pedrobearmon Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Among other things. What's the purpose of stopping someone who has already bought the machine from upgrading the components? It just seems like a massive, unnecessary restriction. I've heard that this is on a number of laptops, not just Lenovo. My guess is that you're supposed to buy a whole new laptop when you want a new feature. That way more money is leeched from you. Any other thoughts about why this is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heibk201 Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Among other things. What's the purpose of stopping someone who has already bought the machine from upgrading the components? It just seems like a massive, unnecessary restriction. I've heard that this is on a number of laptops, not just Lenovo. My guess is that you're supposed to buy a whole new laptop when you want a new feature. That way more money is leeched from you. Any other thoughts about why this is?so in case if you mess up and screw something up they don't have to spend money fixing it. after all it's fraud protection, something that should be changed but never was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilman227 Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Probably to cut the lifespan of the product to improve future sales once the hardware becomes too outdated. Another reason may be that the legal division recommends to do whatever is possible to limit user upgrades in case of liability issues. Bad decisions can come from anywhere really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiverpoolsNo9 Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Lenovo is primarily a business company. If you lock down the list of components that can be installed its easier to provide support, and costs IT and warranty departments less money. Its as simple as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcagara08 Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 With my Lenovo G500(budget notebook) luckily my wifi mini pcie slot does not have a whitelist, it had recognized my egpu right away. I learned also at the official Lenovo forums that replacing the cpu will void the warranty, weird policySent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinkdez Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I read somewhere that this is also due to FCC regulations. I don't remember the details but it was something to do with getting the laptop certified by the FCC for use and not having to vet each and every wireless card out there. Not sure why it would apply here but not on a desktop computer. I did a quick google search but I was unable to find the original thread I read about this but here is a quote:The Wireless card Whitelisting is due to FCC regulation, which states that certain classes of devices must be Certified by the FCC themselves in the "End-Use Configuration" to be legal to sell, use, take on Airplanes etc...IBM (Now Lenovo) Whitelist Wireless cards to ensure that the device will always conform to the FCC approval that the device was evaluated for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octiceps Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 That's bollocks. Hardware whitelist is far from being the only thing that's crippled with the stock BIOS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovenobody123 Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 They just hate giving customer service to people whom bought their products. Probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x3maniac Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 i agree with thinkdez i read that also, but still it sucks to have such a crappy wifi card my eeepc 701 has a atheros Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gentlemenace Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I'm pretty sure it's mostly a liability thing. Lame but considering their average end user it's probably not as dumb of a choice as it seems. I just wish we didn't have to go through third party tools to mess with some basic BIOS settings. My old machine never gave me trouble there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slyver Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Liability, and since you can increase the performance of your laptop, it might make it less likely that you buy another, stronger laptop of theirs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamescc Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Am wondering that myself. My centrino card keeps dropping wifi signal for no reason. I'm looking forward to Flash the mod Bios soon.As for reason, i think they cut some deal with Intel in order to boost future sales and lock user to hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onejay09 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 1 from a future sales point of view2 to maintain compatability, and ensure no issues with their products as people would be breaking their laptops constantly, then returning under warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCaira Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 Personally I think it is total bullshit that they lock their machines like that.. If pl wanna change their hardware they damn well should be able to. ):< 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTMoraes Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Probably to cut the lifespan of the product to improve future sales once the hardware becomes too outdated. Another reason may be that the legal division recommends to do whatever is possible to limit user upgrades in case of liability issues. Bad decisions can come from anywhere really.This. It's win-win for them. It shortens the lifespan of the device, and also makes it easier to troubleshoot if they know every possible hardware combination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octiceps Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 And it's a lose-lose for consumers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinampa Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 I ask myself this same question...I bought a BCM94352 and asked the vendor if it'd work for my laptop because I had this same fear, they told me it'd fit. So yes, it FITS, but its not compliant with lenovo's whitelist...so I'm in the process of removing that whitelist...such a shame they limit customers options.[h=1][/h] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vewen Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 They probably don't believe the average user would need to access the BIOS.I think it's stupid that they haven't made the option to turn on the BIOS features like a lot of other brands do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00100101 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I've only seen/heard about a bios whitelist on maybe one or two other brands. Does everybody have restrictions like this?Also, what all components would be "whitelisted"? Not just the wireless card, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12ozLite Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I believe it is to ensure earlier future sales. Personally it makes me look for a different manufacturer next time around. From a tech support point of view, most people that change their own hardware in a laptop, rarely use it and expect a warranty to be voiid on some modifications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallT Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 As not all vendors have restricted their BIOS's, it could be experimenting with customer reactions. Locking down hardware forces consumers to buy up, buying one level higher than the need "just in case", since options do not exist. Future sales will likely be hurt unless all comparable vendors lock down the BIOS as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoolGuy Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 The other issue that Lenovo wants to avoid is users modifying the laptop with a new device and then sending it out for service when there's nothing wrong with the laptop itself. All this causes is oxymoronic problems like "My wireless card died, instead of fixing it myself, now i need to send it to lenovo". Their service rep told me that it was like shooting themselves in the foot, what they planned to reduce repairs and needless shipping now caused more issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarblatter Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 They lock the BIOS's compatibility so they can force people to buy their customer service and products they already paid for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspire Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 so we have to crack it:53_002: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raiseur Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 so that you buy only the products whom lenovo has partnership with i think. gonna avoid lenovos in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.