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Title is misleading, Intel is offering a fix that allows the user to disable E-cores on the fly by using their scroll-lock key. They're only offering a referenc

Title is misleading, Intel is offering a fix that allows the user to disable E-cores on the fly by using their scroll-lock key. They're only offering a reference implementation though, it's up to the motherboard vendors to ship a BIOS update with this workaround.

CoolGuySteve 5y ago
So Scroll Lock is the new Turbo button eh? Hello my old friend.
judge2020 5y ago
I wonder how it does this - does it check for the USB input, or does it check for scroll lock to be turned on (ie. LED 0x03)? If it were the latter, I could see a program turning on scroll lock for the user so it could be sure new threads are immediately put on p-cores and ensuring AVX512 is available[0]. 0: https://www.anandtech.com/show/17047/the-intel-12th-gen-core-i912900k-review-hybrid-performance-brings-hybrid-complexity/2 https://www.anandtech.com/show/17047/the-intel-12th-gen-core...
- bonzini 5y ago
  It's almost certainly a hack based on system management mode. Not sure how it does it, but SMM is even used to emulate the PS/2 keyboard interface (at I/O ports 0x60/0x61) when all you have is a USB keyboard. So it's likely that the chipset has some kind of "backdoor" to the USB controller that can be accessed from SMM.
mitigating 5y ago
How is the title misleading? It links directly to intel and tells you that you can use the scroll lock to stop the crashes. If the title said "Enable scroll lock to disable e-cores" that doesn't tell you why you would need to do that.
- judge2020 5y ago
  It's misleading in that, if you had an Alder Lake CPU right now, enabling scroll lock wouldn't do anything since no/very few MOBO vendors have shipped this BIOS update. Plus, it doesn't "fix" the crash, it's a workaround that hurts your CPU performance for that game (since, now, new background tasks will be scheduled on your p-cores). It's usually best not to editorialize titles anyways, and the title would still reference DRM systems if it were "Why Can Digital Rights Management (DRM) Crash Some Games on 12th Gen Intel Core Processors?"
  - fsckboy 5y ago
    that's not what it says. it says that while you wait for the software patch to filter through ordinary distribution channels, you can enable a feature that's already in your BIOS which (after you reboot) will allow you to use the scroll lock key.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- EugeneOZ 5y ago
  Scroll Lock is just a special toggle for the Legacy Game Compatibility Mode - you need to turn it on in BIOS. Then you can control E-cores using Scroll Lock.
- gouggoug 5y ago
  The editorialized title is purposely vague, making it sound like this is an unexpected bug, when it is, in fact, not a bug at all. That's clickbait. A more honest title would be "Fix DRM crashes on Intel 12th: Enable 'Legacy Game Compatibility Mode' and turn Scroll Lock on" edit: the title at the time of writing this comment was "Enabling scroll lock at boot fixes crashes caused by DRM on Intel 12th gen CPUs "
dang 5y ago
We've changed the title to the article title now. Submitted title was 'Enabling scroll lock at boot fixes crashes caused by DRM on Intel 12th gen CPUs". "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
octagons 5y ago
You’re right - I misread the article by missing the part mentioning the adjustment needed in BIOS before enabling scroll lock. I’m glad the title was updated to keep the discussion going without editorializing. My mistake!

CoolGuySteve 5y ago

So Scroll Lock is the new Turbo button eh? Hello my old friend.

judge2020 5y ago

I wonder how it does this - does it check for the USB input, or does it check for scroll lock to be turned on (ie. LED 0x03)? If it were the latter, I could see a program turning on scroll lock for the user so it could be sure new threads are immediately put on p-cores and ensuring AVX512 is available[0]. 0: https://www.anandtech.com/show/17047/the-intel-12th-gen-core-i912900k-review-hybrid-performance-brings-hybrid-complexity/2 https://www.anandtech.com/show/17047/the-intel-12th-gen-core...

bonzini 5y ago
It's almost certainly a hack based on system management mode. Not sure how it does it, but SMM is even used to emulate the PS/2 keyboard interface (at I/O ports 0x60/0x61) when all you have is a USB keyboard. So it's likely that the chipset has some kind of "backdoor" to the USB controller that can be accessed from SMM.

mitigating 5y ago

How is the title misleading? It links directly to intel and tells you that you can use the scroll lock to stop the crashes. If the title said "Enable scroll lock to disable e-cores" that doesn't tell you why you would need to do that.

judge2020 5y ago
It's misleading in that, if you had an Alder Lake CPU right now, enabling scroll lock wouldn't do anything since no/very few MOBO vendors have shipped this BIOS update. Plus, it doesn't "fix" the crash, it's a workaround that hurts your CPU performance for that game (since, now, new background tasks will be scheduled on your p-cores). It's usually best not to editorialize titles anyways, and the title would still reference DRM systems if it were "Why Can Digital Rights Management (DRM) Crash Some Games on 12th Gen Intel Core Processors?"
- fsckboy 5y ago
  that's not what it says. it says that while you wait for the software patch to filter through ordinary distribution channels, you can enable a feature that's already in your BIOS which (after you reboot) will allow you to use the scroll lock key.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
EugeneOZ 5y ago
Scroll Lock is just a special toggle for the Legacy Game Compatibility Mode - you need to turn it on in BIOS. Then you can control E-cores using Scroll Lock.
gouggoug 5y ago
The editorialized title is purposely vague, making it sound like this is an unexpected bug, when it is, in fact, not a bug at all. That's clickbait. A more honest title would be "Fix DRM crashes on Intel 12th: Enable 'Legacy Game Compatibility Mode' and turn Scroll Lock on" edit: the title at the time of writing this comment was "Enabling scroll lock at boot fixes crashes caused by DRM on Intel 12th gen CPUs "

dang 5y ago

We've changed the title to the article title now. Submitted title was 'Enabling scroll lock at boot fixes crashes caused by DRM on Intel 12th gen CPUs". "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

octagons 5y ago

You’re right - I misread the article by missing the part mentioning the adjustment needed in BIOS before enabling scroll lock. I’m glad the title was updated to keep the discussion going without editorializing. My mistake!