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Microcode updates - UPDATE.SYS


Petr

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Hmmm....

Could lack of Pentium M microcode in 98SE be what causes my system to crash?...

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=79784

It's a Pentium M 730 (Dothan) running on an Intel 865PE based board.

I maybe upgrading to an Intel 875P based board shortly.

I don't think so.

Try to check the microcode update revision, for CPUID 6D8, the latest microcode update is rev. 20 dated 2004-07-22.

Petr

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It's a Pentium M 730 (Dothan) running on an Intel 865PE based board.

I maybe upgrading to an Intel 875P based board shortly.

can you be a little more specific on the Intel 865 board, krick? is it Intel D865PERC, D865PERL or D865PESO board?

check the Intel web site for the latest downloads for your Intel 865 board.

if you are going to upgrade to Intel 875P board, you better be using Win2000 or XP. Intel doesn't have drivers for Intel 875P board for Win98/ME unless it is specifically the Intel D875PBZ board. the D875PBZ board can be used under Win98se/ME/2000/XP.

Edited by erpdude8
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Intel 865PE-based mobo, not an Intel-made one.

As far as I know the 875 chipsets are nearly identical to the 865s, but with additional hardware features such as PAT and support for ECC memory.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Found version 5.6 of Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility here:

ftp://aiedownload.intel.com/df-support/3084/eng/fidenu25.exe

Last version to work under Win98 Gold [1st edition]. Version 6 & higher require Win98 SE.

And for those using the very obsolete Win95 OS, one could try version 4.0 found here:

ftp://aiedownload.intel.com/df-support/3084/eng/fidenu18.exe

The next release after 4.0 is 4.5 which dropped Win95 support.

It's just that intel doesn't seem to mention the old versions anymore at their site.

even better, download and run the freeware CPU-Z tool from this site:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

this tool can do it all. CPU-Z can get info about your processor, memory, mobo and the BIOS that your mobo is using. better than using the Intel CPU ID utilities and better than using the BIOS Agent tool to get info about the motherboard's BIOS.

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even better, download and run the freeware CPU-Z tool from this site:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

this tool can do it all. CPU-Z can get info about your processor, memory, mobo and the BIOS that your mobo is using. better than using the Intel CPU ID utilities and better than using the BIOS Agent tool to get info about the motherboard's BIOS.

CPU-Z does not display microcode revision so it is useless for this purpose.

Petr

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O RLY?

cpumn2.png

That was a D0 before microcode was updated - this was confimed by replacing update.sys with older one which didn't have the microcode for my CPU.

Are you sure? I don't think that this could be possible.

"D1" just means stepping "D1" of Northwood P4 Processor, it is given by the 0F29 family/model/stepping.

For example:

(for CPUs in 478 and 775 pin packages)

0F24 = Northwood B0 stepping, latest microcode update 1E

0F25 = Northwood M0 stepping, latest microcode update 2B

0F27 = Northwood C1 stepping, latest microcode update 37

0F29 = Northwood D1 stepping, latest microcode update 2E

0F33 = Prescott C0 stepping, latest microcode update 0C

0F34 = Prescott D0 stepping, latest microcode update 17

0F41 = Prescott E0 stepping, latest microcode update 17

0F43 = Prescott-2M N0 stepping, latest microcode update 05

0F49 = Prescott G1 stepping, latest microcode update 03

0F4A = Prescott-2M R0 stepping, latest microcode update 04

etc.

The relation between steppings and CPUIDs can be found here: http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx...c=&OrdCode=

It is possible to detect the microcode revision by CPU-Z but only indirectly and with older versions of CPUID (up to 1.35). Go to Tools -> Registers Dump and in the cpuz.txt file find the CPU information

Name				Intel Pentium 4
Code name Northwood
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
Family/Model/Stepping F29
Extended Family/Model 0/0
Brand ID 9
Package mPGA-478
Core Stepping D1

and then MSR registers dump:

MSR 0000002C			00000000	12110012
MSR 0000002A 00000000 00000000
MSR 00000017 000A0000 00000000
MSR 000001A0 00000000 00000089
MSR 0000008B 0000002A 00000000

- the microcode version is stored in MS 8B and it is 2A in this example.

Other utility that displays the microcode revision is Everest.

Petr

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  • 1 month later...
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Would it be reasonable to make a new application that detects your processor and stepping and constructs an UPDATE.SYS to match? Then this constructed update.sys would be found/used on every subsequent boot...

Best to use one at finishing the installation.

Like:

If processor is one found in Win98SE UPDATE.SYS - leave it.

If processor is one found in WinME updated UPDATE.SYS - replace it with WinME one.

If processor is one found in another WinME updated UPDATE.SYS (i mean ones with the dual/quad-core stuff and newest processor) - replace it with that one.

It should not be so big problem to prepare patch of the original UPDATE.SYS not to distribute Microsoft code.

I think yes, then we could add all the stuff in one UPDATE.SYS :D

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