Intel Prepares Seamless Updating of Firmware Without a Need for Reboot

AleksandarK · Sep 15, 2021

Intel has been working on a technology that will improve the lives of all users that have an Intel-based processor in their system. According to the recent round of patches for the Linux kernel, Intel's engineers have been working on a feature called Intel Seamless Update, which promises to bring updating of system firmware without a need to reboot. First of all, it is important to note that firmware upgrades have been stuck at requiring reboot in order to apply patches. This has caused many systems to be down and to slow down the infrastructure by a wide margin, as these updates can last up to several minutes, where the system is rebooting and can not be used.

Intel has presented an idea of creating a technology that will update system firmware, such as UEFI, in the run time. That means that the system will be able to apply firmware patches, without ever needing a reboot, minimizing downtime. This is especially valuable for customers with very high service level agreements (SLAs) around downtime, meaning that almost 100% uptime (not possible to be 100% generally speaking) is required for these systems. An example of this would be medical server infrastructure, which has to constantly be available for access. Using this technology, systems such as these could update their firmware and be online non-stop, without maybe ever needing to reboot. The said feature is supposed to arrive in time for the launch alongside Intel "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon processors.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

TheGuruStud · Sep 15, 2021

But does it actually take effect without reboot...

Vayra86 · Sep 15, 2021

TheGuruStud said:
But does it actually take effect without reboot...

I think that's the point.

ZoneDymo · Sep 15, 2021

that is pretty cool honestly and smart of Intel to develop.
I dont think they have anything to beat AMD performance-wise any time soon, but providing important improvements like this might just make them the obvious choice for certain companies.

Deleted member 24505 · Sep 15, 2021

Very good for big servers

Aquinus · Sep 15, 2021

Gruffalo.Soldier said:
Very good for big servers

I'd put this right up there with live kernel patching.

Selaya · Sep 15, 2021

new critical vulns in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

zlobby · Sep 15, 2021

Selaya said:
new critical vulns in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Yes. IDK why people cheer these kinds of things? It's the same when Windows can now update your UEFI via 'capsules'. No, I don't want my OS to have a write-enabled interface to the entire EEPROM area!

R0H1T · Sep 15, 2021

How about idiot/power (loss) proof firmware updates?

ThrashZone · Sep 15, 2021

Hi,
Whether you want the update or not ware

P4-630 · Sep 15, 2021

How it works:

https://uefi.org/sites/default/files/resources/Intel_MM_OS_Interface_Spec_Rev100.pdf

chodaboy19 · Sep 15, 2021

What about the security aspect of all this? They should detail that first?

zlobby · Sep 15, 2021

R0H1T said:
How about idiot/power (loss) proof firmware updates?

Many consumer-grade mobos have a firmware recovery options in various forms. I know it's not exactly the same but it more or less comes to the same end.

chodaboy19 said:
What about the security aspect of all this? They should detail that first?

Intel and security? Where have you been the last couple of decades?

TheoneandonlyMrK · Sep 15, 2021

Selaya said:
new critical vulns in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Sigh, exactly Can you imagine , apple recently patched a zero day, zero click vulnerability.

zlobby · Sep 15, 2021

TheoneandonlyMrK said:
Sigh, exactly Can you imagine , apple recently patched a zero day, zero click vulnerability.

I'm not afraid by the ones patched.

TheoneandonlyMrK · Sep 15, 2021

zlobby said:
I'm not afraid by the ones patched.

I'm not afraid of the one's we know about?!.

zlobby · Sep 15, 2021

View attachment AlarmedFlusteredHamadryas.webp

Ah, can I embedd .webp or a .jif?

TheoneandonlyMrK said:
I'm not afraid of the one's we know about?!.

Anyway, that was in the post above

Bomby569 · Sep 16, 2021

It seems like such a small thing but this is really important in some contexts. Nice.

Processor	OCed 5800X3D
Motherboard	Asucks C6H
Cooling	Air
Memory	32GB
Video Card(s)	OCed 6800XT
Storage	NVMees
Display(s)	32" Dull curved 1440
Case	Freebie glass idk
Audio Device(s)	Sennheiser
Power Supply	Don't even remember

System Name	Tiny the White Yeti
Processor	7800X3D
Motherboard	MSI MAG Mortar b650m wifi
Cooling	CPU: Thermalright Peerless Assassin / Case: Phanteks T30-120 x3
Memory	32GB Corsair Vengeance 30CL6000
Video Card(s)	ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage	Lexar NM790 4TB + Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial BX100 250GB
Display(s)	Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case	Lian Li A3 mATX White
Audio Device(s)	Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	Steelseries Aerox 5
Keyboard	Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
VR HMD	HD 420 - Green Edition ;)
Software	W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC
Benchmark Scores	Over 9000

System Name	Cyberline
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600k -> 12600k
Motherboard	Asus P8P67 LE Rev 3.0 -> Gigabyte Z690 Auros Elite DDR4
Cooling	Tuniq Tower 120 -> Custom Watercoolingloop
Memory	Corsair (4x2) 8gb 1600mhz -> Crucial (8x2) 16gb 3600mhz
Video Card(s)	AMD RX480 -> RX7800XT
Storage	Samsung 750 Evo 250gb SSD + WD 1tb x 2 + WD 2tb -> 2tb MVMe SSD
Display(s)	Philips 32inch LPF5605H (television) -> Dell S3220DGF
Case	antec 600 -> Thermaltake Tenor HTCP case
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite 2i4 (USB)
Power Supply	Seasonic 620watt 80+ Platinum
Mouse	Elecom EX-G
Keyboard	Rapoo V700
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64bit

System Name	Apollo
Processor	Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard	Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory	64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage	1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s)	Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case	MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s)	AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply	96w Power Adapter
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard	Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software	MacOS 12.1

System Name	Ghetto Rigs z490\|x99\|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor	10900k w/Optimus Foundation \| 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard	z490 Maximus XII Apex \| x99 Sabertooth
Cooling	oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block \| Blk D15
Memory	Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb \| Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s)	Titan Xp-water \| evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage	970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb \| 860 pro 256gb \| Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb\| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s)	1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case	D450 \| Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s)	Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply	EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 \| 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse	Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard	G710+x3
Software	Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores	Are in the benchmark section

Intel Prepares Seamless Updating of Firmware Without a Need for Reboot

AleksandarK

News Editor

TheGuruStud

Vayra86

ZoneDymo

Deleted member 24505

Guest

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man

Selaya

zlobby

R0H1T

ThrashZone

P4-630

chodaboy19

zlobby

TheoneandonlyMrK

zlobby

TheoneandonlyMrK

zlobby

Bomby569

System Name	AlderLake
Processor	Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans
Memory	32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MT/s CL36
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2
Display(s)	23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p
Case	Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window
Audio Device(s)	Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W
Mouse	Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless
Keyboard	RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless
Software	Windows 11
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock

System Name	RyzenGtEvo/ Asus strix scar II
Processor	Amd R5 5900X/ Intel 8750H
Motherboard	Crosshair hero8 impact/Asus
Cooling	360EK extreme rad+ 360$EK slim all push, cpu ek suprim Gpu full cover all EK
Memory	Gskill Trident Z 3900cas18 32Gb in four sticks./16Gb/16GB
Video Card(s)	Asus tuf RX7900XT /Rtx 2060
Storage	Silicon power 2TB nvme/8Tb external/1Tb samsung Evo nvme 2Tb sata ssd/1Tb nvme
Display(s)	Samsung UAE28"850R 4k freesync.dell shiter
Case	Lianli 011 dynamic/strix scar2
Audio Device(s)	Xfi creative 7.1 on board ,Yamaha dts av setup, corsair void pro headset
Power Supply	corsair 1200Hxi/Asus stock
Mouse	Roccat Kova/ Logitech G wireless
Keyboard	Roccat Aimo 120
VR HMD	Oculus rift
Software	Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	laptop Timespy 6506

Processor	Ryzen 5 5700x
Motherboard	B550 Elite
Cooling	Thermalright Perless Assassin 120 SE
Memory	32GB Fury Beast DDR4 3200Mhz
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte 3060 ti gaming oc pro
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 1TB, WD SN850x 1TB, plus some random HDDs
Display(s)	LG 27gp850 1440p 165Hz 27''
Case	Lian Li Lancool II performance
Power Supply	MSI 750w
Mouse	G502