Configuration Enabling early microcode loading in custom kernels Their order does not matter as long as they both are specified before the initramfs image.
Tip: For Arch Linux on a removable drive, which could be run on any of these processors, install both packages and add both microcode files as initrd to the boot loader configuration. In the following sections replace cpu_manufacturer with your CPU manufacturer, i.e.
See below for instructions for common bootloaders. These updates must be enabled by adding /boot/amd-ucode.img or /boot/intel-ucode.img as the first initrd in the bootloader configuration file. Many AUR kernels have followed the path of the official Arch kernels in this regard. Because of the wide variability in users' early-boot configuration, microcode updates may not be triggered automatically by Arch's default configuration. Microcode must be loaded by the boot loader. 5.1 Detecting available microcode updateĭepending on the processor, install the following package:.
Even if already using early loading, late loading can still be used to apply a newer microcode update without needing to reboot. Late loading updates the microcode after booting which could be too late since the CPU might have already tried to use a bugged instruction set.This is mandatory for CPUs with severe hardware bugs, like the Intel Haswell and Broadwell processor families. Early loading updates the microcode very early during boot, before the initramfs stage, so it is the preferred method.The Linux microcode loader supports three loading methods:
Since OEMs might not release firmware updates in a timely fashion and old systems do not get new firmware updates at all, the ability to apply CPU microcode updates during boot was added to the Linux kernel. Microcode updates are usually shipped with the motherboard's firmware and applied during firmware initialization. Without them, you may experience spurious crashes or unexpected system halts that can be difficult to track down.Īll users with an AMD or Intel CPU should install the microcode updates to ensure system stability. These updates provide bug fixes that can be critical to the stability of your system. Processor manufacturers release stability and security updates to the processor microcode.