Originally Posted by Thorry
You should also ask TiN_EOF who has been working on a couple of ideas.
A resume:
- 2 users had their CPUs become unlocked (both Venice cores). They confirmed they were locked before and confirmed they were now unlocked.
- Software bugs were ruled out
- The users did not do anything to unlock them, it just happend
- At least one user (Clocker) lost the C'n'Q ability of his CPU, as well as the 64-bit functionalities
The main theory:
- The unlocks were caused by a defect inside the CPU which caused the internal feature registers to become scrambled
- There is no way to duplicate this as they were defects inside the core
- There have been other CPUs reported to have similar problems, there prolly was a problem at the AMD fab
The long shot to unlocking:
- Use the diagnostic and programming interface "JTAG" (found on all CPUs since forever) to interface with the CPU and reprogram it to be unlocked
- This methode is being tested by TiN_EOF, but has almost 0 chance of succes
- JTAG ports have never lead to unlocking CPUs, people have tested this before
- Posts were made with JTAG pinouts on the CPU and interface cables to the computer. Also links were posted to software.
- It is not wise to test this yourself as you will prolly kill some hardware, let the testing be done by pros like TiN_EOF
Busted theories:
- Software bugs - were ruled out early
- Software being able to unlock a CPU (via C'n'Q for example) - just impossible
- Unlocking being possible without a core defect - All unlocks reported were with normal use. If your CPU could be unlocked it would be already.
