diff --git a/playbook/startnet.cmd b/playbook/startnet.cmd
index f53304c..b4fe181 100644
--- a/playbook/startnet.cmd
+++ b/playbook/startnet.cmd
@@ -261,12 +261,18 @@ REM dashboard friendly-label swaps to "Updating BIOS firmware". The "->"
 REM marker is what check-bios writes for both "updated" and "STAGED"
 REM cases. No-op states ("up to date", "no update in catalog", "Skipped",
 REM "missing") never contain the arrow and stay on the default label.
-echo %BIOS_STATUS% | findstr /C:"->" >NUL
-if not errorlevel 1 (
+REM
+REM CAUTION: cannot use `echo %BIOS_STATUS% | findstr /C:"->"` - the `>`
+REM inside the value gets parsed as a redirect operator before the pipe,
+REM breaking the pipeline. Use substring-replace trick: if removing "->"
+REM from BIOS_STATUS yields a different string, the arrow was present.
+call set "BIOS_STATUS_STRIPPED=%%BIOS_STATUS:->=%%"
+if not "%BIOS_STATUS%"=="%BIOS_STATUS_STRIPPED%" (
     if exist "Y:\scripts\winpe-status-push.ps1" (
-        powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "Y:\scripts\winpe-status-push.ps1" -CurrentStage "WinPE: BIOS firmware update - %BIOS_STATUS%"
+        powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "Y:\scripts\winpe-status-push.ps1" -CurrentStage "WinPE: BIOS firmware update"
     )
 )
+set "BIOS_STATUS_STRIPPED="
 
 echo Waiting for PESetup.exe to start...
 :wait_start