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Date:      Sat, 1 Jul 2000 10:56:02 +0200
From:      Wilko Bulte <wkb@chello.nl>
To:        Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@critter.freebsd.dk>
Cc:        Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG>, KATO Takenori <kato@ganko.eps.nagoya-u.ac.jp>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: invlpg produces strange sig11 on PentiumPro box
Message-ID:  <20000701105601.B16590@freebie.wbnet>
In-Reply-To: <8886.962438103@critter.freebsd.dk>; from phk@critter.freebsd.dk on Sat, Jul 01, 2000 at 09:55:03AM %2B0200
References:  <200007010750.AAA02229@mass.osd.bsdi.com> <8886.962438103@critter.freebsd.dk>

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On Sat, Jul 01, 2000 at 09:55:03AM +0200, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
> In message <200007010750.AAA02229@mass.osd.bsdi.com>, Mike Smith writes:
> >> In message <20000701012941S.kato@gneiss.eps.nagoya-u.ac.jp>, KATO Takenori writ
> >> es:
> >> >The invlpg instruction causes strange signal 11 problem on some
> >> >PentiumPro box.  This problem seems to hapen when (1) mother board is
> >> >very old and (2) BIOS update is not available and (3) cpuid < 0x619.
> >> >
> >> >Following patch automatically disables invlpg when PentiumPro with
> >> >cpuid < 0x619 is found.
> >> >
> >> >Please comment to this patch.
> >> 
> >> I'm against this patch.  This is so specific and marginal to a
> >> out-of-spec hardware configuration, that it should not be put in
> >> the FreeBSD tree.
> >
> >I'd disagree with that.  This is just the same as the 0xf00f workaround, 
> >saving only in degree.  If it's something that can be done as eg. a KLD 
> >we might want to do that instead, or through some other mechanism for 
> >handling these sort of CPU quirks.
> 
> Please Mike, just because you see my name you shouldn't take a contrary
> positition until you have actually looked into matters.
> 
> Look at the first paragraph:  This is for Pentium Pro cpus running
> in motherboards where the BIOS does not contain the needed microcode
> updates.
> 
> The patch disables invlpg on all cpuid's < 0x619, despite the fact
> that they work just fine if your motherboards BIOS have the right
> microcode update for your cpu stepping.
> 
> This hack should be maintained by the person who need it, it should
> not be lobotomizing FreeBSD in general.

Maybe make it conditional via an option in the kernel config file?
Off by default of course. Looking at LINT/NOTES I see very obscure things
for Cyrix and Bluelightning CPUs already.

-- 
Wilko Bulte  	 	http://www.freebsd.org  "Do, or do not. There is no try"
wilko@freebsd.org	http://www.nlfug.nl	Yoda - The Empire Strikes Back


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