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* Posts by cabdouch

3 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Jun 2017

Intel's Skylake and Kaby Lake CPUs have nasty hyper-threading bug

cabdouch
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Re: I am glad i stayed

AMD Processors have Microcode Updates released regularly as well.

In fact, when I was designing AMD systems based on bleeding edge chips, like Ryzen, there might be two or three DOZEN Microcode updates after the CPU was released, and perhaps dozens to hundreds of patches already in the Microcode update.

Every time we released a BIOS update for our AMD systems, we would get the latest Microcode update from AMD.

All CPU manufacturers have Microcode updates and issues like Intel just had.

Don't use this as a justification of the difference between Intel and AMD.

I use the fact that AMD "Invents" technology, Intel "evolves" technology.

The first brings us new cool stuff at much lower costs, which the second is safe and profitable.

If Intel was smart, they would use AMD as an R&D house and use Intel's manufacturing capability to build them.

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cabdouch
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Re: My Kaby Lake crashes in Ubuntu when the microcode is DISABLED

You should ALWAYS update the Microcode, running without any Microcode patches is really really bad.

All processors are designed to have fixes applied as bugs are found, instead of having to "mask out" a new processor DIE each time, or slowing the process of releasing a new processor to 1 per decade.

This is not a design flaw, it reduces costs if they can fix design flaws on the finished product after it is manufactured or even after it ships.

Dozens of major and minor bugs have been fixed in the Microcode update prior to the first processor shipping, so running without these fixes is really really really bad.

When a bug is found during the extensive testing phase, a Microcode fix is designed to resolve that problem. And while we could complain about this not being found earlier, it is usually the support community that finds these obscure hard-to-find bugs that feedback into the CPU company for fixes.

Consider it the same as never updating a software package, even though known bugs are in it, without uninstalling the original software package and downloading and installing a whole new version.

You would be asking why the software company didn't just release a patch to fix it.

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cabdouch

My Experience with this bug, Alternate Fix?, and BIOS Update

I am working with Intel Support related to a bug I was able to reproduce repeatedly.

They suggested changing Graphics Settings in the game that exhibits the problem.

While this did help, eventually lock-ups and even a corrupted settings file began happening.

Turning off "Turbo-Boost" appears to solve the problem

Reading this article, I have now turned Turbo-Boost back on and turning off Hyper-Threading instead to see if this solves the problem as well.

Since turning off Turbo-Boost seems to fix the problem, I am wondering if that is a better solution than turning off Hyper-Threading.

According to the conditions that "should exist" for boosting to happen, it seems pretty rare that boosting "should" actually happen and losing half my processor threads seems like a bigger performance hit.

Thoughts? (please not rants)

1) Should turning off Turbo Boost also fix this problem? (doesn't seem like it would, but appears to in my case)

2) Would you rather turn off Turbo Boost or Hyper-Threading to solve this problem?

BIOS UPDATE METHODS

If you download the Intel BIOS File onto a USB Flash Key, then:

1) You can update the BIOS in the built-in BIOS Setup utility by surfing to the Device and Directory the BIOS image file is in.

2) Can do a "BIOS Recovery" by holding down the power buttom from the Off state for around 8 seconds (no longer, a LED color change usually signals the recovery) but the ONLY file that can be on the USB Flash key can be the BIOS Image file

3) Use the motherboard vendors BIOS Update utility

So for Linux users, there should be at least 2 update methods available without getting someone else to help you. But it is possible that the BIOS vendor or modifications specified by the motherboard vendor do not support these options.

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