Re: [PATCH 2/2] x86: Enable monitor/mwait on Intel if BIOS hasn't already

From: Andrew Lutomirski
Date: Sat Aug 06 2011 - 07:42:47 EST


On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 5:43 AM, Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> * Matthew Garrett <mjg59@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Aug 04, 2011 at 05:54:04PM -0400, Len Brown wrote:
>> > > We can't trust BIOS authors to get things right. Where we can reliably
>> > > fix up things that are broken, we should do so.
>> >
>> > How about if we can get a BIOS fix for this brand new system,
>> > then we shall not clutter the kernel with a workaround, otherwise
>> > we shall.
>>
>> It's a pretty good rule of thumb that if a BIOS bug is present in
>> one BIOS it's present in others, but the users will just never
>> notice.
>
> Yes. There's no harm really from working around a BIOS bug and
> warning about it - when the BIOS gets fixed the warning message will
> go away.
>
> Btw., few people risk upgrading their BIOSen on already purchased
> hardware. I almost never do it, i only do it if it's impossible to
> continue with a current BIOS.

I do it, but I understand the sentiment. I've destroyed laptops with
BIOS upgrades, and the new Intel BIOS seems to insist on spewing
garbage into my keyboard input when Linux (but not grub) starts.

Updates patches coming.

>
> Thanks,
>
>        Ingo
>
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