Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Intel/AMD x86 CPU microcode update system in non-free
On Tue, 06 Nov 2012, Jon Dowland wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 05, 2012 at 06:12:53PM -0200, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote:
> > Microcode updates will be applied immediately when the microcode
> > packages are installed or updated: you don't have to reboot. You will
> > have to keep the packages installed, though: as explained above, the
> > microcode updates have to be reapplied at every boot.
> >
> > You can check which version of the microcode your processors are running
> > by looking for "microcode" lines on /proc/cpuinfo. This information is
> > only available on recent kernels (such as the Wheezy kernel).
>
> This did not appear to work for me automatically. I did not upgrade my kernel
> in the same aptitude session.
That can also happen if you upgrade it in a previous aptitude session, but
didn't reboot yet.
> Before:
> > microcode : 0x1b
>
> After installing intel-microcode and iucode-tool 0.8.3-1:
> > microcode : 0x1b
>
> > # iucode_tool --scan-system -vv
> > iucode_tool: cpuid kernel driver unavailable, cannot scan system processor signatures
Hmm, that should happen only if iucode-tool is installed/configured after
intel-microcode.
Still, it did lead me to a possible cause: I am not trying to modprobe
"microcode" in the intel-microcode postinst. This can indeed cause the
failure to update microcode at package install time.
I forget why I didn't do it that way in the first place, but that's easily
fixed. Please file a bug, severity minor. I will check for any possible
problems it might cause, and if I can't find any, I will fix it in unstable.
Still, those reports are very valuable. I will probably try to get some
information about the microcode updates on the Wheezy release notes, and
this thread will go a long way to make sure no pitfals are left behind.
> > $ grep microcode /proc/cpuinfo
> > microcode : 0x28
And that's why these packages exist... although you might want to check if
your motherboard vendor has a BIOS/UEFI update available, as it is _always_
better to have microcode updated as early as possible, and that means the
BIOS/UEFI.
> Shall I file a bug?
Please do.
--
"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
Henrique Holschuh
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