Comment 501 for bug 1690085

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In , kernel (kernel-linux-kernel-bugs) wrote :

Who knows ?

When I say that "Typical Current Idle" appears to eliminate the "freeze when idle" problem, I mean that (a) that is my experience (to date), and (b) I have seen others reporting similar experience.

I'm not aware of any public, definitive information from AMD, any motherboard vendor or the relevant kernel folk -- certainly nothing which says what the "Typical Current Idle" BIOS option actually does, and whether or how it solves the problem, in part or completely.

Sadly, this long thread has almost nothing to do with identifying any actual Kernel bug or bugs. It's more a sort of support group. [Hello, I'm Chris and I'm an AMD Ryzen user... since I found the "Typical Current Idle" BIOS option, I haven't had a "freeze while idle" for two weeks -- praise be.]

If you are looking for useful information, look away now: angry, bewildered person about to howl at the moon...

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...do I find the situation "Incredible" ? hmmm...

[Final warning: reduced signal/noise ration ahead.]

I bought my Ryzen machine the moment I could order it.

When I came to build it, I found there was some confusion about the "standard" fitting for the CPU cooler -- the plate glued to the motherboard and the cooler fitting were incompatible. I found myself in a three-way stand-off between AMD, the motherboard vendor and the cooler vendor. If there was a specification for the standard AM4 socket fitting for the cooler, it was Top Secret. In the end I voided all warranties, ripped the plate from the motherboard and replaced it by the one supplied with the cooler.

When I set up my new machine, I found the standard configuration for the memory was not as fast as I expected, noting <https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-7-1800x>. But, I stumbled across this <https://community.amd.com/community/gaming/blog/2017/03/14/tips-for-building-a-better-amd-ryzen-system> where I discovered that the 2667 MT/s I was expecting was for 2 DIMMs; with my 4 DIMMs, 2133 MT/s is what I should have expected. Silly Me ! I have seen BIOSes since then which are supposed to improve memory support... but I think that's more options for overclocking... who knows ? Call me old fashioned, but I am disappointed (but no longer surprised) that I cannot find an AMD data sheet that specifies memory support (or much of anything else, for that matter).

Can I find any documentation for AGESA ? No. It's various versions (and changes in version numbering) ? No.

Does my motherboard vendor provide release notes for each BIOS version ? No. How did I discover which BIOS version had the "Typical Current Idle" option ? By experiment.

If the <email address hidden> fairy has died because I stopped clapping, then I'm sorry.

... so, Incredible ? Nah. Infuriating ? You bet.