I'd imagine that there would be some sort of hardware access to the
chip required to do this; for example, putting the chip in a special
motherboard that puts programming voltage on a certain pin. Laptops
with integrated processors might have a jumper or solder pad that
could be used to apply the voltage. A special instruction would then
be used to put the chip in programming mode and upload the new code.
A higher than normal voltage would be required anyway if the code was
stored in EEPROM type memory, I believe.
This would make the microcode patch a lot more complicated, but it's
still better than shipping it back to Intel for replacement, and it
eliminates any possibility of "unintended" microcode updates. They
said it was upgradable; I don't think they ever said it was
SOFTWARE upgradable.
--
/// Stefan Hudson <hudson@mbay.net>
__ /// Senior Network Administrator - Monterey Bay Internet
\\\/// http://www.mbay.net/ - Email: info@mbay.net
\XX/ Voice: 408-642-6100 Fax: 408-642-6101 Modem: 408-642-6102