1. Intel IA32 CPU Microcode Utility The microcode_ctl utility is a companion to the IA32 microcode driver written by Tigran Aivazian <tigran@veritas.com>. The utility has two uses: a) it decodes and sends new microcode to the kernel driver to be uploaded to Intel IA32 family processors. (Pentium Pro, PII, Celeron, PIII, Xeon, Pentium 4 etc.) b) it signals the kernel driver to release any buffers it may hold The microcode update is volatile and needs to be uploaded on each system boot i.e. it doesn't re-flash your CPU permanently, reboot and it reverts back to the old microcode. The ideal place to load microcode is in BIOS, but most vendors never update it! To enable microcode update, I need some kernel support, thus I need the linux kernel 2.2.18 or later, or 2.4.0 or later. From Debian 3.0r0 APT