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Intel Skylake processors crash at specific Prime number calculations
Intel is soon to issue a big-fix through BIOS firmware updates. The Skylake architecture has a hardware error in which it'll crash the processor and system once it reaches a specific Prime number.
The problem only shows itself with very specific prime numbers, in a respons in their forums Intel stated that they are aware of the big and are working on a fix that is soon to be released with the help of a BIOS update.
The big was detected by users of Prime95, a program developped by the Mersenne Research group. If Prime is used to test the number 14942209 then the system will simply crash.
You could test this yourself:
- Download and install Prime95 for Windows on a Skylake system from the website.
- In the menu go to 'Advanced | Test' and fill in the number 14942209 in the box labeled 'Exponent to test'
- Let the program run for some time and at some point, minutes or hours, the system will freeze.
Mersenne prime numbers are activate used in random number generators and crypography.
Intel - Intel has identified an issue that potentially affects the 6th Gen Intel® Core™ family of products. This issue only occurs under certain complex workload conditions, like those that may be encountered when running applications like Prime95. In those cases, the processor may hang or cause unpredictable system behavior. Intel has identified and released a fix and is working with external business partners to get the fix deployed through BIOS.
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Fox2232
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#5217445 Posted on: 01/11/2016 01:20 PM
As much as AMD Phenom bug. Nearly impossible to happen, normal users did not have to care, and yet BIOS fix was issued. And in process it degraded performance a bit.
As much as AMD Phenom bug. Nearly impossible to happen, normal users did not have to care, and yet BIOS fix was issued. And in process it degraded performance a bit.
GeniusPr0
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#5217489 Posted on: 01/11/2016 02:39 PM
If it has to compute the prime specified then the system will freeze.
So what does this mean in real world applications? Could this affect gaming for example?
If it has to compute the prime specified then the system will freeze.
Octopuss
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#5217503 Posted on: 01/11/2016 02:57 PM
How can this be fixed with a BIOS update, when apparently something is done wrong on the hardware level (like, some messed up instructions or something)?
How can this be fixed with a BIOS update, when apparently something is done wrong on the hardware level (like, some messed up instructions or something)?
Undying
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#5217506 Posted on: 01/11/2016 02:58 PM
Thats what i thought. They said its a Skylake architecture hardware error. No bios can fix that.
How can this be fixed with a BIOS update, when apparently something is done wrong on the hardware level (like, some messed up instructions or something)?
Thats what i thought. They said its a Skylake architecture hardware error. No bios can fix that.
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So what does this mean in real world applications? Could this affect gaming for example?