Microsoft’s choice to omit the x86 HLT (halt) instruction from Windows 95’s shipped idle path was not a bug or oversight — it was a deliberate, conservative engineering decision taken to avoid a catastrophic failure mode that, in lab and field tests, could leave some laptops effectively bricked...
apic
bios
bricked laptops
cpu idle
engineering decision
firmware
hardware compatibility
hlthlt instruction
kernel idle
legacy os
oem ecosystems
power efficiency
power management
recovery and rollback
risk management
smm
system safety
windows 95
x86
Windows 95 engineers walked away from a simple CPU instruction — the x86 HLT (halt) — not because the idea was exotic or useless, but because using it risked turning customers’ laptops into permanent bricks. What looks, in hindsight, like a small compatibility choice was in fact a high-stakes...
apm
bios
compatibility engineering
cpu idle
firmware
hardware brick
hardware testing
hlt
linux nohlt
nohlt
oem ecosystem
power management
raymond chen
risk management
software history
windows 95
x86