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If you also want to know if intel has released a microcode update for your CPU yet (regardless of whether or not it's available in your distro yet): Download t
by tomxor 9y ago
If you also want to know if intel has released a microcode update for your CPU yet (regardless of whether or not it's available in your distro yet):
Download the latest archive from Intel at https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27431/Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-File https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27431/Linux-Proces... (currently microcode-20180108.tgz) then:
tar -xzf microcode-20180108.tgz
sudo apt install iucode-tool # or whatever your package manager is
iucode-tool -tb -lS ./intel-ucode/*
This will crosscheck the microcode binaries with the signature of your CPU and output something like:
001: sig 0x00010676, pf mask 0x01, 2010-09-29, rev 0x060f, size 4096
002: sig 0x00010676, pf mask 0x04, 2010-09-29, rev 0x060f, size 4096
003: sig 0x00010676, pf mask 0x10, 2010-09-29, rev 0x060f, size 4096
004: sig 0x00010676, pf mask 0x40, 2010-09-29, rev 0x060f, size 4096
005: sig 0x00010676, pf mask 0x80, 2010-09-29, rev 0x060f, size 4096
As you can see Intel hasn't released any updates for my old CPU (latest is from 2010)
- mahrain 9y agoSo this microcode goes in /lib/firmware/intel-ucode (in ubuntu) will this then firmware update the CPU with the latest microcode, or only use this like a driver leaving the CPU alone?
- tomxor 9y agoMicrocode is loaded into some on-die volatile RAM every boot by the CPU... there is a CPU instruction to do it. AFAIK: First the CPU loads an on die ROM of the microcode it was released with on it's own. Second the BIOS/UEFI may load an update into the CPU before boot if it has a newer one. Third linux and some other OS will load any newer microcode into the CPU at the bootloader stage before the kernel loads. This is also commonly the case for other modern hardware, not just CPUs... although I expect it doesn't need to happen before the kernel loads and is probably bundled into their respective drivers.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- AsyncAwait 9y agoA word of caution; some of the microcode updates have apparently been causing reboots [1]. [1] - http://www.zdnet.com/article/meltdown-spectre-intel-says-newer-chips-also-hit-by-unwanted-reboots-after-patch http://www.zdnet.com/article/meltdown-spectre-intel-says-new...
- tomxor 9y agoYup Although you can also install microcode with the iucode-tool, the example above only checks the downloaded archive.