Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 12:35:24 -0500 From: Christopher Masto <chris@netmonger.net> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: BSDI Pentium hang workaround Message-ID: <19971112123524.12698@netmonger.net>
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I didn't post the "BSDI has a workaround, does anyone think FreeBSD
will?" thing to generate skepticism about the existence of the
workaround. In any case, here is their message. Note the two files
involved.
Supposedly disabling L1 cache prevents the problem from happening, but
I highly doubt anyone would seriously release that as a "fix", since
it would basically render the machine unusable. They don't say
anything about expecting a slowdown.
------- Forwarded Message
To: bsdi-users@bsdi.com
Subject: Beta test of Pentium hang work-around for BSD/OS 3.1 (and 3.0)
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Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:38:48 -0700
From: Jeff Polk <polk@bsdi.com>
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As many of you probably know, a bug was recently discovered in the
Pentium CPU that causes the CPU to hang when a certain instruction
is executed. This bug has been widely reported in mailing lists
and news groups. The bug enables an unprivileged user to hang the
system, requiring the system to be reset or power-cycled.
With information provided by Intel, BSDI has developed a workaround
for this problem. A beta version of the mod for BSD/OS version 3.1
is now available for testing from
ftp://ftp.bsdi.com/bsdi/patches/patches-3.1/M310-hangfix
This mod may also be applied to 3.0 based systems.
The workaround is enabled only on P5 processors, and should not
be necessary on Pentium Pro, Pentium II or non-Intel CPUs.
The mod is currently available only in binary form. We anticipate
general release of the mod within a day or so. We are interested
in hearing of any problems experienced with this change. We are
also interested in hearing about testing on any non-Intel
Pentium-compatible systems. Please send any reports to
bsdi-hang-beta@BSDI.COM
We are not at liberty to discuss the mechanism of the workaround
at this time.
If you are installing the mod in a source kernel tree, you will
need to copy the files sys/i386/OBJ/{machdep.o,locore.o} to
your kernel compile directory before rebuilding your kernel.
Jeff
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/\/ \ polk@BSDI.COM 5575 Tech Center Dr. #110, Colo Spgs, CO 80919
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