All Phenoms feature infamous L3 cache errata

that seems like a bit much doesn't it? I mean, with all the windows based mobo flashers out there now a days it's really not that hard is it? download the program and run it... pretty much it. I honestly think my mom could do it with out much trouble. Not to mention most people with this gen. of the phenom chips are one of 2 things 1) a technophile (who, if they are worth their salt, can flash a BIOS in their sleep) or 2) a business with a server ( who, no doubt, pay someone that should be able to do it, IT anyone). I guess my point is, you are making this a much bigger deal then it really is

...not a Dimdows-specific utility. Unless they release the source code so someone can do a Linux port.

Another option might be to provide a FreeDOS-based boot image that can be written to a CD, or a USB key, or an SD card, or suchlike.

what Ryu seems to be forgetting is that the 'PC IQ' of the average home user is equivalent to that of something you'd find at the bottom of your pretty garden fish pond. 

There are people in my office who use computers every day and can just about manage to switch the PC on & log on to it, let run a BIOS update. 

AMD should do the decent thing & recall them if it aint fit for purpose.

my mum has a problem with sending a text message, If i asked her to flash her bios she would just reply "dont be so rude!".

Recall might be the only safe thing to do.

Windows based utilitys for vista are rare/non existant (MSI don't have one)
that leaves floppy drive flashing, how many new computers come with a floppy disk drive?

or using a usb boot stick, it's not that easy

Yes I agree, someone that doesn't know how to flash their bios probably wouldn't know/care about their potential performance increase... in fact they probably couldn't tell you what is in their box!

Ryu, undoubtedly like many of us who frequent this site, clearly has difficulty understanding that what is simple for him/her is intimidating to, oh, 70% of people who own computers.

While a recall may be overkill, it would certainly make sense for these computer makers to offer to send a CD configured with a DOS / Linux boot which AUTOMATICALLY runs the Bios upgrade for their machine. 

The standard Geeky bios upgrade routine where a Windows user gets totally befuddled with command line options simply doesn't cut it from a Customer Care perspective, and frankly amounts to absolute laziness / incompetence on the part of the techs when it is so easy to create that sort of distribution.

All they need to do, in addition to the traditional distribution, is to make bootable CD images that update the BIOS without user intervention. They could mail out upgrade CDs along with vendor-specific marketing propaganda for users who are too hopeless to burn their own CDs. 

Personally, I try to avoid updating the BIOS through Windows. I use a USB floppy drive and boot disc to update all of my machines. 

I'd buy a Phenom now but Shuttle is being lazy and not updating their BIOSes to recognize them. Grr.

Does your mum own a Phenom X4 System? 

I'd say everyone who was keen enough to buy the first revision of a new CPU will be nerd enough to update his/her BIOS.

Greetz
Nathan

Yeah, I've flashed about 60 BIOSes on MOBOs over the yrs and just recently, and for the first time, decided to use Gigabyte's Windows based flasher @Flash (or something similar) and it totally hosed a beautiful 478 socket board. ATI chipset and everything - this board was loaded. 

The chip is soldered onto the board so no replacements. Gigabyte said "tough luck."

In short, I was the fool for thinking that they actually had windows flash update utilities ironed out after 4 yrs. I'll never do it again. I'd rather take my chance building a bootable dos cd with the bios in it. I was being lazy and it bit me hard.

Wouldn't it be much easier to just roll this out through OS "critical" fixes? That way you have to work with only few standard distros. MSFT will cover 92% of the market. Others can get it from sourceforge or something.

Note: micro-code update can be applied by the OS at boot time.

Gigabyte has used dual BIOS for many years now. You should be able to fallback to the other BIOS and bypass the corrupted one. You could then try to reflash the corrupted BIOS. I have bought many Gigabyte MOBOs over the years and this is one of the reasons I prefer them. To each his own of course.

First, realize that the majority of PC users are running MS Windows 2000/XP/Vista. Second, the processor drivers contained within MS Windows were architected to help ease such possible issues in Intel/AMD processors. Thus as Intel has done in this past year, AMD could work with Microsoft to offer the update through the Windows Update mechanism and automatically push it out to users, if it is that critical.

Most LINUX users will be capable of handling a simple BIOS update, or they can wait until the fix is integrated into a kernel update.

No ones mother, or clueless co-workers/family/friends/etcetera need do anything but stay out of the way of the normal system update facility.

Is thie article means Phenom's L3 errata BIOS fix could bring 5-10% more performance?

Siince the AMD BIOS fix is just a work around that blocks out part of the L3 cache to prevent the system crashes, AMD needs do the right thing and recall all Phenoms and replace them under their 3-year chip warranty. I won't be buying a Phenom any time soon. 

Also to Once Bitten. . . If your motherboard has an Award BIOS, sometimes they can be recovered after a bad flash by inserting a floppy disk with the correct BIOS update on it. If the floppy light comes on when you power up the PC, you have a good chance of recovering the BIOS. 

I had a MSI MB that I once flashed with the wrong BIOS file. A website called www.Badflash.com explained how to go about the procedure. 

It worked and the MB worked fine for several years until the capacitors puffed up. Oh well. You win some and you lose some.

AMd must be rebrand this chip as chernobyl!!, why on earth they make promises they cant keep?

"Does your mum own a Phenom X4 System?

I'd say everyone who was keen enough to buy the first revision of a new CPU will be nerd enough to update his/her BIOS.

Greetz
Nathan
posted by : Nathan, 30 November 2007"

QFT. By the time someone like Dell starts selling Phenoms (*snerk*) that shouldn't be an issue.

Same darn bug that existed in ALL the AMD mp chips.
They excused thier way out of it as "a necessary design feature" and failed to engineer it out for k10.
Hell, they outsourced labs over it to sweep it under the rug.
This design flaw was known well in advance.

Yes, updating the microcode ought to speed up the processor internally, but if you already purchased a 2.2GHz part, that alone won't get it to run at 2.4GHz. You'll still need to overclock as well. All the update would do is enable it to run comfortably at an overclocked 2.4GHz clock rate.

Buying this processor would be simply stupid now. Even when the fixed B3 CPUs are released, who says you're not going to get one of the older, broken ones? It's like that anticipation hoping you'll get the processor with the overclockable stepping. Only, this means you're hoping you don't get a flawed chip. Not worth the gamble in my book. As an AMD fan, its a shame I'll have to opt for Intel for my next build again...

very terrible engineering work...
whoever design the chip and run the test should be fired....