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no microcode early update?

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andyjackson
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Joined: 2016-03-21 13:52

no microcode early update?

#1 Post by andyjackson »

my laptop is hp zbook g1, cpu i5-4300m. according to wiki 'Users of CPUs belonging to the Intel Haswell and Broadwell processor families in particular must install these microcode updates to ensure system stability'.

so i intall intel-microcode package and reboot, run dmesg | grep microcode only output:
[ 2.970879] microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x10, revision=0x24
[ 2.971024] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.01 <tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk>, Peter Oruba
that means no microcode update.

if some microcode updated while boot, dmesg should output like:
[ 0.000000] CPU0 microcode updated early to revision 0x1b, date = 2014-05-29
[ 0.507267] microcode: CPU0 sig=0x306a9, pf=0x2, revision=0x1b
[ 0.507272] microcode: CPU1 sig=0x306a9, pf=0x2, revision=0x1b
[ 0.507335] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.00 <tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk>, Peter Oruba

i was installed intel-microcode package for my other laptops before, dmesg always output like 'microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x10, revision=0x24' means no micodecode updated.

so do i need to do more config or just let it go?

debian9 stable, kernel 4.14 backports.

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Re: no microcode early update?

#2 Post by stevepusser »

What do you get with

Code: Select all

apt policy intel-microcode
I just installed the version from Sid, and now spectre-meltdown-checker has this for the hardware section:

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Hardware check
* Hardware support (CPU microcode) for mitigation techniques
  * Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS)
    * SPEC_CTRL MSR is available:  YES 
    * CPU indicates IBRS capability:  YES  (SPEC_CTRL feature bit)
  * Indirect Branch Prediction Barrier (IBPB)
    * PRED_CMD MSR is available:  YES 
    * CPU indicates IBPB capability:  YES  (SPEC_CTRL feature bit)
  * Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictors (STIBP)
    * SPEC_CTRL MSR is available:  YES 
    * CPU indicates STIBP capability:  YES 
  * Enhanced IBRS (IBRS_ALL)
    * CPU indicates ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR availability:  NO 
    * ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR advertises IBRS_ALL capability:  NO 
  * CPU explicitly indicates not being vulnerable to Meltdown (RDCL_NO):  NO 
  * CPU microcode is known to cause stability problems:  NO  (model 78 stepping 3 ucode 0xc2)
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andyjackson
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Re: no microcode early update?

#3 Post by andyjackson »

my install stable version, apt policy intel-microcode output not contain message like yours.

andyjackson
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Re: no microcode early update?

#4 Post by andyjackson »

kernel modoule microcode balcklist by default, but nothing changed even if i un-blacklist it.

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debiman
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Re: no microcode early update?

#5 Post by debiman »

stevepusser wrote:What do you get with

Code: Select all

apt policy intel-microcode
please post the output of this command.

andyjackson
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Re: no microcode early update?

#6 Post by andyjackson »

apt policy intel-microcode

intel-microcode:
Installed: 3.20171117.1~bpo9+1
Candidate: 3.20171117.1~bpo9+1
Version table:
*** 3.20171117.1~bpo9+1 100
100 http://mirrors.163.com/debian stretch-backports/non-free amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
3.20170707.1~deb9u1 500
500 http://mirrors.163.com/debian stretch/non-free amd64 Packages

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Re: no microcode early update?

#7 Post by stevepusser »

Like I wrote above, you have to install the Sid deb package to get a newer version. It's compatible with Stretch.
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andyjackson
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Re: no microcode early update?

#8 Post by andyjackson »

with sid version(kernel 4.15.4) apt policy intel-microcode almost no change:
intel-microcode:
Installed: 3.20180312.1
Candidate: 3.20180312.1
Version table:
*** 3.20180312.1 500
500 http://mirrors.163.com/debian sid/non-free amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

kern.log still show
[ 0.712827] microcode: sig=0x1067a, pf=0x1, revision=0x1
[ 0.712912] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.01 <tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk>, Peter Oruba

do i have to make some config about initramfs or other some of configure? or lack of some firmware debs?

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Re: no microcode early update?

#9 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

I have never figured out how Debian handle µcode updates so I download Arch's intel-ucode package, untar it, place their intel-ucode.img in /boot and load it before Debian's initrd.img in the GRUB menuentry.

It is a pre-prepared initramfs image that applies the microcode so it should work with any distribution.


EDIT: sorry, I'm noisy today, I think I'm bored...
Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick on 2018-03-18 01:06, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: no microcode early update?

#10 Post by stevepusser »

andyjackson wrote:with sid version(kernel 4.15.4) apt policy intel-microcode almost no change:
intel-microcode:
Installed: 3.20180312.1
Candidate: 3.20180312.1
Version table:
*** 3.20180312.1 500
500 http://mirrors.163.com/debian sid/non-free amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

kern.log still show
[ 0.712827] microcode: sig=0x1067a, pf=0x1, revision=0x1
[ 0.712912] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.01 <tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk>, Peter Oruba

do i have to make some config about initramfs or other some of configure? or lack of some firmware debs?
It changed to the latest version and your machine keeps working. What else are you expecting to happen?
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Re: no microcode early update?

#11 Post by sunrat »

andyjackson wrote:...
500 http://mirrors.163.com/debian sid/non-free amd64 Packages...
Hopefully you didn't add the sid repo to stretch and leave it enabled.
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Those who have lost data
...and those who have not lost data YET ”
Remember to BACKUP!

andyjackson
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Re: no microcode early update?

#12 Post by andyjackson »

-----------It changed to the latest version and your machine keeps working. What else are you expecting to happen?

i got 'microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x10, revision=0x24' not 'CPU0 microcode updated early to revision ...' from dmesg, kernel do not load any microcode, maybe bios already upodated microcodes, BUT how can i know that?

------------I have never figured out how Debian handle µcode updates so I download Arch's intel-ucode package, untar it, place their intel-ucode.img in /boot and load it before Debian's initrd.img in the GRUB menuentry.

is that stable? Arch's intel-ucode.img for debian? i dont think so.

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Re: no microcode early update?

#13 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

andyjackson wrote:I have never figured out how Debian handle µcode updates so I download Arch's intel-ucode package, untar it, place their intel-ucode.img in /boot and load it before Debian's initrd.img in the GRUB menuentry.

is that stable? Arch's intel-ucode.img for debian? i dont think so.
It is the µcode from Intel packaged up into an initramfs image that applies the code to the CPU before the operating system is loaded so yes, it is 100% compatible with Debian.
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andyjackson
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Re: no microcode early update?

#14 Post by andyjackson »

i put intel-ucode.img to /boot and change grub.cfg with "initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initrd.img-414..."and reboot, nothing changed. debian9 stable, kernel 4.14 backports.

what is you cpu type? with your sid + intel-ucode.img, dmesg | grep microcode output is?

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Re: no microcode early update?

#15 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

^ I'm not in that box atm but this has just been posted and may be relevant:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1774907

I'll post back later with the requested information.
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Re: no microcode early update?

#16 Post by stevepusser »

Does dmesg report stuff from the initrd boot, or does it have to wait until the main system starts?
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Re: no microcode early update?

#17 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

^ Good question and I'm not sure.

Anyway the actual µcode version can be viewed with:

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grep microcode /proc/cpuinfo
I tried updating it manually by downloading the files from Intel, placing them in /lib/firmware/intel-ucode and then running:

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# echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload
But the version stayed the same so I presume that my method works.

All we have in dmesg is

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alpine:~$ sudo dmesg|grep microcode
[    0.533318] microcode: sig=0x20655, pf=0x10, revision=0x4
[    0.533490] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
I have also discovered that for Debian the µcode is baked into the initramfs image, for more see

Code: Select all

zcat /usr/share/doc/intel-microcode/README.Debian.gz
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