Updating microcode on the fly

[root () WILDCAT OLLY RU (Superuser)]

Hi !

See the following letter for info about updating microcode for Pentium.
If SCO does that during booting UnixWare then it is possible for
any programs to do the update.

Pavel Yakovlev.

========== ftp://ftp.sco.com/SLS/ptf3343.ltr =================

Dear SCO Customer,

The enclosed Support Level Supplement (SLS) PTF3343, the Intel Pentium Pro
and Pentium II Microcode Driver, provides Intel P6 microcode fixes.

Some models and steppings of the Intel Pentium Pro processor and the Intel
Pentium II processor may, in some circumstances, depart from their
specifications.  Some of these issues can be resolved by updating the
microcode of the processor at system startup.  SLS PTF3343 installs updates
from the Intel Corporation to do that.


Contents
--------

        /etc/conf/bin/idtune
        /etc/conf/pack.d/pstart/Driver_atup.o
        /etc/conf/pack.d/pstart/Driver_mp.o
        /etc/conf/pack.d/pstart/space.c
        /usr/sbin/pat


Software Notes and Recommendations
----------------------------------

PTF3343 may be installed on any of these releases:

        SCO UnixWare Application Server Release 2.01 or 2.02 or 2.03
        SCO UnixWare Personal Edition   Release 2.01 or 2.02 or 2.03
        SCO UnixWare Application Server Release 2.1 or 2.1.1 or 2.1.2
        SCO UnixWare Personal Edition   Release 2.1 or 2.1.1 or 2.1.2

PTF3028B, the Virtual Memory Subsystem Improvements and Intel Processor SLS,
(on UnixWare Release 2.1.x) and PTF3131B, the Intel Processor Supplement,
(on Release 2.1.1 or 2.1.2) work around some other Intel P6 issues. You may
wish to install one of those additionally.  If PTF3028B is installed after
PTF3343, then PTF3343 should be installed again after that.  PTF3131B and
PTF3343 may be installed in either order.  If osmp is installed after PTF3343,
then PTF3343 should be installed again after that.  PTF3343 is incompatible
with PTF3191, the 4GB User Space Supplement.

New tunable INTEL_CPUREV is autotuned by idtune when the kernel is rebuilt
to minimize the size of the Pentium Pro & Pentium II microcode updates table
in pstart/space.c.  Until the new driver is running, the full information to
minimize it is not available, so the table may be reduced when the kernel is
next rebuilt.  If a different P6 processor is brought online in the future,
then it may be omitted from the updates table until the kernel is next rebuilt.
To avoid that possibility, manually tune INTEL_CPUREV to 0x6000000 for the
whole 12k table always to be built.  Conversely, tune INTEL_CPUREV to 0 to
suppress all microcode updates.

/usr/sbin/pat is a patching utility taken from future releases of UnixWare.
Here it is used by /etc/conf/bin/idtune to extract the appropriate value for
INTEL_CPUREV from the running kernel.


Hardware Notes and Recommendations
----------------------------------

PTF3343 is designed for genuine Intel Pentium Pro processors or genuine Intel
Pentium II processors only.


Installation Instructions
-------------------------

1. Download the ptf3343.Z file to the /tmp directory on your machine.

2. As root, uncompress the file and add the package to your system using
   these commands:

        $ su
        Password: <type your root password>
        # uncompress /tmp/ptf3343.Z
        # pkgadd -d /tmp/ptf3343
        # rm /tmp/ptf3343

3. Reboot the system after installing this package.  Release notes
   can be found in:

        /var/sadm/pkg/ptf3343/install/ptf3343.txt


Removal Instructions
--------------------

1. As root, remove the package using these commands:

        $ su
        Password: <type your root password>
        # pkgrm ptf3343

2. Reboot the system after removing this package.


If you have questions regarding this SLS, or the product on which it is
installed, please contact your software supplier.

We appreciate your business.

SCO Support Services