W25Q64 write protect range cleared on reboot (Acer C720): Feature or bug?

[Brishchik Gupta]

Device: Acer C720-3605 Chromebook (Haswell) with Winbond W25Q64 8MB firmware flash

Description of issue --- The following behavior is observed:

1. If write protect is disabled (either in hardware i.e. screw removed,
or in software i.e. status.srp0 == 0 == status.srp1, or in both hardware
and software) AND there is a non-null write protect range (set by
status register bits BP0/BP1/BP2/TB/SEC), then upon power cycled reboot,
the status registers get completely cleared (to 0x0000).

2. If write protect is disabled in hardware but not in software
and the write protect range is null (so status registers == 0x0080),
then a power cycled reboot preserves the status registers
(i.e. the value is still 0x0080 after reboot).
 
Is the above behavior a feature or a bug?

I can post logs (e.g. outputs of "flashrom --wp-status") if necessary.

Best regards,

Brishchik Gupta