Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2018 12:48:56 -0700 From: Pete Wright <pete@nomadlogic.org> To: Mark Johnston <markj@freebsd.org>, freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: testing early microcode loading Message-ID: <812c75e6-e77b-7559-3d0e-06085df10d0f@nomadlogic.org> In-Reply-To: <20180910182655.GA2849@raichu> References: <20180910182655.GA2849@raichu>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 9/10/18 11:26 AM, Mark Johnston wrote: > Hi, > > Support for boot-time loading of Intel microcode updates has landed in > the kernel in r337715, and in the sysutils/devcpu-data port as of 1.20. > I'd like to solicit some testing of the feature ahead of 12.0. > > The port has been modified to install /boot/firmware/intel-ucode.bin. > This file contains a copy of every Intel microcode update supplied by > the port. Per the pkg-message, one can enable early loading of this > file by specifying: > > cpu_microcode_load="YES" > cpu_microcode_name="/boot/firmware/intel-ucode.bin" > > in loader.conf. The update will be applied upon a subsequent reboot. > > Testing consists of enabling early loading and verifying that the CPUs > report an updated microcode version. If early loading fails, a message > is printed to the dmesg. If your system is capable of successful ACPI > suspend/resume, it is useful to also verify that the microcode remains > updated following a resume. > > To fetch the current microcode version, use sysutils/x86info: > > # kldload -n cpuctl && x86info -a | grep Micro > Microcode version: 0x0000000000000020 > > Compare with the version installed by the microcode_update rc script at > run-time: > > # service microcode_update onestart > Updating CPU Microcode... > Done. > # kldload -n cpuctl && x86info -a | grep Micro > Microcode version: 0x0000000000000020 > > If your testing indicates that the boot-time loading method doesn't > work, please include the dmesg in your reply. Thanks in advance. Hey there Mark, So I've just tested this on a kabylake system running a kernel/world from Sept 7th which I believe is recent enough. After updating /boot/loader.conf as per your email I am not sure if any microcode updates are being applied. I'm not seeing any messages regarding firmware updates being applied in the dmesg buffer. running x86info results in the following: $ sudo kldload -n cpuctl && sudo x86info -a | grep Micro Microcode version: 0x000000000000008e this is after rebooting with the updated loader.conf as well as running the rc script by hand. i didn't think to compare the output of x86info before running the rc script, i can do that later today. for reference here is my dmesg: https://gist.github.com/nomadlogic/bfc54315b97d374a7818d29bfc93223e Cheers, -pete -- Pete Wright pete@nomadlogic.org @nomadlogicLA
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?812c75e6-e77b-7559-3d0e-06085df10d0f>