Linux Fixes Issue Where Applying AMD Zen1/Zen2 Microcode Updates Could Slow Boot Times

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux Fixes Issue Where Applying AMD Zen1/Zen2 Microcode Updates Could Slow Boot Times

Submitted today for the Linux kernel ahead of the Linux 6.13-rc1 release as part of the "x86/urgent" material is a fix for aging Zen 1 and Zen 2 processors where for the past year and a half they could potentially find very slow boot times...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Zen1-Zen2-Slow-Boot-ucode

[Kjell]

Remember reading that AMD's microcode package doesn't contain updates for older CPUs. Has anyone come across this problem?

Reference:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/15xvpfg/updating_your_amd_microcode_in_linux

[numacross]

Remember reading that AMD's microcode package doesn't contain updates for older CPUs. Has anyone come across this problem?

Reference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comme...ocode_in_linux

AMD doesn't usually provide hot-loadable microcode updates for anything but EPYCs, and not every EPYC at that. This isn't anything secret since they disclose it in security bulletins, for example AMD-SB-7014 - SMM Lock Bypass - only "big" EPYCs have hot-loadable options while for example EPYC Embedded does not.
I do not like this policy - AMD should publish most if not all microcode updates just like Intel does.
In the last few years AMD has managed to persuade OEMs to keep publishing new BIOS versions more regularly. At least for my two AM4 boards BIOS updates have the latest security patches. Now only if BIOS updates didn't reset all the settings on consumer boards...

[minidou]

Now only if BIOS updates didn't reset all the settings on consumer boards...

Mine (Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS) certainly doesn't. I thought those days were over a long time ago.

[numacross]

Mine (Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS) certainly doesn't. I thought those days were over a long time ago.

I haven't yet seen a consumer board keeping its settings with BIOS updates. My ASUS B650 AM5 does reset its settings on every update, so even for ASUS it's not consistent. What is more it even tells you before the update to manually revert to default settings "for safety", and then proceeds to reset on its own
Only more professional gear like Dell OptiPlex boxes or HP/Dell laptops have updates implemented properly in my experience.
Edit: And it's not an AMD-only problem since my Intel Alder Lake ASRock board does reset settings on BIOS updates as well.

[user556]

B350 chipset here, purchased early 2017. This announcement nudged me to check out what's new and found a spanking new BIOS containing ComboV2PI 1.2.0.Cc ready to download. And yes, CMOS is wiped clean each update for me too. I have to go back through all the undervolting and fan speed settings each time.

[skeevy420]

BIOS updates resetting every damn thing is how I learned that my BIOS contains so many duplicated settings that don't have synchronized output. I can set PBO to ON with a -20 offset in one menu and then in another menu the same PBO settings will be set to Auto or Disabled.

Which setting do I trust?

I trust Neither. I go page by page by page and make sure everything that I tweak that has duplicated entries are all set to the same thing.

Fuck You ASRock and MSI. BIOS updates are the one time that I wished I still had a Dell.

[TumultuousUnicorn]

In the last few years AMD has managed to persuade OEMs to keep publishing new BIOS versions more regularly. At least for my two AM4 boards BIOS updates have the latest security patches. Now only if BIOS updates didn't reset all the settings on consumer boards...

I own an AM4 motherboard, and trust me, it is time consuming to update the UEFI. The problem is updating the UEFI reset all settings to factory. Even if I can save current settings to a file on a USB drive, I cannot restore settings from the file because de UEFI version is different.
It is painful each time to reconfigure all settings (PBO, CPU voltage, fan, and so on), it would be better if AMD provides early microcode updates for all CPU (like Intel do).

[skeevy420]

I own an AM4 motherboard, and trust me, it is time consuming to update the UEFI. The problem is updating the UEFI reset all settings to factory. Even if I can save current settings to a file on a USB drive, I cannot restore settings from the file because de UEFI version is different.
It is painful each time to reconfigure all settings (PBO, CPU voltage, fan, and so on), it would be better if AMD provides early microcode updates for all CPU (like Intel do).

AM5 ain't any better 😿

I was really hoping all the ASRock AMD partnerships would have helped. Assuming that made an ass out of me.

[cutterjohn]

I haven't yet seen a consumer board keeping its settings with BIOS updates. My ASUS B650 AM5 does reset its settings on every update, so even for ASUS it's not consistent. What is more it even tells you before the update to manually revert to default settings "for safety", and then proceeds to reset on its own
Only more professional gear like Dell OptiPlex boxes or HP/Dell laptops have updates implemented properly in my experience.
Edit: And it's not an AMD-only problem since my Intel Alder Lake ASRock board does reset settings on BIOS updates as well.

I think that saving setting and reloading usually works on my ASRock x670e board, and I think it worked on my old ASRock x370 as well... things got a bit dicey as times progressed and they had underspecced flash for 'BIOS', those bridge 'BIOS'es... (retired the x370 w/a B350m board plus my old 1800X as a server, thinking about swapping the board/CPU out for a 5900X and buying some ECC DDR4 is it's super cheap now, $40 for 32GB(2x16GB) might see if I can 2x32GB ECC for $80 or less... just not sure if I want the extra cores or should look for a G series APU for lower power and iGPU... although having a decent (non-CPU) compute offload would be nice for some home server workloads...)

EDIT: I've also taken to simplifying my settings changes, as the few percent gained by fine tuning isn't worth the extra changes, plus I've also found on x670e that some setting seem to randomly change, most obvious one is boot device... x370(and B350m) IIRC was more stable in that regard...


...and yes even though I save the settings before updating, I usually end up manually re-entering, and then tinkering until I break something -> back to simplified setting and be done with it...