System firmware configuration data

1. A computing system, comprising:

a processing device; and

a non-transitory machine-readable medium encoded with instructions executable by the processing device, wherein the non-transitory machine-readable medium comprises:

instructions to initiate a power on self-test (POST) process,

instructions to start a timer during the POST process in response to a determination that a change has been made to system firmware configuration data, wherein the timer is stopped in response to a successful completion of the POST process,

instructions to, in response to a determination that a pre-boot user interface (UI) process is preparing to launch during the POST process, suspend the timer, wherein the pre-boot UI process comprises displaying at least two of a startup menu UI, computer setup UI, boot menu UI, option read-only memory (ROM) UI, and a system firmware physical presence prompt UI,

instructions to, in response to a determination that the pre-boot UI process is completed during the POST process, resume the timer,

instructions to, in response to a determination that the timer has expired before the computing system is ready to initiate a transfer of operational control to a boot source, perform at least one of:

power-off and power-on the computing system,

replace current system firmware configuration data with backup system firmware configuration data, and

generate a notification indicating system firmware configuration data has been reverted.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory machine-readable medium is a flash memory device.

3. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the notification is at least one of: displayed on the computing system and sent to a remote computing system.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable medium comprises instructions to compare the current system firmware configuration data with the backup system firmware configuration data.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the system firmware configuration data comprises at least one of security configuration settings, hardware configuration settings, and system configuration settings.

6. A method for controlling a computing system, comprising:

initiating a power on self-test (POST) process;

determining whether a change has been made to system firmware configuration data by comparing current system firmware configuration data to backup system firmware configuration data;

starting a timer during the POST process in response to a determination that a change has been made to system firmware configuration data, the timer to be stopped in response to a successful completion of the POST process;

determining whether a pre-boot user interface (UI) process is preparing to launch or is completed during the POST process, wherein the pre-boot UI process comprises displaying at least two of a startup menu UI, computer setup UI, boot menu UI, option read-only memory (ROM) UI, and a system firmware physical presence prompt UI;

in response to a determination that the pre-boot UI process is preparing to launch during the POST process, suspending the timer;

in response to a determination that the pre-boot UI process is completed during the POST process, resuming the timer;

determining whether the computing system is ready to initiate a transfer of operational control to a boot source prior to an expiration of the timer;

in response to a determination that the computing system is ready to initiate the transfer of operational control to the boot source prior to the expiration of the timer:

replacing the backup system firmware configuration data with the current system firmware configuration data; and

transferring operational control of the computing system to the boot source.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the system firmware comprises a basic input/output system (BIOS) or a unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI).

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the system firmware configuration data comprises at least one of security configuration settings, hardware configuration settings, and system configuration settings.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the boot source comprises a boot loader.

10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

after suspending the timer, launching the pre-boot UI process.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed, cause a computing system to:

initiate a power on self-test (POST) process;

start a timer during the POST process in response to a determination that a change has been made to system firmware configuration data, wherein the timer is stopped in response to a successful completion of the POST process;

in response to a determination that a pre-boot user interface (UI) process is preparing to launch during the POST process, suspend the timer, wherein the pre-boot UI process comprises displaying at least two of a startup menu UI, computer setup UI, boot menu UI, option read-only memory (ROM) UI, and a system firmware physical presence prompt UI;

in response to a determination that the pre-boot UI process is completed during the POST process, resume the timer;

in response to a determination that the computing system is ready to initiate a transfer of operational control of the computing system to a boot source prior to an expiration of the timer:

stop the timer,

replace backup system firmware configuration data with current system firmware configuration data, and

transfer the operational control of the computing system to the boot source; and

in response to a determination that the timer has expired before the computing system is ready to initiate the transfer of operational control to the boot source, conduct at least one of the following:

power-off and power-on the computing system,

replace the current system firmware configuration data with the backup system firmware configuration data, and

generate a notification indicating system firmware configuration data has been reverted.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the system firmware comprises a basic input/output system (BIOS) or a unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI).

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing system to determine that a change has been made to system firmware configuration data by comparing the current system firmware configuration data to the backup system firmware configuration data.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the system firmware configuration data comprises at least one of security configuration settings, hardware configuration settings, and system configuration settings.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the non-transitory machine-readable medium comprises a flash memory device.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the notification is at least one of:

a notification displayed on the computing system, and

a notification sent to a remote computing system.

17. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable medium comprises:

instructions to, in response to a determination that computing system is ready to initiate the transfer of operational control to the boot source prior to the expiration of the timer:

replace the backup system firmware configuration data with the current system firmware configuration data; and

transfer operational control of the computing system to the boot source.

18. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

in response to a determination that that the timer has expired before the computing system is ready to initiate the transfer of operational control to the boot source, perform at least one of:

power-off and power-on the computing system,

replace current system firmware configuration data with backup system firmware configuration data, and

generate a notification indicating system firmware configuration data has been reverted.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the notification is at least one of:

a notification displayed on the computing system, and

a notification sent to a remote computing system.