Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

Zibi1981 · 2024-08-24 16:52:58

So, because my CPU is a Raptor Lake processor (13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13980HX) affected by widely discussed issues and Intel seemed to share a new microcode addressing at least some of the problems with it (MCU ver. 0x129) - how can I update it?

AFAIK my microcode version is obsolete

$ sudo cat /proc/cpuinfo
(...)
microcode       : 0x123
(...)

I've found this post but it is addressed to Windows users and I'm not sure if this method would change anything for my Linux (I dual-boot Windows 11 and Arch).

Last edited by Zibi1981 (2024-09-10 20:26:17)

mithrial · 2024-08-24 17:24:09

Here is the wiki page for Microcodes in general: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Microcode

And here the package for Intel: https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/any/intel-ucode/

It seems to be the latest version available from Intel.

Zibi1981 · 2024-08-24 17:40:18

Well, yes and no.

The version available in the package you mentioned comes from GitHub, I guess, and I have it up-to-date on my Arch

$ LC_ALL=C pacman -Qi intel-ucode
Name            : intel-ucode
Version         : 20240813-2
Description     : Microcode update files for Intel CPUs
Architecture    : any
URL             : https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files
Licenses        : custom
Groups          : None
Provides        : None
Depends On      : None
Optional Deps   : None
Required By     : None
Optional For    : None
Conflicts With  : None
Replaces        : microcode_ctl
Installed Size  : 20.10 MiB
Packager        : Christian Hesse <eworm@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Thu Aug 15 15:05:38 2024
Install Date    : Tue Aug 20 08:39:20 2024
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature

The problem is that it comes with the versiob 0x123 of the microcode. Read the post I linked in my first entry.

Scimmia · 2024-08-24 18:36:45

The wiki page linked tells you how to see what's available in the intel-ucode package for your CPU.

Last edited by Scimmia (2024-08-24 18:36:58)

Zibi1981 · 2024-08-24 18:39:18

Available in the repositories, but as you could read in the post I linked not necessarily the most up-to-date. I'm trying to do this update only because I'm affected by the issues related to Raptor Lake CPUs.

Scimmia · 2024-08-24 19:28:52

And yet we need this basic information before going any further.

Zibi1981 · 2024-08-24 19:32:32

My BIOS/MSI Motherboard microcode version is 0x113.

My Arch Linux currently uses 0x123 from the intel-ucode package mentioned above.

The most recent seems to be 0x129.

What additional piece of information do you need?

Scimmia · 2024-08-24 19:35:38

No, you mentioned above that you have 0x123. That does not mean that's what's in the package, that simply means that's what you're currently running, we have no idea if you're applying the microcode updates correctly or not. Note that the image comes from intel, so we get whatever they give us.

Zibi1981 · 2024-08-24 21:22:37

But I have the package installed, as mentioned above. Have you read the post I linked in my first entry?

Lone_Wolf · 2024-08-24 22:19:28

Please read https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Microc … ode_update

Show us the output of the iucode_tool command it mentions.

Scimmia · 2024-08-24 22:49:42

Zibi1981 wrote:

But I have the package installed, as mentioned above. Have you read the post I linked in my first entry?

Having it installed means nothing.

seth · 2024-08-25 07:00:00

0x123 is the latest version provided by the previous µcode release - 0x129 wasn't in the 20240813 release.
There's nothing anyone but intel can do about this situation, but apparently board vendors have and distribute the microcode so check for an UEFI update if you want to.

Zibi1981 · 2024-08-25 21:28:44

But that's the whole case! MSI like other vendors probably won't update UEFI/BIOS and hence Intel ME FW Update Tool and microcode for their laptops, as they are doing this for Desktop motherboards. That's why users (like in the forum I've linked) are trying to cope on their own.

Look ---> https://pl.msi.com/Laptop/Raider-GE78-H … E78HX-13VI

I have those already up-to-date.

Last edited by Zibi1981 (2024-08-25 21:29:58)

loqs · 2024-08-25 21:53:13

If you are prepared to risk it you can extract the microcode from the firmware update for a board that has it such as the MPG-Z790-CARBON-WIFI using MCExtractor then use iucode_tool to create an updated boot/intel-ucode.img.

seth · 2024-08-25 22:27:58

Which is preferable to using the firmware (or whatever) provided by some dude on the internet but will most likely still void any warranty.
Fwwi, your CPU has a 55W TDP which is currently not confirmed as suffering from the degradation (though after the initial 125W TDP, now 65W TDP CPUs "might" also suffer, so it "might" only be a matter of time until this becomes an official problem, too) which is likely why you've not gotten a firmware update from MSI for this.

--
Ftr, I was basically just supporting your assertion that you cannot patch > 0x123 out of the intel-ucode package, but that also doesn't change anything about the fact that you're principally waiting for a µcode update from intel, specifically for https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Pr … e/06-b7-01

Zibi1981 · 2024-09-09 20:53:54

Regardless of what one think about this "dude" he seems right. I do have some issues with my Raptor Lake CPU, i.e. checksum errors when unpacking archives/updating Linux kernels oraz game crashes. If I force auto-cpufreq to use powersave governor then those errors seem not to exist anymore.

seth · 2024-09-09 21:24:55

Did you try to extract the firmware from a differet MSI update as loqs suggested in #14?
The "dude" comment was more about validating the source of the firmware - and and official release of your board vendor (even off label) is simply more reliebale than some random guy at a corner of the internet, no?

Zibi1981 · 2024-09-10 10:33:47

Yes, but other people tried his method and it was reported back to work. It's only available on Windows, and AFAIK no UEFI/BIOS update is being made, only the microcode loaded and used by Windows. I haven't tried to extract firmware on my own.

seth · 2024-09-10 13:40:27

loqs wrote:

If you are prepared to risk it you can … use iucode_tool to create an updated boot/intel-ucode.img.

This should also work directly with the dude-issued firmware?

loqs · 2024-09-10 15:46:09

Zibi1981 wrote:

I haven't tried to extract firmware on my own.

What is the risk in extracting the firmware yourself and comparing it to that provided to you by "dude"?

Zibi1981 · 2024-09-10 20:25:04

Well, it seems Intel finally have updated the firmware version for my CPU

$ LC_ALL=C pacman -Qi intel-ucode
Name            : intel-ucode
Version         : 20240910-1
Description     : Microcode update files for Intel CPUs
Architecture    : any
URL             : https://github.com/intel/Intel-Linux-Processor-Microcode-Data-Files
Licenses        : custom
Groups          : None
Provides        : None
Depends On      : None
Optional Deps   : None
Required By     : None
Optional For    : None
Conflicts With  : None
Replaces        : microcode_ctl
Installed Size  : 20.10 MiB
Packager        : T.J. Townsend <blakkheim@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Tue Sep 10 20:18:26 2024
Install Date    : Tue Sep 10 22:16:58 2024
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature

Now I have

$ sudo cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep microcode | sort | uniq
microcode       : 0x129

I'm curious if it will be more stable.

Last edited by Zibi1981 (2024-09-10 20:25:47)

Zibi1981 · 2024-09-13 14:55:35

Postscript

I'm leaving this note for anyone experiencing similar issues with 13/14th generation Intel CPUs (Raptor Lake/Raptor Lake Refresh).

New microcode (ver. 0x129) doesn't seem to solve any of my issues, as I still experience sudden game crashes (mainly in Stellaris) and checksums decompression errors.
The only working and acceptable solution for my is to turn off the Turbo Boost (in my case called MSI OverBoost), a tech which overclocks 2 out of 8 P-cores from 5.2Ghz up to 5.6GHz on high workload. This "overclock" seems to give me mentioned issues.

As I use auto-cpufreq, and the current version 2.4.0 doesn't allow to force the Turbo Boost option off with a command line option, I had to create a config file named auto-cpufreq.conf in /etc folder (if you don't have root access then it could be placed in your home directory)

# settings for when connected to a power source
[charger]
# see available governors by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
# preferred governor
governor = performance

# EPP: see available preferences by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/energy_performance_available_preferences
energy_performance_preference = performance

# EPB (Energy Performance Bias) for the intel_pstate driver
# see conversion info: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/pm/intel_epb.html
# available EPB options include a numeric value between 0-15
# (where 0 = maximum performance and 15 = maximum power saving),
# or one of the following strings:
# performance (0), balance_performance (4), default (6), balance_power (8), or power (15)
# if the parameter is missing in the config and the hardware supports this setting, the default value will be used
# the default value is `balance_performance` (for charger)
# energy_perf_bias = balance_performance

# Platform Profiles
# https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/sysfs-platform_profile.html
# See available options by running:
# cat /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile_choices
# platform_profile = performance

# minimum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# example: for 800 MHz = 800000 kHz --> scaling_min_freq = 800000
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
# scaling_min_freq = 800000

# maximum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# example: for 1GHz = 1000 MHz = 1000000 kHz -> scaling_max_freq = 1000000
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
# scaling_max_freq = 1000000

# turbo boost setting. possible values: always, auto, never
turbo = never

# settings for when using battery power
[battery]
# see available governors by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
# preferred governor
governor = powersave

# EPP: see available preferences by running: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/energy_performance_available_preferences
energy_performance_preference = power

# EPB (Energy Performance Bias) for the intel_pstate driver
# see conversion info: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/pm/intel_epb.html
# available EPB options include a numeric value between 0-15
# (where 0 = maximum performance and 15 = maximum power saving),
# or one of the following strings:
# performance (0), balance_performance (4), default (6), balance_power (8), or power (15)
# if the parameter is missing in the config and the hardware supports this setting, the default value will be used
# the default value is `balance_power` (for battery)
# energy_perf_bias = balance_power

# Platform Profiles
# https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/sysfs-platform_profile.html
# See available options by running:
# cat /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile_choices
# platform_profile = low-power

# minimum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# example: for 800 MHz = 800000 kHz --> scaling_min_freq = 800000
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
# scaling_min_freq = 800000

# maximum cpu frequency (in kHz)
# see conversion info: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/frequency/mhz-to-hz.html
# example: for 1GHz = 1000 MHz = 1000000 kHz -> scaling_max_freq = 1000000
# to use this feature, uncomment the following line and set the value accordingly
# scaling_max_freq = 1000000

# turbo boost setting (always, auto, or never)
turbo = never

# battery charging threshold
# reference: https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq/#battery-charging-thresholds
#enable_thresholds = true
#start_threshold = 20
#stop_threshold = 80

After OS restart this seems to work for me.

---------------------------- CPU frequency scaling ----------------------------
Battery is: charging
Setting to use: "performance" governor
Setting to use: "performance" EPP
Total CPU usage: 1.0 %
Total system load: 1.61
Average temp. of all cores: 34.31 °C
Configuration file disables turbo boost
Setting turbo boost: off
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last edited by Zibi1981 (2024-09-13 16:48:28)

Arch Linux

#1 2024-08-24 16:52:58

Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#2 2024-08-24 17:24:09

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#3 2024-08-24 17:40:18

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#4 2024-08-24 18:36:45

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#5 2024-08-24 18:39:18

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#6 2024-08-24 19:28:52

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#7 2024-08-24 19:32:32

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#8 2024-08-24 19:35:38

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#9 2024-08-24 21:22:37

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#10 2024-08-24 22:19:28

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#11 2024-08-24 22:49:42

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#12 2024-08-25 07:00:00

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#13 2024-08-25 21:28:44

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#14 2024-08-25 21:53:13

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#15 2024-08-25 22:27:58

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#16 2024-09-09 20:53:54

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#17 2024-09-09 21:24:55

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#18 2024-09-10 10:33:47

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#19 2024-09-10 13:40:27

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#20 2024-09-10 15:46:09

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#21 2024-09-10 20:25:04

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

#22 2024-09-13 14:55:35

Re: Microcode update for Intel Raptor Lake laptop CPU [SOLVED]

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