intel's reference code.

For now, "the safest thing to do is not to use UEFI on any Samsung laptops," helium advised. "Unfortunately, if you're using Windows, that'll require you to reinstall it from scratch."