lshw reports cache disabled

[jontrv]

OK, my Acer Aspire 5552 laptop is ancient, circa 2010, but it is running 18.3 cinnamon quite happily, BUT...
sudo lshw -class memory
reports the CPU cache as DISABLED
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: Acer
physical id: 0
version: V2.14
date: 07/27/2011
size: 1MiB
capacity: 1984KiB
capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppynec int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int9keyboard int10video acpi usb
*-cache:0 DISABLED <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
description: L1 cache
physical id: 21
slot: L1 Cache
size: 256KiB
capacity: 256KiB
capabilities: internal write-through unified
configuration: level=1
*-cache:1 DISABLED <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
description: L1 cache
physical id: 22
slot: L2 Cache
size: 1MiB
capacity: 1MiB
capabilities: internal write-through unified
configuration: level=1
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 23
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 6GiB

Is it telling me the truth? if so, how do I re-enable cache ?
I do have amd64-microcode version 2.20160316.1 active, but the lshw report is identical if I boot with no firmware update.
Any thoughts ??
JT:

[catweazel]

Code: Select all

  *-cache:0 DISABLED    <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
       description: L1 cache
       physical id: 21
       slot: L1 Cache
       size: 256KiB
       capacity: 256KiB
       capabilities: internal write-through unified
       configuration: level=1
  *-cache:1 DISABLED    <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
       description: L1 cache
       physical id: 22
       slot: L2 Cache
       size: 1MiB
       capacity: 1MiB
       capabilities: internal write-through unified
       configuration: level=1

Please post the output of this terminal command:

Code: Select all

lscpu

Enclose the results in </> code markers, which you can select from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply.

[jontrv]

results of sudo lscpu

Code: Select all

Architecture:          x86_64
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                2
On-line CPU(s) list:   0,1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    2
Socket(s):             1
NUMA node(s):          1
Vendor ID:             AuthenticAMD
CPU family:            16
Model:                 6
Model name:            AMD Athlon(tm) II P320 Dual-Core Processor
Stepping:              3
CPU MHz:               800.000
CPU max MHz:           2100.0000
CPU min MHz:           800.0000
BogoMIPS:              4189.74
Virtualisation:        AMD-V
L1d cache:             64K
L1i cache:             64K
L2 cache:              512K
NUMA node0 CPU(s):     0,1
Flags:                 fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc cpuid extd_apicid pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt nodeid_msr hw_pstate retpoline retpoline_amd rsb_ctxsw vmmcall npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save

[ClixTrix]

lsucpu does show L1/L2. It's showing single core L1d/L1i and same for L2. It does have two cores and sets of caches, so that might be a confusion point or a problem.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-A ... R22GM.html

I'm thinking the DISABLE is a bug/error, and not a real problem.

I'm not aware of a Linux method to enable/disable directly. BIOS/firmware would have that ability.

I have another way to check them working. Run Memtest86+ from Grub menu. It should display and check them.

[catweazel]

results of sudo lscpu

The kernel detects the caches correctly. @ClixTrix is correct, the disabled message is a bug.

[jontrv]

Memtst86 does not report anything i recognise as a problem, I guess it would unambiguously complain about a faulty cache, so...

Thank you all, I suspected it was a bug, but not being a software guru I had no means to prove it.
Now I just need to paint go-faster stripes on the lid... Patience is much cheaper than a new laptop !

JT: