Intel Recommends NOT patching Spectre with current patch

[Evanair]

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/22/intel-spectre-patch-reboots/

 

Quote

"We recommend that OEMs, cloud service providers, system manufacturers, software vendors and end users stop deployment of current versions, as they may introduce higher than expected reboots and other unpredictable system behavior," Shenoy wrote.

Almost more of a PSA, I haven't looked into many details of this.

 

Intel really should have tested their updates prior to sending them out, even if it was a rather large flaw.  It'll be interesting to see how this "new" patch ends up rolling out to the public and if there are any more flaws

 

EDIT: Intel news release https://newsroom.intel.com/news/root-cause-of-reboot-issue-identified-updated-guidance-for-customers-and-partners/

[aisle9]

Why pay a QA staff when you can let the world do it for you?

[IamODIN]

That's when you know the shit hit's the fan

[AGrider]

2 minutes ago, IamODIN said:

That's when you know the shit hit's the fan

Sorry, the fans have bugs now too. 

[IamODIN]

3 minutes ago, AGrider said:

Sorry, the fans have bugs now too. 

Lol oops

[porina]

I would call it rushed update, but how long have they known about it again? What a farce...

 

I've been monitoring which of my mobos have got the microcode update, but not got around to applying any of them yet. Just as well...

 

Edit: the linked Intel post is a bit ambiguous as to the impact of the reboot bug, explicitly mentioning Haswell and Broadwell. They had previously said it may also affect Skylake/Kaby Lake but that wasn't mentioned here. If you click through to the list of affected CPUs, it does list latest recommended microcode version, as well as newer ones not to deploy. So now we have an even bigger headache of not necessarily easily being able to tell "good" from "bad" fix updates.

[Zodiark1593]

Next week from Intel: "We recommend all users to not to turn on your computers, and to remove them from the Internet."

[ItsMitch]

Breaking press release from Intel: "We urge all users to remove their processors carefully onto a solid piece of concrete before destroying it carefully, this will remove the critical security flaw in our processors. Thank you."

[Drak3]

47 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Next week from Intel: "We recommend all users to not to turn on your computers, and to remove them from the Internet."

Well, they wouldn't exactly be wrong.

[NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle]

48 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Next week from Intel: "We recommend all users to not to turn on your computers, and to remove them from the Internet."

Two weeks from now, Intel: "We recommend all users buy AMD systems to combat vulnerabilities and instabilities that Spectre, Meltdown, BIOS updates and very poorly made Windows patches cause." 

[RyomaSJibenG]

well screw you intel, when i upgrade my PC later, it won' be an intel build

[JuNex03]

2 hours ago, IamODIN said:

Lol oops

 

2 hours ago, AGrider said:

Sorry, the fans have bugs now too. 

 

Nah... that's the reason why they don't ship their CPUs with fans anymore. You can't have bugs in a product of you don't have a product, in this case, fans.

 

 

[AlTech]

Intel needs far better QA......

[leadeater]

6 hours ago, NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle said:

Two weeks from now, Intel: "We recommend all users buy AMD systems to combat vulnerabilities and instabilities that Spectre, Meltdown, BIOS updates and very poorly made Windows patches cause." 

Don't worry no one will see that advice since they followed the previous advice of turning the computer off and unplugging it.

[Guest]

Meanwhile, my patched MacOS works great.

[asus killer]

9 hours ago, Evanair said:

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/22/intel-spectre-patch-reboots/

 

Almost more of a PSA, I haven't looked into many details of this.

 

Intel really should have tested their updates prior to sending them out, even if it was a rather large flaw.  It'll be interesting to see how this "new" patch ends up rolling out to the public and if there are any more flaws

 

EDIT: Intel news release https://newsroom.intel.com/news/root-cause-of-reboot-issue-identified-updated-guidance-for-customers-and-partners/

i was under the impression Microsoft was responsible for the patches/updates.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

I'm not saying it doesn't make sense, nor that it's not the best they can do all things considered. But for the average computer user, it doesn't really help to have a sequence of news outlet informing about vulnerabilities, announcing patches that everyone need to apply, and the general "update everything, all the time" zeitgeist we live in, followed by a "not really everyone. For one of the vulnerabilities only. Maybe".

I'm not sure the average Joe will know what do, and we'll probably end up with a full distribution of all possible combinations, and not really as a result of conscious decisions about what to update and what not, but purely random.

 

1 hour ago, RorzNZ said:

Meanwhile, my patched MacOS works great.

See, this is one example: we are discussing a micro-code patch that would come in BIOS update, hence completely OS-independent, yet confusion is already wreaking havoc among consumers...

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

I'm not saying it doesn't make sense, nor that it's not the best they can do all things considered. But for the average computer user, it doesn't really help to have a sequence of news outlet informing about vulnerabilities, announcing patches that everyone need to apply, and the general "update everything, all the time" zeitgeist we live in, followed by a "not really everyone. For one of the vulnerabilities only. Maybe".

I'm not sure the average Joe will know what do, and we'll probably end up with a full distribution of all possible combinations, and not really as a result of conscious decisions about what to update and what not, but purely random.

 

See, this is one example: we are discussing a micro-code patch that would come in BIOS update, hence completely OS-independent, yet confusion is already wreaking havoc among consumers...

You'd find it pretty hard to give a Mac a BIOS update. I'm not the one who is confused mate.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Just now, RorzNZ said:

You'd find it pretty hard to give a Mac a BIOS update. I'm not the one who is confused mate.

If what you mean is that Macs will never receive updates to protect them from Spectre, stable or unstable, then fine, I don't know what Apple plans to do about it.

But it doesn't change that the issue is not at Window, Linux, or Mac OS level, but at the chip level, and it is Intel either way.

[Guest]

Just now, SpaceGhostC2C said:

If what you mean is that Macs will never receive updates to protect them from Spectre, stable or unstable, then fine, I don't know what Apple plans to do about it.

But it doesn't change that the issue is not at Window, Linux, or Mac OS level, but at the chip level, and it is Intel either way.

Macs do not have a BIOS, they have an EFI shell. Updates to the microcode are done through the App Store, where OS / EFI / any updates are attained. Intel need to fix the problem at a hardware level to solve this issue fully and issue an update to OEMs that is acceptable. Definitely agree Intel need to get their head out of the sand and fix this issue. Its not good enough on their end. At the end of the day, we have bought their product and it is defective.

[NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle]

6 hours ago, leadeater said:

Don't worry no one will see that advice since they followed the previous advice of turning the computer off and unplugging it.

Touche.

 

[Sauron]

Seems pretty unforgivable to me, coupled with their "it's not a big deal" attitude... they had MONTHS to develop a proper patch but they'd rather focus on competing with amd - which is ridiculous considering they've been sitting on their butts for 6 years.

[genexis_x]

Tbh, I was very furious about this. First they told users to install the patch quickly and now they said it's a faulty patch. C'mon Intel you should have done initial tests before launching the patches. Now my laptop has a premature BIOS which reduces performance, I can't roll back to the previous BIOS.

 

IMO it's not related to Microsoft since it was Intel who provide the patches so that they can be installed via Windows update.

 

Very disappointed with Intel.

[Arika]

lol. i dont even have internet at home at the moment, so this wont affect me 

[JoostinOnline]

57 minutes ago, Sierra Fox said:

lol. i dont even have internet at home at the moment, so this wont affect me 

*breaks into your home to do Spectre related stuff to your computer*

 

23 hours ago, leadeater said:

Don't worry no one will see that advice since they followed the previous advice of turning the computer off and unplugging it.

Crap, I did it in the wrong order.