[3ae81e1] | 1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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| 2 | <!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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| 3 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
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| 4 | <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
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| 5 | %general-entities;
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| 6 | ]>
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| 7 |
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| 8 | <sect1 id="postlfs-firmware" xreflabel="About Firmware">
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| 9 | <?dbhtml filename="firmware.html"?>
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| 10 |
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| 11 | <sect1info>
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[d027410] | 12 | <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
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| 13 | <date>$Date$</date>
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[3ae81e1] | 14 | </sect1info>
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| 15 |
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| 16 | <title>About Firmware</title>
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| 17 |
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| 18 | <indexterm zone="postlfs-firmware">
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| 19 | <primary sortas="e-lib-firmware">/lib/firmware</primary>
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| 20 | </indexterm>
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| 21 |
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| 22 | <para> On some recent PCs it can be necessary, or desirable, to load firmware
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[aaa73cfd] | 23 | to make them work at their best. There is a directory, <filename
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[3ae81e1] | 24 | class="directory">/lib/firmware</filename>, where the kernel or kernel
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[f3429309] | 25 | drivers look for firmware images.</para>
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| 26 |
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[3ae81e1] | 27 | <para>Preparing firmware for multiple different machines, as a distro would
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| 28 | do, is outside the scope of this book.</para>
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| 29 |
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| 30 | <para>Currently, most firmware can be found at a <userinput>git</userinput>
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| 31 | repository: <ulink
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| 32 | url="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/"/>.
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| 33 | For convenience, the LFS Project has created a mirror, updated daily, where
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[cc8ccd9] | 34 | these firmware files can be accessed via <userinput>wget</userinput> or a web
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[3ae81e1] | 35 | browser at <ulink
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[a29486e4] | 36 | url="&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/"/>.</para>
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[f3429309] | 37 |
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[fc03210] | 38 | <para>To get the firmware, either point a browser to one of the above
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[3ae81e1] | 39 | repositories and then download the item(s) which you need, or install
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| 40 | <userinput>git</userinput> and clone that repository.</para>
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[f3429309] | 41 |
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[3ae81e1] | 42 | <para>For some other firmware, particularly for Intel microcode and certain
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| 43 | wifi devices, the needed firmware is not available in the above repository.
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| 44 | Some of this will be addressed below, but a search of the Internet for needed
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| 45 | firmware is sometimes necessary.</para>
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| 46 |
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| 47 | <para>Firmware files are conventionally referred to as blobs because you cannot
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| 48 | determine what they will do. Note that firmware is distributed under various
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| 49 | different licenses which do not permit disassembly or reverse-engineering.</para>
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| 50 |
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| 51 | <para>Firmware for PCs falls into four categories:</para>
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| 52 |
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| 53 | <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
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| 54 | <listitem>
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| 55 | <para>Updates to the CPU to work around errata, usually referred to as
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| 56 | microcode.</para>
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| 57 | </listitem>
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| 58 | <listitem>
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[f2d5c26a] | 59 | <para>Firmware for video controllers. On x86 machines this seems to mostly
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| 60 | apply to ATI devices : Radeons, the later AMD amdgpu chips, and Nvidia
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| 61 | Maxwell cards require firmware to be able to use KMS
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[3ae81e1] | 62 | (kernel modesetting - the preferred option) as well as for Xorg. For
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| 63 | earlier radeon chips (before the R600), the firmware is still in the
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| 64 | kernel.</para>
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| 65 | </listitem>
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| 66 | <listitem>
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| 67 | <para>Firmware updates for wired network ports. Mostly they work even
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| 68 | without the updates, but one must assume that they will work better with
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| 69 | the updated firmware.</para>
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| 70 | </listitem>
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| 71 | <listitem>
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| 72 | <para>Firmware for other devices, such as wifi. These devices are not
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| 73 | required for the PC to boot, but need the firmware before these devices
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| 74 | can be used.</para>
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| 75 | </listitem>
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| 76 | </itemizedlist>
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| 77 |
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[f3429309] | 78 | <note><para>Although not needed to load a firmware blob, the following
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| 79 | tools may be useful for determining, obtaining, or preparing the needed
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[3ae81e1] | 80 | firmware in order to load it into the system:
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| 81 | <xref linkend="cpio"/>,
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| 82 | <xref linkend="git"/>,
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| 83 | <xref linkend="pciutils"/>, and
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| 84 | <xref linkend="wget"/></para></note>
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| 85 |
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| 86 | <para condition="html" role="usernotes">User Notes:
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| 87 | <ulink url="&blfs-wiki;/aboutfirmware"/></para>
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| 88 |
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| 89 | <sect2 id="cpu-microcode">
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| 90 | <title>Microcode updates for CPUs</title>
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| 91 |
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| 92 | <para>In general, microcode can be loaded by the BIOS or UEFI, and it might
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| 93 | be updated by upgrading to a newer version of those. On linux, you can also
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| 94 | load the microcode from the kernel if you are using an AMD family 10h or
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[f885719] | 95 | later processor (first introduced late 2007), or an Intel processor from
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[3ae81e1] | 96 | 1998 and later (Pentium4, Core, etc), if updated microcode has been
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| 97 | released. These updates only last until the machine is powered off, so they
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| 98 | need to be applied on every boot.</para>
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[f3429309] | 99 |
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[0576c595] | 100 | <para>Intel provide frequent updates of their microcode. It is not uncommon
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| 101 | to find a newer version of microcode for an Intel processor even two years
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| 102 | after its release. New versions of AMD firmware are less common.</para>
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| 103 |
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| 104 | <para>There used to be two ways of loading the microcode, described as 'early'
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| 105 | and 'late'. Early loading happens before userspace has been started, late
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| 106 | loading happens after userspace has started. Not surprisingly, early loading
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| 107 | was preferred, (see e.g. an explanatory comment in a kernel commit noted at
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[3ae81e1] | 108 | <ulink url="https://lwn.net/Articles/530346/">x86/microcode: Early load
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| 109 | microcode </ulink> on LWN.) Indeed, it is needed to work around one
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[f885719] | 110 | particular erratum in early Intel Haswell processors which had TSX enabled.
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[3ae81e1] | 111 | (See <ulink
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| 112 | url="http://www.anandtech.com/show/8376/intel-disables-tsx-instructions-erratum-found-in-haswell-haswelleep-broadwellyi/">
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| 113 | Intel Disables TSX Instructions: Erratum Found in Haswell, Haswell-E/EP,
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| 114 | Broadwell-Y</ulink>.) Without this update glibc can do the wrong thing in
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[0576c595] | 115 | uncommon situations. </para>
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[f3429309] | 116 |
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[0576c595] | 117 | <para>As a result, early loading is now expected, although for the moment
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[f2d5c26a] | 118 | (4.11 kernels) it is still possible to manually force late loading of
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[0576c595] | 119 | microcode for testing. You will need to reconfigure your kernel for either
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| 120 | method. The instructions here will create a kernel
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| 121 | <filename>.config</filename> to suite early loading, before forcing late
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| 122 | loading to see if there is any microcode. If there is, the instructions
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| 123 | then show you how to create an initrd for early loading.</para>
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[f3429309] | 124 |
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[3ae81e1] | 125 | <para>To confirm what processor(s) you have (if more than one, they will be
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[fc03210] | 126 | identical) look in /proc/cpuinfo.</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 127 |
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| 128 | <sect3 id="intel-microcode">
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| 129 | <title>Intel Microcode for the CPU</title>
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[ba78ebe2] | 130 |
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[f2d5c26a] | 131 | <para>The first step is to get the most recent version of the Intel
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[1ad29630] | 132 | microcode. This must be done by navigating to
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[7dff3ca] | 133 | <ulink url='https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27377/Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-File'/>
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[ba78ebe2] | 134 | and following the instructions there. As of this writing the most recent
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[7dff3ca] | 135 | version of the microcode is <filename>microcode-20171117.tgz</filename>.
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[f2d5c26a] | 136 | Extract this file in the normal way to create an <filename>intel-ucode</filename>
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| 137 | directory, containing various blobs with names in the form XX-YY-ZZ.</para>
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[ba78ebe2] | 138 |
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[7dff3ca] | 139 | <note><para>The above URL may not be the latest page. If it is not,
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| 140 | a line at the top of the list will direct you to the latest page.
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| 141 | </para></note>
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| 142 |
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[ba78ebe2] | 143 | <para>Now you need to determine your processor's identity to see if there
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| 144 | is any microcode for it. Determine the decimal values of the cpu family,
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[f2d5c26a] | 145 | model and stepping by running the following command (it will also report
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| 146 | the current microcode version):</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 147 |
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| 148 | <screen><userinput>head -n7 /proc/cpuinfo</userinput></screen>
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| 149 |
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[ba78ebe2] | 150 | <para>Convert the cpu family, model and stepping to pairs of hexadecimal
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[0576c595] | 151 | digits. For a Haswell i7-4790 (described as Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790
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| 152 | CPU) the relevant values are cpu family 6, model 60, stepping 3 so in
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| 153 | this case the required identification is 06-3c-03. A look at the blobs
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[3ae81e1] | 154 | will show that there is one for this CPU (although it might
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| 155 | have already been applied by the BIOS). If there is a blob for your
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| 156 | system then test if it will be applied by copying it (replace <XX-YY-ZZ>
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[fc03210] | 157 | by the identifier for your machine) to where the kernel can find it:</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 158 |
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| 159 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/intel-ucode
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[ba78ebe2] | 160 | cp -v intel-ucode/<XX-YY-ZZ> /lib/firmware/intel-ucode</userinput></screen>
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[3ae81e1] | 161 |
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[f885719] | 162 | <para>Now that the Intel microcode has been prepared, use the following
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[0576c595] | 163 | options when you configure the kernel to load Intel
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[3ae81e1] | 164 | microcode:</para>
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| 165 |
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[0576c595] | 166 | <screen><literal>General Setup --->
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| 167 | [y] Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support [CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD]
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| 168 | Processor type and features --->
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| 169 | [y] CPU microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE]
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| 170 | [y] Intel microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE_INTEL]</literal></screen>
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| 171 |
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| 172 | <para>After you have successfully booted the new system, force late loading by
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| 173 | using the command:</para>
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| 174 |
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| 175 | <screen><userinput>echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload</userinput></screen>
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| 176 |
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| 177 | <para>Then use the following command to see if anything was loaded:</para>
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| 178 |
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| 179 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
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| 180 |
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| 181 | <para>This example from the Haswell i7 which was released in Q2 2014 and is
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[c2c08bac] | 182 | not affected by the TSX errata shows it has been updated from revision 0x19
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[f2d5c26a] | 183 | in the BIOS/UEFI to revision 0x22. Unlike in older kernels, the individual
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[0576c595] | 184 | CPUs are not separately reported:</para>
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| 185 |
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[f2d5c26a] | 186 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.11.0 (lfs@plexi) (gcc version 7.1.0 (GCC) )
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| 187 | #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun May 14 16:00:00 BST 2017
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| 188 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.11.0-sda6 root=/dev/sda6 ro
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| 189 | [ 0.913685] microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x2, revision=0x22
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| 190 | [ 0.913905] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
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| 191 | [ 148.723932] microcode: updated to revision 0x22, date = 2017-01-27</literal></screen>
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| 192 | <para>That may be followed by individual reports for each core.</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 193 |
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| 194 | <para>If the microcode was not updated, there is no new microcode for
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| 195 | this system's processor. If it did get updated, you can now proceed to <xref
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[f3429309] | 196 | linkend='early-microcode'/>.</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 197 |
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| 198 | </sect3>
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| 199 |
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| 200 | <sect3 id="and-microcode">
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| 201 | <title>AMD Microcode for the CPU</title>
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| 202 |
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| 203 | <para>Begin by downloading a container of firmware for your CPU family
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| 204 | from <ulink
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[a29486e4] | 205 | url='&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/amd-ucode/'/>.
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[3ae81e1] | 206 | The family is always specified in hex. Families 10h to 14h (16 to 20)
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| 207 | are in microcode_amd.bin. Families 15h and 16h have their own containers.
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| 208 | Create the required directory and put the firmware you downloaded into
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| 209 | it as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>
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| 210 |
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| 211 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/amd-ucode
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| 212 | cp -v microcode_amd* /lib/firmware/amd-ucode</userinput></screen>
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| 213 |
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[32bc8e4c] | 214 | <para>When you configure the kernel, use the following options
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| 215 | to load AMD microcode:</para>
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[0576c595] | 216 |
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| 217 | <screen><literal>General Setup --->
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| 218 | [y] Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support [CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD]
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| 219 | Processor type and features --->
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| 220 | [y] CPU microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE]
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| 221 | [y] AMD microcode loading support [CONFIG_MICROCODE_AMD]</literal></screen>
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| 222 |
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| 223 | <para>After you have successfully booted the new system, force late loading by
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| 224 | using the command:</para>
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| 225 |
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| 226 | <screen><userinput>echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload</userinput></screen>
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[3ae81e1] | 227 |
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[0576c595] | 228 | <para>Then use the following command to see if anything was loaded:</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 229 |
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[0576c595] | 230 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
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| 231 | <para>This example from an old Athlon(tm) II X2 shows it has been updated.
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| 232 | For the moment, all CPUs are still reported in the microcode details on AMD
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| 233 | machines:</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 234 |
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[0576c595] | 235 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.9.8 (ken@testserver) (gcc version 6.3.0 (GCC) )
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| 236 | #1 SMP Mon Mar 6 22:27:18 GMT 2017
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| 237 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.9.8-sdc6 root=/dev/sdc6 ro
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| 238 | [ 0.907752] microcode: CPU0: patch_level=0x010000b6
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| 239 | [ 0.907788] microcode: CPU1: patch_level=0x010000b6
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| 240 | [ 0.907844] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.01 <tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk>, Peter Oruba
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| 241 | [ 121.952667] microcode: CPU0: new patch_level=0x010000c8
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| 242 | [ 121.952687] microcode: CPU1: new patch_level=0x010000c8</literal></screen>
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[3ae81e1] | 243 |
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| 244 | <para>If the microcode was not updated, there is no new microcode for
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| 245 | this system's processor. If it did get updated, you can now proceed to <xref
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[f3429309] | 246 | linkend='early-microcode'/>.</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 247 |
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| 248 | </sect3>
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| 249 |
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| 250 | <sect3 id="early-microcode">
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| 251 | <title>Early loading of microcode</title>
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| 252 |
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| 253 | <para>If you have established that updated microcode is available for
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| 254 | your system, it is time to prepare it for early loading. This requires
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[0576c595] | 255 | an additional package, <xref linkend='cpio'/> and the creation of an
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| 256 | initrd which will need to be added to grub.cfg.</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 257 |
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| 258 | <para>It does not matter where you prepare the initrd, and once it is
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| 259 | working you can apply the same initrd to later LFS systems or newer
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| 260 | kernels on this same machine, at least until any newer microcode is
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[f3429309] | 261 | released. Use the following commands:</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 262 |
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| 263 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -p initrd/kernel/x86/microcode
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| 264 | cd initrd</userinput></screen>
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| 265 |
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| 266 | <para>For an AMD machine, use the following command (replace
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| 267 | <MYCONTAINER> with the name of the container for your CPU's
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| 268 | family):</para>
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| 269 |
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| 270 | <screen><userinput>cp -v /lib/firmware/amd_ucode/<MYCONTAINER> kernel/x86/microcode/AuthenticAMD.bin</userinput></screen>
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| 271 |
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| 272 | <para>Or for an Intel machine copy the appropriate blob using this command:</para>
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| 273 |
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| 274 | <screen><userinput>cp -v /lib/firmware/intel-ucode/<XX-YY-ZZ> kernel/x86/microcode/GenuineIntel.bin</userinput></screen>
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| 275 |
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| 276 | <para>Now prepare the initrd:</para>
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| 277 |
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| 278 | <screen><userinput>find . | cpio -o -H newc > /boot/microcode.img</userinput></screen>
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| 279 |
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[0576c595] | 280 | <para>You now need to add a new entry to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and
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[3ae81e1] | 281 | here you should add a new line after the linux line within the stanza.
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| 282 | If /boot is a separate mountpoint: </para>
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| 283 |
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| 284 | <screen><userinput>initrd /microcode.img</userinput></screen>
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| 285 |
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| 286 | <para>or this if it is not:</para>
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| 287 |
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| 288 | <screen><userinput>initrd /boot/microcode.img</userinput></screen>
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| 289 |
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[a7c5f47] | 290 | <para>If you are already booting with an initrd (see <xref
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| 291 | linkend="initramfs"/>) you must specify the microcode initrd first, using
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| 292 | a line such as <userinput>initrd /microcode.img
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| 293 | /other-initrd.img</userinput> (adapt that as above if /boot is not a
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| 294 | separate mountpoint).</para>
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| 295 |
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[0576c595] | 296 | <para>You can now reboot with the added initrd, and then use the same
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| 297 | command to check that the early load worked.</para>
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[3ae81e1] | 298 |
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[0576c595] | 299 | <screen><userinput>dmesg | grep -e 'microcode' -e 'Linux version' -e 'Command line'</userinput></screen>
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| 300 |
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| 301 | <para>The places and times where early loading happens are very different
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[f2d5c26a] | 302 | in AMD and Intel machines. First, an Intel example from an updated
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[0576c595] | 303 | kernel, showing that the first notification comes before the kernel version
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| 304 | is mentioned:</para>
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| 305 |
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[f2d5c26a] | 306 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0x22, date = 2017-01-27
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| 307 | [ 0.000000] Linux version 4.11.0 (lfs@plexi) (gcc version 7.1.0 (GCC) )
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| 308 | #2 SMP PREEMPT Sun May 14 17:58:53 BST 2017
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| 309 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.11.0-sda6 root=/dev/sda6 ro
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| 310 | [ 0.928947] microcode: sig=0x306c3, pf=0x2, revision=0x22
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| 311 | [ 0.929160] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.</literal></screen>
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[0576c595] | 312 |
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[f2d5c26a] | 313 | <para>An AMD example for an earlier stable kernel version:</para>
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[0576c595] | 314 |
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| 315 | <screen><literal>[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.9.14 (ken@testserver) (gcc version 6.3.0 (GCC) )
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| 316 | #2 SMP Mon Mar 13 22:23:44 GMT 2017
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| 317 | [ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.9.14-sdc6 root=/dev/sdc6 ro
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| 318 | [ 0.907648] microcode: microcode updated early to new patch_level=0x010000c8
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| 319 | [ 0.907690] microcode: CPU0: patch_level=0x010000c8
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| 320 | [ 0.907733] microcode: CPU1: patch_level=0x010000c8
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| 321 | [ 0.907808] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.01 <tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk>, Peter Oruba</literal></screen>
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[3ae81e1] | 322 |
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| 323 | </sect3>
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| 324 |
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| 325 | </sect2>
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| 326 |
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[1cc5345] | 327 | <sect2 id="video-firmware">
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| 328 | <title>Firmware for Video Cards</title>
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| 329 |
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| 330 | <sect3 id="ati-video-firmware">
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[3ae81e1] | 331 | <title>Firmware for ATI video chips (R600 and later)</title>
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[f3429309] | 332 |
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[3ae81e1] | 333 | <para>These instructions do NOT apply to old radeons before the R600
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| 334 | family. For those, the firmware is in the kernel's <filename
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| 335 | class='directory'>/lib/firmware/</filename> directory. Nor do they apply if
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| 336 | you intend to avoid a graphical setup such as Xorg and are content to use
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| 337 | the default 80x25 display rather than a framebuffer. </para>
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| 338 |
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| 339 | <para> Early radeon devices only needed a single 2K blob of firmware.
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| 340 | Recent devices need several different blobs, and some of them are much
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| 341 | bigger. The total size of the radeon firmware directory is over 500K — on a
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| 342 | large modern system you can probably spare the space, but it is still
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| 343 | redundant to install all the unused files each time you build a system.</para>
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| 344 |
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| 345 | <para>A better approach is to install <xref linkend='pciutils'/> and then
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| 346 | use <userinput>lspci</userinput> to identify which VGA controller is
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| 347 | installed.</para>
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| 348 |
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| 349 | <para>With that information, check the RadeonFeature page of the Xorg wiki
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| 350 | for <ulink url="http://wiki.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/#index5h2">Decoder
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| 351 | ring for engineering vs marketing names</ulink> to identify the family (you
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| 352 | may need to know this for the Xorg driver in BLFS — Southern Islands and
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| 353 | Sea Islands use the radeonsi driver) and the specific model.</para>
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| 354 |
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[f3429309] | 355 | <para>Now that you know which controller you are using, consult the
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[3ae81e1] | 356 | <ulink url="https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Radeon#Firmware">Radeon</ulink> page
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| 357 | of the Gentoo wiki which has a table listing the required firmware blobs
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| 358 | for the various chipsets. Note that Southern Islands and Sea Islands chips
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| 359 | use different firmware for kernel 3.17 and later compared to earlier
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| 360 | kernels. Identify and download the required blobs then install them:</para>
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| 361 |
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| 362 | <screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/radeon
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| 363 | cp -v <YOUR_BLOBS> /lib/firmware/radeon</userinput></screen>
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| 364 |
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| 365 | <para>There are actually two ways of installing this firmware. BLFS, in the
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| 366 | 'Kernel Configuration for additional firmware' section part of the <xref
|
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| 367 | linkend="xorg-ati-driver"/> section gives an example of compiling the
|
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| 368 | firmware into the kernel - that is slightly faster to load, but uses more
|
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| 369 | kernel memory. Here we will use the alternative method of making the radeon
|
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| 370 | driver a module. In your kernel config set the following: </para>
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| 371 |
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| 372 | <screen><literal>Device Drivers --->
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| 373 | Graphics support --->
|
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| 374 | Direct Rendering Manager --->
|
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[1cc5345] | 375 | <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) [CONFIG_DRM]
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| 376 | <m> ATI Radeon [CONFIG_DRM_RADEON]</literal></screen>
|
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[3ae81e1] | 377 |
|
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| 378 | <para>Loading several large blobs from /lib/firmware takes a noticeable
|
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| 379 | time, during which the screen will be blank. If you do not enable the
|
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| 380 | penguin framebuffer logo, or change the console size by using a bigger
|
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| 381 | font, that probably does not matter. If desired, you can slightly
|
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| 382 | reduce the time if you follow the alternate method of specifying 'y' for
|
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| 383 | CONFIG_DRM_RADEON covered in BLFS at the link above — you must specify each
|
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| 384 | needed radeon blob if you do that.</para>
|
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| 385 |
|
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[1cc5345] | 386 | </sect3>
|
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| 387 |
|
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| 388 | <sect3 id="nvidia-video-firmware">
|
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| 389 | <title>Firmware for Nvidia video chips</title>
|
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| 390 |
|
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| 391 | <para>Some Nvidia graphics chips need firmware updates to take advantage
|
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| 392 | of all the card's capability. These are generally the GeForce 8, 9, 9300,
|
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| 393 | and 200-900 series chips. For more exact information, see <ulink
|
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| 394 | url="https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/VideoAcceleration/#firmware">
|
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| 395 | https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/VideoAcceleration/#firmware</ulink>.</para>
|
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| 396 |
|
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| 397 | <para>First, the kernel Nvidia driver must be activated:</para>
|
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| 398 |
|
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| 399 | <screen><literal>Device Drivers --->
|
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| 400 | Graphics support --->
|
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| 401 | Direct Rendering Manager --->
|
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| 402 | <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) [CONFIG_DRM]
|
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| 403 | <*/m> Nouveau (NVIDIA) cards [CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU]</literal></screen>
|
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| 404 |
|
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| 405 | <para>The steps to install the Nvidia firmware are:</para>
|
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| 406 |
|
---|
| 407 | <screen><userinput>wget https://raw.github.com/imirkin/re-vp2/master/extract_firmware.py
|
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| 408 | wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/325.15/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-325.15.run
|
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| 409 | sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-325.15.run --extract-only
|
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| 410 | python extract_firmware.py
|
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| 411 | mkdir -p /lib/firmware/nouveau
|
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| 412 | cp -d nv* vuc-* /lib/firmware/nouveau/</userinput></screen>
|
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| 413 |
|
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| 414 | </sect3>
|
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[3ae81e1] | 415 | </sect2>
|
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| 416 |
|
---|
| 417 | <sect2 id="nic-firmware">
|
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| 418 | <title>Firmware for Network Interfaces</title>
|
---|
| 419 |
|
---|
| 420 | <para>The kernel likes to load firmware for some network drivers,
|
---|
| 421 | particularly those from Realtek (the /lib/linux-firmware/rtl_nic/) directory,
|
---|
| 422 | but they generally appear to work without it. Therefore, you can boot the
|
---|
| 423 | kernel, check dmesg for messages about this missing firmware, and if
|
---|
| 424 | necessary download the firmware and put it in the specified directory in
|
---|
| 425 | /lib/firmware so that it will be found on subsequent boots. Note that with
|
---|
| 426 | current kernels this works whether or not the driver is compiled in or
|
---|
| 427 | built as a module, there is no need to build this firmware into the kernel.
|
---|
| 428 | Here is an example where the R8169 driver has been compiled in but the
|
---|
| 429 | firmware was not made available. Once the firmware had been provided, there
|
---|
| 430 | was no mention of it on later boots. </para>
|
---|
| 431 |
|
---|
| 432 | <screen><literal>dmesg | grep firmware | grep r8169
|
---|
| 433 | [ 7.018028] r8169 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw failed with error -2
|
---|
| 434 | [ 7.018036] r8169 0000:01:00.0 eth0: unable to load firmware patch rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw (-2)</literal></screen>
|
---|
| 435 |
|
---|
| 436 | </sect2>
|
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| 437 |
|
---|
| 438 | <sect2 id="other-firmware">
|
---|
| 439 | <title>Firmware for Other Devices</title>
|
---|
| 440 |
|
---|
| 441 | <para> Identifying the correct firmware will typically require you to
|
---|
| 442 | install <xref linkend='pciutils'/>, and then use
|
---|
| 443 | <userinput>lspci</userinput> to identify the device. You should then search
|
---|
| 444 | online to check which module it uses, which firmware, and where to obtain
|
---|
| 445 | the firmware — not all of it is in linux-firmware.</para>
|
---|
[f3429309] | 446 |
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 447 | <para>If possible, you should begin by using a wired connection when you
|
---|
| 448 | first boot your LFS system. To use a wireless connection you will need to
|
---|
| 449 | use a network tools such as <xref linkend='wireless_tools'/> and <xref
|
---|
| 450 | linkend='wpa_supplicant'/>.</para>
|
---|
[f3429309] | 451 |
|
---|
[3ae81e1] | 452 | <para>Firmware may also be needed for other devices such as some SCSI
|
---|
| 453 | controllers, bluetooth adaptors, or TV recorders. The same principles
|
---|
| 454 | apply.</para>
|
---|
| 455 |
|
---|
| 456 | </sect2>
|
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| 457 |
|
---|
| 458 | </sect1>
|
---|