I have a question on the Sandy Bridge section. My CPU is mentioned under the (206A7) but my CPU is not specifically identified like Core i5 2500 or Core i5 2500K as like the others. Should one still update the microcode even though the section does not specifically mention which CPU I have?
According to Intel Microcode Revision Guidance (Aug. 2019):
The New Production MCU Rev. for Sandy Bridge Intel® Core™ Processor i5-2500, i5-2500K, should be 0x2F, which is the one implemented by this update, as stated in the KB4497165 Release notes, in the 1st post. As of February 25, 2020, the update for these CPUs are available through Windows Update.
So, yes you can update.
But, as an extra precaution, before applying the update, make a full system image to an external drive, so you can rollback, in case things go wrong, or you notice a significant performance degradation!
If you wish, you can see your system's current mcu, in PowerShell script for CPU information, incl. CPUID
Last edited by ddelo; 03 Mar 2020 at 05:02.
@ddelo - thank you for the response. Currently my two systems are at 2E and yes, imaging is part of my regime. My UEFI BIOS microcode is at 28 which I believe early in this post someone had mentioned they were on 28 and it was also fine. So 2F and 28 might be good performance mix, but still going to make that image.
One thing though. Previously I believe the Sandy Bridge microcode prior to 2-25 release was code 2D? I downloaded the update from the Microsoft catalog back in Late January-early February. The download was V4. Here in this post it mentions that this is the newer update and now the Sandy Bridge went from 2D to 2F. My log at the time shows my system at 2E when the update was at 2D
When I go and download this newer microcode update it still looks like the same V4 file I download back then. Is this really an updated download or is Microsoft just updating the same file and not changing the name?
Thank you
Last edited by AirPower4ever; 03 Mar 2020 at 07:45. Reason: Additional question
My HP ProBook (Whiskey Lake U) has microcode version 0xCA loaded by UEFI whereas the table and Intel references on page 1 state 0xAE is the latest version. Why is my version more up to date?
Hi ddelo,
I would like to know your thoughts on how my 'ol 7 to 10 upgraded machine fairs with this microcode security upgrade, every time I try to understand it I get a skull pain...
The first attachment is a PS report using your CPU-Info file, and the second is a bit more info from the Core-Temp app:
HI Steve,
For starters, it's a good idea, to take a look at this quite informative blog to get a grasp of what is done with all these microcode updates.
What you need to understand, not only you but all of us, is that these vulnerabilities, exposed in Jan. 2018, do not target the average "John Q Public", but Government Organizations, large Public Agencies and major Corporations from across the economic spectrum.
Not that you and me might not be hit by these vulnerabilities, but we don't hold such sensitive information that we're worth the time and effort of a hacker, who will exploit these modern vulnerabilities to his benefit.
Having said that, we, the average user, try to keep our valuable to us data, to ourselves, by trying to mitigate these vulnerabilities.
This can be done, by applying to our system the latest, developed by the CPU vendor, microcode, through two (maybe a third one, for the hardware gurus) channels.
1. Update of our BIOS/UEFI, which is provided by the system manufacturer.
2. Update of the microcode either via Windows Update or by downloading and applying the update from Microsoft Update catalog.
3. - For the gurus - Manually update the firmware by applying the latest release made available by the CPU vendor.
The only other thing worth knowing is that every Windows 10 system has microcode by both channels 1 & 2 above. Whichever is the most recent from these two (for older systems like yours, 95% of the times is the one provided by Microsoft), is the one Windows is currently running and mitigates the known vulnerabilities.
Your system has a BIOS microcode version which is older than the one Microsoft has updated your system with. That's why Windows chose to run the Microsoft provided microcode. This microcode will be loaded at system boot and will be unloaded at shutdown.
That's all there is to it.
Last edited by ddelo; 04 Mar 2020 at 12:23.
Quote
