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You could also have a BIOS update with the workaround already baked in, or a chip that has the later silicon without the bug...

(I also had a Phenom II for many years without any mysterious crashing problems, even though the chip was the correct revision and there was no BIOS erratum workaround enabled.)

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Windows 7 and later distribute and activate microcode updates through Windows Update.

It seems like it's not a microcode update fix, but an MSR killbit flip from the BIOS? [1]

[1] - http://support.amd.com/TechDocs/41322_10h_Rev_Gd.pdf page 66

Yes, which reduces performance if I remember correctly. It was quite famous. They eventually released a fixed stepping, and Phenom II is not affected.

True, my mistake.

(While it doesn't apply for this specific example, it's still the reason why one generally will see microcode-fixed errata go away rather quickly, independently of BIOS updates)

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