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Intel Hyperthreading Bug - Kaby Lake and Skylake

Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=5474
Printed Date: 27 Jul 2025 at 12:01pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Intel Hyperthreading Bug - Kaby Lake and Skylake
Posted By: harley2ride
Subject: Intel Hyperthreading Bug - Kaby Lake and Skylake
Date Posted: 30 Jun 2017 at 5:52am
" rel="nofollow - Tomshardware had an article about a hyperthreading bug that has been found in Kaby Lake and Skylake processors.    
I don't see anything in any BIOS updates with anything about it nor do I see any posts in the forum.

I have the ASROCK Z170 Extreme 7 + motherboard.    Anyword on when there might be a bios fix??


Replies:
Posted By: sotong84
Date Posted: 30 Jun 2017 at 11:09am
Hello, I am using the Z270 Taichi and am awaiting a BIOS update. Without which, the processor is unusable for critical tasks.

Posted By: MX16
Date Posted: 30 Jun 2017 at 12:49pm
It should not impact most people unless you do heavy parallel loads (Such as compiling software for example), or if there's a program that is heavily parallelized and uses a certain set of instructions and loops.

I did encounter it and it screwed my encrypted SSD, but I do keep regular system backups so no big deal really.

I am interested in knowing if ASRock will push updates to their z170 and z270 mainboards though, since they're all affected unless they have the May 2017 microcode included on a very recent update, and the fix is really provided by Intel for Linux in microcode since May.

Posted By: sotong84
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2017 at 9:37am
Actually, bug exists at microcode level which means that affects everyone unless hyper threading is disabled.

Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2017 at 9:58am
" rel="nofollow -
Originally posted by sotong84 sotong84 wrote:

Hello, I am using the Z270 Taichi and am awaiting a BIOS update. Without which, the processor is unusable for critical tasks.


As discussed in this thread:

http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=5438&title=intel-microcode-bug

It is not known at this time if Intel, the only source of processor microcode updates, has provided a microcode update for Kaby Lake that addresses this issue.

If and when Intel provides a Kaby Lake microcode update for this issue, it will then be added and tested in a new UEFI version, and released.

The best source of information about this would be directly from Intel.

What problems with critical tasks have you been experiencing? I have not personally experienced any problems so far, using hyper threading. Sure it can potentially affect anyone, but that it will affect everyone has not at all been demonstrated.



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http://valid.x86.fr/48rujh" rel="nofollow">

Posted By: harley2ride
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2017 at 11:52pm
Here is a post on ASUS site where they are posting that they have bios fixes.    Cmon ASROCK....
Thread: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php%3c94415-New-BIOS-to-fix-Intel-Hyperthreading-Bug-for-Kabylake-processors/page2&s=fa52716de63190bcd875c0ff2cb5a9cd" rel="nofollow -
New ROGer Array https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php%3c94415-New-BIOS-to-fix-Intel-Hyperthreading-Bug-for-Kabylake-processors/page2#" rel="nofollow -
appe_ PC Specs
MotherboardASUS STRIX Z270H
ProcessorIntel Core i7-7700K
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Graphics Card #1EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC
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CPU CoolerNoctua NH-D14
CaseFractal Design Define C
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OS Windows 10 Pro / Fedora
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Quote Originally Posted by Raja@ASUS https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php%3cp=659620#post659620" rel="nofollow">View Post
Updates for multiple boards. These have not yet been validated, so won't be on the support site until that process is complete. If you cannot wait, here you go:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2VRRbLPrZneU9mMUFrX0VLUjQ/view%3cusp=sharing" rel="nofollow - - Maximus VIII Impact
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2VRRbLPrZnUlBVN2t5c3RmMXM/view%3cusp=sharing" rel="nofollow -
- Maximus VIII Hero/Alpha

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2VRRbLPrZnZ0ZCMkwzbTBheGc/view%3cusp=sharing" rel="nofollow - - Maximus VIII Formula
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2VRRbLPrZnS1lTYVlmNzd6VFk/view%3cusp=sharing" rel="nofollow -
- Maximus IX Hero
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2VRRbLPrZnVVZaYkdyUVhWY0k/view%3cusp=sharing" rel="nofollow -
- Maximus IX Extreme
https://drive.google.com/open%3cid=0Bz2VRRbLPrZnRnZOeEtCN1lRYWs" rel="nofollow -

Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2017 at 12:32am
" rel="nofollow - To quote from your post:

Originally Posted by Raja@ASUS

Updates for multiple boards. These have not yet been validated, so won't be on the support site until that process is complete. If you cannot wait, here you go:

So Asus is unofficially releasing invalidated UEFI/BIOS updates for this issue at this point. Which also could mean that it is unknown whether or not the new microcode fixes the issue.

There is more to the story than simply, "Here is a post on ASUS site where they are posting that they have bios fixes".

What is ASRock doing wrong?



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http://valid.x86.fr/48rujh" rel="nofollow">

Posted By: harley2ride
Date Posted: 15 Jul 2017 at 12:30am
http://wccftech.com/intel-hyperthreading-bug-in-kabylake-and-skylake-processors-was-addressed-by-bios-fix-in-april-2017/" rel="nofollow - http://wccftech.com/intel-hyperthreading-bug-in-kabylake-and-skylake-processors-was-addressed-by-bios-fix-in-april-2017/
The link above has an article which states that Intel provided the fix to MOBO vendors in April 2017.
For one, it would be nice to have seen ASROCK put something out on their forum to let people know.  Don't know if you have ever lost all of your data due to some bug, but I can tell you from experience that it is not at all pleasant.   It would be nice to at least see something as to an estimated date as to when updated bios will be available.
ASUS provided the bios updates, they just let people know that they had not validated the bug fix.  I would hope that INTEL did their due diligence and already did that before they sent it to the MOBO vendors.

Posted By: ginahoy
Date Posted: 01 Aug 2017 at 4:55pm
Although the risk may be low, I don't want to risk having my disk or data trashed, especially if it happens in a way that's not immediately apparent. Or to have other issues and not know if it's the HT bug. So I took the advice and turned HT off.

I have an i7 7700K. If I had wanted an CPU without HT, I could have saved $100 and purchased an i5 7600K.

ASRock, please post an official response here as to whether and when this will be fixed via bios updates. Thanks.


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