FYI : Did the microcode update, compiled and installed the 4.9.101 kernel with it. After rebooting, I started having kernel hard lock problems.
Before compiling / installing kernel 4.9.102, I made an addition to the CFLAGS var in make.conf : -mno-lwp ( 'lwp' is 'Light Weight Profiling' ) No kernel hard locks after the reboot. Lesson Learned : The kernel needs to be compiled, installed, system rebooted, re-compiled, re-installed and re-booted again. Otherwise the kernel compile process doesn't adjust to the removal of instruction sets. The 'make.conf' entry is to catch any other uses, system wide. Config Info : Using 'sys-kernel/gentoo-sources' USE flags : experimental modules symlink -march=bdver2 kernel .config settings : # CONFIG_PROFILING is not set CONFIG_HAVE_OPROFILE=y CONFIG_OPROFILE_NMI_TIMER=y CONFIG_KPROBES=y Corbin