From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1PfEJu-0001rI-H1 for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:22:10 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id B70EEE0ABB for ; Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:22:09 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-ew0-f53.google.com (mail-ew0-f53.google.com [209.85.215.53]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8C1C6E0A90 for ; Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:16:16 +0000 (UTC) Received: by ewy6 with SMTP id 6so3804838ewy.40 for ; Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:16:15 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=yQVfS0TnO2tCLhCBg7vqGBewDOOFP1RA6mYVEq0KKWk=; b=VtCAKLLtkJRP/sbDnnOY4y3l0NOkUNpG3QBr6FJoQqBlIklIDaBqY3XPyNWGR1eklw EGiqbKysZvZawMF9LU6Qk3XrDDDlAxWHkaL1zomDssKz/HPIj7472uvSTxRokNWMVzeH Yc2Bs2p/B9/dh5ukbYWsk2XZTZZ21t8l77sjA= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=DKK9zngA3SPoxHvcUQxp7Tvv2pCrOwfWVufVJgyUPHRpZVqNFYd66nMsWtWLMxaJad EiPUKzhrlaWIQpY4EVjoeoFdrjuepR+TGULv7kY8iQVM0vw7lkciyLvQFJQf1yyhs5iR F4Sb2Pq/J1Uf+/qFM7jmHRr6z/o6kK2fFlwmY= Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.216.10.208 with SMTP id 58mr4588879wev.14.1295367375410; Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:16:15 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.216.16.21 with HTTP; Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:16:15 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: <20110117172148.GD5748@solfire> <4d3493c4.0297df0a.7fb2.ffffc8c0@mx.google.com> <20110117191904.GM5748@solfire> <4d349ca2.0297df0a.5e61.ffffd0dc@mx.google.com> <1295324985.21821.37.camel@rattus> Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:16:15 -0800 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Microcode update AMD From: Mark Knecht To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: 04957afb945a26cc0df7d9bab31ff996 On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 7:38 AM, Paul Hartman wrote: > On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 10:29 PM, William Kenworthy = wrote: >> The bios microcode update is likely an enable setting rather than the >> bios actually updating the cpu. =C2=A0You need to do some reading/asking= of >> the manufacturers (not here) if it bothers you. > > Thanks for the links, I didn't realize they made the microcode data > available separately. > > From Intel's download site for the microcode data: > > "The microcode data file contains the latest microcode definitions for > all Intel processors. Intel releases microcode updates to correct > processor behavior as documented in the respective processor > specification updates. While the regular approach to getting this > microcode update is via a BIOS upgrade, Intel realizes that this can > be an administrative hassle. The Linux Operating System and VMware ESX > products have a mechanism to update the microcode after booting. For > example, this file will be used by the operating system mechanism if > the file is placed in the /etc/firmware directory of the Linux > system." > > Thanks for the info Paul. For kicks I tried it on an Intel DH55HC MB running an Core i5-661. 1) Created /etc/firmware 2) Downloaded the Intel microcode-20101123.tgz file 3) Enabled the /dev/cpu/microcode option under Processor Types and Features 4) Rebuilt the kernel and rebooted I see this in dmesg: mark@firefly ~ $ dmesg | grep micro [ 0.495337] microcode: CPU0 sig=3D0x20652, pf=3D0x2, revision=3D0x9 [ 0.495436] microcode: CPU1 sig=3D0x20652, pf=3D0x2, revision=3D0x9 [ 0.495535] microcode: CPU2 sig=3D0x20652, pf=3D0x2, revision=3D0x9 [ 0.495635] microcode: CPU3 sig=3D0x20652, pf=3D0x2, revision=3D0x9 [ 0.495751] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.00 , Peter Oruba mark@firefly ~ $ On this machine the message doesn't change whether the microcode file is located in /etc/firmware or not so I don't know how to tell if the process worked but the processor doesn't need any updates or whether it didn't work at all. - Mark