On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:33:31 -0000, Ian Field wrote:



"Mr Macaw" wrote in message news
On Wed, 20 Jan 2016 21:55:50 -0000, Ian Field
wrote:



"Mr Macaw" wrote in message
news On Thu, 14 Jan 2016 11:37:56 -0000, Trent .****of wrote:

On Wed, 13 Jan 2016 13:05:47 -0000 "Mr Macaw" wrote in
Message id: :

On Wed, 13 Jan 2016 13:01:40 -0000, Trent .****of
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Jan 2016 12:03:30 -0000 "Mr Macaw" wrote in
Message id: :

Just out of interest, how does a hardware bug in a CPU get fixed by
a
software BIOS update? Isn't the bug a physical misconnection in the
circuits?

Microcode updates.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/microcode

So the bug was in the firmware of the CPU, not the physical circuitry?

I've never heard of or done a CPU firmware update. Are they included
with motherboard BIOS updates?

Yes, the manufacturer of the MB releases a BIOS update to correct the
issue. For this particular errata, Intel has given the MB manufacturers
the information needed to do this.

I've read in MB BIOS update instructions that it fixes X to do with the
CPU, but I always assumed that was a motherboard fault where it didn't
work with new types of CPU etc.

Is that another one you broke on purpose?

I don't have a Skylake. My i5 3570K is working fine. Skylake is only a
third faster, no point in upgrading.

So its just advance planning how to break it when you do get one.

I was just interested how a hardware fault could be fixed by software. See if I burst my car tyre, can I just upload a fix to my car's on board computer?

--
A man goes home early and catches another man in bed with his wife.
He drags the naked man out of the house and into his garden shed.
There he secures man's penis in a vice and removes the handle, then starts to sharpen a knife.
The naked man shouts, "You're not going to cut it off are you?"
"No, you are," was the reply. "I'm going to set fire to the shed"