firmware

BornCity’s latest dispatch raises a subtle but important question: did Microsoft quietly neutralize the wave of SSD failures reported from Japan after the August 2025 Windows 11 24H2 roll‑out, or did the alarm simply fade after vendors and Redmond concluded they could not reproduce a systemic...

Microsoft has concluded its investigation into the mid‑August reports that a recent Windows 11 security rollup (commonly tracked as KB5063878) “bricked” or corrupted some SSDs, saying it found no reproducible link between the update and the wave of drive disappearances — a position echoed by SSD...

The move from legacy BIOS/MBR rigs to UEFI/GPT systems — and the mandatory flip of Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 switches — has leapt out of corporate IT and into mainstream PC gaming and pro-grade Windows workflows, creating a new compatibility baseline players and professionals must meet to run the...

Microsoft’s audit of the August Windows 11 cumulative update has closed one chapter of an unusually noisy storage scare, but it has left behind a tangle of reproducible community tests, partial vendor confirmations, and unanswered forensic questions that IT teams and power users should still...

CISA’s KEV catalog grew again this week with the addition of two high‑risk router flaws tied to active exploitation, underscoring an uncomfortable reality for IT teams: inexpensive consumer and small‑office routers remain a prime target for adversaries and can pose outsized risk to enterprise...

Microsoft’s latest push to force better USB-C behavior on Windows 11 PCs is a welcome — and long overdue — attempt to end a years‑long era of port confusion, flaky charging, and bewildering compatibility problems that have left users juggling cables and vendor support forums. The company is...

Microsoft’s definitive update: after an internal review and partner testing, the company says the August 2025 Windows 11 security rollup did not directly corrupt or “brick” SSDs — but the incident has exposed a fragile interaction between OS updates, SSD controller firmware, and real-world...

Windows 11’s long‑running Bluetooth headache — game sound collapsing into muffled, mono audio the moment a headset microphone is used — has finally been addressed at the operating‑system level: Microsoft has added support for Bluetooth LE Audio and a “super‑wideband stereo” path that lets stereo...

Sony appears to be widening its PC support for PlayStation audio gear: a newly reported PlayStation Link PC Driver for Windows — said to support the PULSE Elite headset and PULSE Explore earbuds — would let PC users update firmware and tune audio without needing a PS5, while September’s...

If you want to play the latest PC shooters on Windows 10, you may need to flip a few firmware switches: Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are increasingly being enforced by modern anti-cheat systems, and that enforcement often requires your PC to be running UEFI with the boot disk formatted as GPT rather...

Microsoft is pushing PC makers to stop treating USB Type-C as a cosmetic port and to implement the platform-level hooks Windows 11 needs to deliver consistent, useful notifications when Type‑C connections behave unexpectedly. The company’s guidance — now baked into Windows’ hardware requirements...

Modern PC shooters are raising the bar: several recent AAA titles now refuse to run on Windows 10 unless Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are enabled, forcing many players to move from legacy BIOS/MBR setups to a UEFI/GPT configuration before they can even launch the game. Background / Overview The...

Microsoft says its August Windows 11 security update (KB5063878) is not behind the recent wave of reports alleging SSDs and HDDs have been rendered inaccessible or corrupted, but the episode has exposed gaps in forensic clarity and left many users mistrustful of a conclusion drawn without a...

CISA’s September 2, 2025 bulletin that released four new Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories is a stark reminder that operational technology (OT) and energy-sector devices remain high-value targets—and that defenders must move faster than vendors and attackers to close windows of...

The SunPower PVS6 fleet has been publicly flagged as critically vulnerable after CISA published an advisory (ICSA-25-245-03) describing a Bluetooth Low Energy (BluetoothLE) servicing interface that embeds hard‑coded encryption parameters and exposed protocol details—weaknesses that let an...

Microsoft and Phison have now all but closed the book on the late‑August panic: after weeks of community reports, lab reproductions and headlines warning that Windows 11 24H2’s August cumulative (KB5063878) was “bricking” SSDs, thorough vendor and Microsoft testing found no reproducible link...

Microsoft says its August Windows 11 security update KB5063878 is not to blame for a cluster of “vanishing” gaming SSD reports, but the episode has exposed a narrow, environment‑specific failure pattern that still leaves gamers and power users with real — and immediate — data‑safety decisions to...

Microsoft’s follow‑up investigation insists the August Windows 11 cumulative patch did not “brick” SSDs, but the story is far from a tidy conclusion: community test benches produced a repeatable failure fingerprint, controller vendor lab work failed to reproduce the fault, and Microsoft’s...

Microsoft and a leading SSD controller vendor have pushed back on viral claims that a recent Windows 11 update “bricked” NVMe drives — after industry tests and Microsoft telemetry showed no reproducible, platform‑wide hardware failure, but the episode still leaves unanswered forensic questions...

Microsoft says the recent reports that a Windows 11 cumulative update “bricked” consumer SSDs are not supported by its telemetry and lab findings, and vendor testing so far has failed to reproduce a fleet‑level failure tied to the August servicing wave tracked as KB5063878. Background The story...