Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-20 Thread Vasilief 

On 10/19/2016 09:49 AM, Timothy Pearson wrote:

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On 10/19/2016 11:34 AM, Vasilief wrote:

On 10/18/2016 10:31 AM, Stefan Reinauer wrote:

* Riko Ho  [161017 02:18]:

Is it ok if I'm not including microcode updates ?


It might, or might not. On the i945/946 it probably is ok. A lot of
modern CPUs can't boot successfully anymore without loading microcode.


Most modern ARM, MIPS, and AVR CPUs can.



ARM does not have the concept of microcode, except for possibly a couple
of derivatives (Tegra, ?)


Confusion I suspected is many many chips not x86, where microcode most 
relevant. In fact, with all little processor everywhere, x86 only little 
part, and not "most". I see you and Ron very effective at make this clear.


Vasilief



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Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-19 Thread ron minnich 
On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 5:53 PM ron minnich  wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 4:50 PM Riko Ho  wrote:
>
> Ok, it means, I need to use microcode for LGA775 otherwise it will not
> work, please correct me ?
>
>
> I can't honestly say. I talked to an expert about this yesterday and
>
THE EXPERT, NOT ME

> pointed out that early sandybridge required the microcode update to work
> at all, later ones did not.
>

sorry, I'm not the expert. Typo.

ron
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Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-19 Thread ron minnich 
On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 4:50 PM Riko Ho  wrote:

> Ok, it means, I need to use microcode for LGA775 otherwise it will not
> work, please correct me ?
>
>
I can't honestly say. I talked to an expert about this yesterday and
pointed out that early sandybridge required the microcode update to work at
all, later ones did not.

It's quite likely that if you have a new stepping of an end of life chipset
you'll be fine. It's hard to say.

For my machines, I always enable microcode upgrades because debugging
issues with bad microcode is really not fun at all.

ron
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Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-19 Thread Riko Ho 
Ok, it means, I need to use microcode for LGA775 otherwise it will not 
work, please correct me ?


On 20/10/2016 1:51 AM, ron minnich wrote:



On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 9:36 AM Vasilief > wrote:


On 10/18/2016 10:31 AM, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> * Riko Ho > [161017 02:18]:
>> Is it ok if I'm not including microcode updates ?
>
> It might, or might not. On the i945/946 it probably is ok. A lot of
> modern CPUs can't boot successfully anymore without loading
microcode.

Most modern ARM, MIPS, and AVR CPUs can.



OK, then, although Stefan's meaning is pretty obvious, we can say it 
this way: For those CPUs that have microcode, many can not boot 
successfully without loading up to date microcode. For those CPUs that 
don't have microcode, this question won't appear in the menuconfig.


Therefore, if you see this question, you have a CPU with microcode. In 
many cases, if you say no, you may see troubles with your hardware. In 
some rare cases the CPU can't even configure memory correctly.


I hope that's sufficiently clear?

ron




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Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-19 Thread ron minnich 
On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 9:36 AM Vasilief  wrote:

> On 10/18/2016 10:31 AM, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> > * Riko Ho  [161017 02:18]:
> >> Is it ok if I'm not including microcode updates ?
> >
> > It might, or might not. On the i945/946 it probably is ok. A lot of
> > modern CPUs can't boot successfully anymore without loading microcode.
>
> Most modern ARM, MIPS, and AVR CPUs can.
>
>

OK, then, although Stefan's meaning is pretty obvious, we can say it this
way: For those CPUs that have microcode, many can not boot successfully
without loading up to date microcode. For those CPUs that don't have
microcode, this question won't appear in the menuconfig.

Therefore, if you see this question, you have a CPU with microcode. In many
cases, if you say no, you may see troubles with your hardware. In some rare
cases the CPU can't even configure memory correctly.

I hope that's sufficiently clear?

ron
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Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-19 Thread Timothy Pearson 
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On 10/19/2016 11:34 AM, Vasilief wrote:
> On 10/18/2016 10:31 AM, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
>> * Riko Ho  [161017 02:18]:
>>> Is it ok if I'm not including microcode updates ?
>>
>> It might, or might not. On the i945/946 it probably is ok. A lot of
>> modern CPUs can't boot successfully anymore without loading microcode.
> 
> Most modern ARM, MIPS, and AVR CPUs can.
> 

ARM does not have the concept of microcode, except for possibly a couple
of derivatives (Tegra, ?)

- -- 
Timothy Pearson
Raptor Engineering
+1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line)
+1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard)
https://www.raptorengineering.com
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Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-19 Thread Vasilief 

On 10/18/2016 10:31 AM, Stefan Reinauer wrote:

* Riko Ho  [161017 02:18]:

Is it ok if I'm not including microcode updates ?


It might, or might not. On the i945/946 it probably is ok. A lot of
modern CPUs can't boot successfully anymore without loading microcode.


Most modern ARM, MIPS, and AVR CPUs can.

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Re: [coreboot] Microcode question ?

2016-10-18 Thread Stefan Reinauer 
* Riko Ho  [161017 02:18]:
> Is it ok if I'm not including microcode updates ?

It might, or might not. On the i945/946 it probably is ok. A lot of
modern CPUs can't boot successfully anymore without loading microcode.
 
Stefan

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