How check if Intel microcode is loaded?

j1simon

Hi,
I am testing Solus 4 on a virtual machine to decide if it has what I need to use it on my PC.
My detected processor is "Intel Core i7-7700 @ 4x 3.607GHz" (it's the real but the virtual machine only it has access to 4 cores).
I have installed intel-microcode and I reboot, but when I try to check it with dmesg | grep -i microcode shows nothing.
Actually I use Fedora (and before Arch) and if I execute that command it shows something like:

$ dmesg | grep -i microcode                                                        
[    0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0xb4, date = 2019-04-01
[    0.829946] microcode: sig=0x906e9, pf=0x2, revision=0xb4
[    0.829988] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.

The kernel in Solus is 5.2.13-126.current
How can I check if Intel microcode is loaded?
Thanks.
Regards.

caesar96

I think it works at least for me

j1simon

I test it again and I don't see it loads anything.
I don't know if this is caused because I'm running it on a virtual machine.
Besides installing the intel-microcode package, does anything else need to be done?

picnerd

I did not install a microcode manually. This comes automatically with new kernels. The microcode is maintained in the kernel and further developed as I read it in various articles in the press.

By me:
picnerd@picnerd ~ $ dmesg | grep -i microcode [ 0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0xb4, date = 2019-04-01 [ 1.255009] microcode: sig=0x906eb, pf=0x2, revision=0xb4 [ 1.255146] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2. picnerd@picnerd ~ $

Probably it will not be displayed in your virtual machine because only the most necessary is virtualized to display the hardware level. The virtualized system has no direct access to your hardware.

Greetings

DataDrake

picnerd This is exactly correct. The Host will load the microcode, not the Guest.

kyrios

The microcode package is important only if your BIOS/UEFI isn't up-to-date (old hardware for which the vendor doesn't publish updates anymore or is very slow to release new versions, a computer on which you don't have access to the BIOS, ...).

algent

My PC is old, very old.

[    0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0xa4, date = 2010-10-02
[    0.393333] MDS: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode
[    1.423149] microcode: sig=0x6fd, pf=0x1, revision=0xa4
[    1.423208] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.

poisonpen0

This is why my next desktop will be a AMD desktop/laptop. Nothing to do with Solus. Just how nice would it be to support companies that actually support us

Junglist

I have i7-7700k, and Solus works great with it, so you shouldn't have problems with your non-k version either.

dmesg | grep -i microcode
[    0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0xb4, date = 2019-04-01
[    0.690268] microcode: sig=0x906e9, pf=0x2, revision=0xb4
[    0.690468] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.

I do not have the intel-microcode package installed.

v3l0ct

I believe updating the microcode is built into the kernel for Solus. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

DataDrake

v3l0ct The microcode is updated by the kernel, but provided vy either intel-microcode or linux-firmware depending on your hardware.

v3l0ct

DataDrake Ok so the kernel will update it if you have either of the packages (depending on hardware) installed. Correct? I'm just clarifying so I understand. Thanks DataDrake

DataDrake

v3l0ct At boot the kernel will load microcode if it finds a match. Depending on which packages you have installed, it will find it or not.

v3l0ct

DataDrake thanks 😃