Posted on Monday, February 14 2011 @ 18:45 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Slashdot
reports a poorly coded WiFi driver is causing abnormal high CPU load levels on recently shipped HP laptops. The issue can be resolved by downloading a newer version of the HP Wireless Assistant software.
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.
