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Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

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Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#81

Post by flukus »

morganvachon wrote: post #54
em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

even if it affects all speculative CPUs, if this happened in the car world, all the cars would be recalled. Not saying that is practical in computer world...just continuing with the analogy. Spectre/Meltdown is a wakeup call for many things, one of them probably being for computer manufacturers to not solder the CPU to the Motherboard and for the x86 world to stick with a standard socket, to facilitate replacing part…

> "Spectre/Meltdown is a wakeup call for many things, one of them probably being for computer manufacturers to not solder the CPU to the Motherboard" Good luck with that. A large portion of affected CPUs/SoCs are in mobile devices and ultrabooks. Socketed chips simply won't fly in those kinds of devices.

Then the whole device should be replaced, that's the price they pay for their design decisions. Being "too hard" doesn't absolve you of your responsibility to consumers.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#82

Post by ams6110 »

bproven wrote: post #64
krutzger wrote: post #53

I was under the impression that Ubuntu would automatically revert to last good kernel of the new one fails to boot. Was I mistaken?

AFAIK worse case you should be able to select the previous kernel in grub2 upon reboot. It just hangs after grub on this (bad) kernel I think...

Yeah but if you have a couple of hundred machines that aren't booting.... That's pretty worst case.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#83

Post by otakucode »

agumonkey wrote: post #65

any report of windows update messing with the bios rendering motherboard non bootable (powers on , but no post, not even an error beep)

For AMD chips, yes. Yesterday Microsoft announced they were suspending rolling out updates to certain AMD chips because it was resulting in non-bootable systems. I didn't read the technical details so I can not say whether it was specifically BIOS-related. Both a total non-booting state and BSODs were mentioned in the article I saw (from general press, so might have been garbage, sorry).

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#84

Post by cr0sh »

_Nat_ wrote: post #55
ask098 wrote: post #2

it's the fault of Intel, why don't they recall all the CPU? just like vehicle company

Are you suggesting that we recall the great bulk of modern CPU's? Like, literally gut everyone's computers, including those in data centers and running critical infrastructure, until replacements are eventually manufactured? Or did you mean something else?

I'd think it'd be reasonable to get a refund in some manner, provided you could provide proof-of-purchase for the CPU in question.

I wouldn't expect them to replace any CPU, unless it was manufactured recently and still being manufactured.

But a refund in some capacity? That's reasonable, I think. In the meantime, we would have to settle for the software fixes.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#85

Post by mbroncano »

Y_Y wrote: post #72
ggm wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"biggest" by number of affected CPUs? very possibly, yes. the march of time has that effect: there are more cpus potentially and actually affected, worldwide, than at any other time in history. "biggest" by net financial loss to a single entity? I dunno. How much did that failed NSA launch cost the state again?

> failed NSA launch I didn't hear about that one

Maybe this https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/1/9/16866806/spac...

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#86

Post by drb91 »

gkya wrote: post #20

Would this entire Meltdown/Spectre thing count as the biggest mess-up of computing history? When yesterday the PoC repo was posted here, the spy.mp4 demo video gave me some chills. And now I can't update my OS before making an installation USB because Canonical can't just follow Linus' releases. Thanks.

I think that title is currently held (deserved or not) by null pointers.

Tbh it’s not the most meaningful of statements, but it’s food for thought.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#87

Post by galvin »

throwawayfinal wrote: post #67
bArray wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Would this entire Meltdown/Spectre thing count as the biggest mess-up of computing history? When yesterday the PoC repo was posted here, the spy.mp4 demo video gave me some chills. It must be up there amongst the greats, probably with the "halt and catch fire" op code. Normally they just patch this stuff with microcode and never really tell anybody, this time that won't work. I'm not entirely convinced it was a mist…

I think it's absolutely unreasonable to imply that this was intentional. Besides the massive amount of complexity these systems have, there are plenty of "legitimate" places to hide backdoors, instead of in a performance architecture decision. Keep in mind that whatever "evil agencies" would have asked for this would most likely find themselves vulnerable, and nobody would sign off on. I do agree, however, the "secur…

Adding a backdoor seems unreasonable but they may have chosen performance over security. Even if this individual bug wasn't intentional they are responsible for setting their priorities.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#88

Post by cratermoon »

drb91 wrote: post #86
gkya wrote: post #20

Would this entire Meltdown/Spectre thing count as the biggest mess-up of computing history? When yesterday the PoC repo was posted here, the spy.mp4 demo video gave me some chills. And now I can't update my OS before making an installation USB because Canonical can't just follow Linus' releases. Thanks.

I think that title is currently held (deserved or not) by null pointers. Tbh it’s not the most meaningful of statements, but it’s food for thought.

A null pointer doesn't hold a reference, though.

Re: Meltdown Update Kernel doesnt boot

#89

Post by cr0sh »

dmschulman wrote: post #26
willk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this endangering the life of anyone? A car manufacturer doesn't do a recall if personal safety isn't at risk.

They will often refuse to do a recall even if personal safety is at risk. The real quantifier is how much financial damage the auto company will endure in the event they do or do not do a recall

> They will often refuse to do a recall even if personal safety is at risk.

Ford Pinto, anyone...

Another one that many people don't know about is a problem with old 2-door Tahoes; a bracket on the driver's side seat likes to fail upon quick acceleration - such as when getting on the freeway, for instance.

One minute you're upright, pushing the pedal to get up to speed, the next - whoops! - flat on your back! If you're lucky, you live to tell the tale...

AFAIK, GM never issued a recall about that one (it caused me to pass on a really nice lifted 4wd Tahoe a few years back)...

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