Re: Intel microcode fixes [OFF-TOPIC]

David Woodhouse (David.Woodhouse@mvhi.com)
Mon, 23 Nov 1998 11:18:29 +0000

lauri.tischler@efore.fi said:
> Pat St. Jean wrote:
> > How could it? IIRC, the "new" microcode is stored in the flash rom with
> > the BIOS. One of the first things the machine does on startup is update
> > the microcode. Linux isn't even in existance at that time.
>
> You are mixing BIOS program and processor-chip microcode.
> BIOS-code is a program which is run at boot-up from BIOS-Prom or flashrom.
> Microcode is processor internal code which defines the actual execution
> of processor instructions.

Nonetheless, a lot of recent BIOSes have space in the flash for a microcode
update. The microcode update needs to be loaded each time the processor is
reset, and hence the BIOS is a logical place to put it.

BIOS-code is a program which is run at boot-up from flashrom, which loads the
microcode update into the processor, which in turn defines the actual
execution of processor instructions.

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