On Tue, 26 Apr 2022, Aleksander Mihov wrote: > 2. iucode_tool -Sv > iucode_tool: system has processor(s) with signature 0x0001067a > iucode_tool: assuming all processors have the same type, family and model > root@del40:~# > > 3. root@del40:~# iucode-tool -tr -Lv /boot/initrd.img* > microcode bundle 1: /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-18-amd64 > 001/001: sig 0x000006f2, pf_mask 0x20, 2010-10-02, rev 0x005c, size 4096 > 001/002: sig 0x000006f2, pf_mask 0x01, 2010-10-02, rev 0x005d, size 4096
... > 4. root@del40:~# cat /etc/default/intel-microcode > # Configuration script for intel-microcode version 3 > > # > # initramfs helper > # > > # Set this to "no" to disable automatic microcode updates on boot; > # Set this to "auto" to use early initramfs mode automatically (default); > # Set this to "early" to always attempt to create an early initramfs; > #IUCODE_TOOL_INITRAMFS=auto > > # Set this to "yes" (default) to use "iucode_tool --scan-system" to reduce > # the initramfs size bloat, by detecting which Intel processors are active > # in this system, and installing only their microcodes. > # > # Set this to "no" to either include all microcodes, or only the microcodes > # selected through the use of IUCODE_TOOL_EXTRA_OPTIONS below. > # > # WARNING: including all microcodes will increase initramfs size greatly. > # This can cause boot issues if the initramfs is already large. > #IUCODE_TOOL_SCANCPUS=yes > > # Extra options to pass to iucode_tool, useful to forbid or to > # force the inclusion of microcode for specific processor signatures. > # See iucode_tool(8) for details. > #IUCODE_TOOL_EXTRA_OPTIONS="" Well, the good news is that it is *not* the microcode update itself causing a problem, if a previous version of intel-microcode works for you. There were no changes in the microcode update for your specific processor for some time now. My best guess is that the *image size* of the initramfs might be causing issues. Which is a kernel or initramfs bug of some sort most likely, but it would be quite hard to track down. Let's try to work around it. (this happens because, since sometime ago, intel-microcode adds a lot of microcode updates in "fits most systems" initramfs setups (which are now the default -- MODULES is set to "most" in the initramfs-tools config). Yeah, this sort of contradicts some of the comments in /etc/default/intel-microcode) Please enable (remove the #) the IUCODE_TOOL_SCANCPUS=yes line in /etc/default/intel-microcode That change will force intel-microcode to only add microcode updates that might be required for your processor, regardless of the MODULES setting of initramfs-tools. Then regenerate the initramfs, to apply the change. Run as root: update-initramfs -u and look in /boot (e.g. with ls -l), the resulting initrd file for your current kernel should be smaller, now. This will greatly reduce the size of the initramfs image, and should fix your issue with intel-microcode package updates. Please test and report back if this workaround fixed the issue you had, if it does, I may have to switch that default back to force the scan... -- Henrique Holschuh
