Where oh where is my laptop's bios update?
Each time I boot my laptop now that I've got the latest nightly build on it, I see a big scary warning message like this:
Aug 26 08:56:37 broken unix: [ID 950921 kern.info] cpu0: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+
Aug 26 08:56:37 broken unix: [ID 101328 kern.warning] WARNING: BIOS microcode patch for AMD Athlon(tm) 64/Opteron(tm) processor
Aug 26 08:56:37 broken erratum 109 was not detected; updating your system's BIOS to a version
Aug 26 08:56:37 broken containing this microcode patch is HIGHLY recommended or erroneous system
Aug 26 08:56:37 broken operation may occur.
Wow --- that looks serious! A quick check of AMD's website provides me with this document which lists that particular erratum on page 68:
109 Certain Reverse REP MOVS May Produce Unpredictable Behavior
Description
In certain situations a REP MOVS instruction may lead to incorrect results. An incorrect address size,
data size or source operand segment may be used or a succeeding instruction may be skipped. This
may occur under the following conditions:
· EFLAGS.DF=1 (the string is being moved in the reverse direction).
· The number of items being moved (RCX) is between 1 and 20.
· The REP MOVS instruction is preceded by some microcoded instruction that has not completely
retired by the time the REP MOVS begins execution. The set of such instructions includes
BOUND, CLI, LDS, LES, LFS, LGS, LSS, IDIV, and most microcoded x87 instructions.
Potential Effect on System
Incorrect results may be produced or the system may hang.
Suggested Workaround
Contact your AMD representative for information on a BIOS update.
Fix Planned
Yes
Well that's a relief ... now where do I go to find the bios update the boot message talks about?
Let's try Mitac. No joy there. Not even a "search" field or button.
Googling produces mitacservice.com which does have a search field. So I put in my model number (8355) and there are some hits. But nothing which stands out as being relevant. Ok, so there is a hit for a "bios update" but nothing that really stands out and matches up with the erratum date of June 2004. And now when I go back to the site I keep getting ye olde "connection refused" by the referred-to website http://mtc.mitacservice.com.
Not happy!
I'll keep trying, but I don't like my chances.
You know, if Sun was this lax in providing support we'd have died a long time ago. I guess the PC manufacturing industry makes up in volume what it loses in satisfied customers. Seems a waste, really.
Posted by Jo on July 08, 2007 at 12:02 AM EST #