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Recent HP Laptops Shipped CPU-Choking Wi-Fi Driver

Posted by timothy on from the good-reason-to-put-on-some-linux dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Computer manufacturers have recently come under fire for the continued practice of shipping machines with excessive bloatware. Software preinstalled on some recent HP laptops was worse than normal though, consuming anywhere from 25-99% CPU by making incessant WMI queries, resulting in overheating laptops and reduced battery life. Users on a computer Q&A site did some sleuthing, and revealed that HP Wireless Assistant — software which does nothing but tell the user when their WiFi adapter is turned on or off — was causing the problem. According to an HP support forum, the problem is fixed in later versions, but thousands of laptops have the software installed, and the software does not get updated automatically."

13 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. HP is the worst by Shakahs · · Score: 5, Informative

    As someone who fixes computers for a living, I can tell you that HP has the WORST bloatware, both preinstalled on new computers and included with their ridiculous, 200MB printer drivers.

    1. Re:HP is the worst by clang_jangle · · Score: 4, Informative

      They're pretty bad. But I'm glad to have the officejets, they do work flawlessly with hplip in *nix. The printers themselves are quite good, but those windows drivers just ruin it -- if I were a windows user I'd avoid HP like the plague. Maybe HP should just start refining hplip instead of shipping that bloatware.

      --
      Caveat Utilitor
    2. Re:HP is the worst by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yep, just don't ever put the CD that comes with the printer in your PC and you'll be fine.

      Not ever. Never. Don't even take it out of the envelope. Snap it in half as soon as you see it and may it burn in hell.

      Go to the website and download the basic driver instead.

      (...and the same goes for all other printer manufacturers, digital cameras, etc.)

      --
      No sig today...
    3. Re:HP is the worst by sortius_nod · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'll stick with my samsung printer that works flawlessly with Windows 7, Mac OS, & Linux over a network. HP's quality with printers died with the LaserJet 4/5 series.

    4. Re:HP is the worst by Nimey · · Score: 3, Informative

      Those tiny "drivers" are actually PostScript PPDs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostScript_Printer_Description

      For those to work you need a PostScript printer, which typically are a few hundred dollars and up for new ones. The cheapest printers (and most non-pro inkjets) are always soft-printers whose intelligence is actually in those bloated drivers which run on the host CPU. Pro inkjets have PCL3 compatibility, meaning that they have a relatively small PCL driver, often of 2-3 megs, and midrange-and-up lasers will grok either PCL5e, PCL6, or PostScript, or a vendor-specific language that is still interpreted on the printer.

      Even modern PS printers will have more than PPDs included; usually it's GUI stuff to let you use more advanced print services, support for optional printer accessories, &c.

      tl;dr: you know not of which you speak.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
  2. And this is why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... I make a DVD backup of the restore partition and wipe clean the HDD whenever I buy a new laptop.

  3. Same issue with Dell Latitude E6510 by acoustix · · Score: 5, Informative

    I recently had the same issue with a loaded Dell Latitude E6510. The supplied video driver for WinXP consumed an entire core on my 3.0GHz i7. I contacted Dell on the issue and told them what was happening. I ended up using the driver from nVidia. The CPU would get very hot and the fan would run at full speed.

    I know, good story - right?

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
  4. HP and wireless have a special relationship anyway by leuk_he · · Score: 5, Informative

    e.g. Did you know you cannot simply replace the HP buildin wireless with a pci-express card version because the wireless needs to be on a bios whitelist.

  5. Don't give them any ideas by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...and the software does not get updated automatically."

    Let's talk about CPU-choking check-for-update services. Ever tried to disable GoogleUpdater? I mean really disable it? Or the Adobe "Let's interrupt the boot process with our bullshit" updater? Or my favorite this week - was recently straightening out a friends machine and found an updater service from Intuit running - my friend had installed and used TurboTax to do his taxes last year, so naturally a system service had to be running to check for updates to tax software for FY2009.

    I see the <i>italic</i> tags are still broken, damn this web 2.0 stuff is HARD, isn't it?

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Don't give them any ideas by xaxa · · Score: 3, Informative

      Italics work just fine. Perhaps you should stop using the deprecated <i> tag, and start using the <em> tag that replaced it.

      So this <i>Homo sapiens</i> will have to use the wrong markup next time we're discussing zoology?

      The i element in HTML5.

    2. Re:Don't give them any ideas by msauve · · Score: 3, Informative
      is not , and the fact that most browsers will use an tag to display italics is beside the point.

      According to the /. FAQ,

      The list of approved HTML tags is: <b> <i> <p> <br> <a> <ol> <ul> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <em> <strong> <tt> <blockquote> <div>

      /. claims to support the <i> tag, and the <em> tag. It doesn't. It's broken.
      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  6. Re:I wish by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Informative

    you can.

    http://www.msimobile.com/

    Buy a barebones laptop with the features you want.

    Buy the processor you want
    buy the ram you want
    buy the pci-express mini cards for the prephrials you want.
    buy the OS you want.
    start assembling and installing. I built one years ago this way and ended up with a great laptop that was 100% linux compatible. Problem is that nobody has a mobile video card slot so you are stuck with buying onboard

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  7. Re:Vendor crapware is NOT NEEDED... by jo_ham · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is one vendor that does just that: Apple. Even if you buy it and never intend to run OS X other than for the 10 minutes it takes you to set a Bootcamp partition, the Windows experience on them is very good. All the drivers and necessary stuff you need is on the OS X install disc that comes with the machine (and also on every retail copy of OS X) and you just pop it in after the windows installer finishes and it automatically handles all the drivers and utilities and leaves you with a fully configured, fully working Windows laptop with zero bloatware.

    Hell, it doesn't even put iTunes on there by default ;)

    Whether the price premium for the machine itself and then a further cost for a copy of Windows is worth it is an exercise left to the individual.

    I've set up a quite a number of machines for a local businessman who liked the iMac's form factor but a major part of his business relies on Windows-only software. He started with a batch of 4 test machines that I set up for him and liked them so much he went and converted the whole office and workshop, ditching all the midi-towers and clunky keyboards he had before.