<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="Street"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="address"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceType"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceName"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Garamond;
panose-1:2 2 4 4 3 3 1 1 8 3;}
@font-face
{font-family:Georgia;
panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3;}
@font-face
{font-family:ge;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoPlainText, li.MsoPlainText, div.MsoPlainText
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";}
p.MsoAutoSig, li.MsoAutoSig, div.MsoAutoSig
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:Georgia;
color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
span.EmailStyle20
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:Arial;
color:navy;}
span.EmailStyle21
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:Georgia;
color:blue;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
span.EmailStyle22
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:Arial;
color:navy;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I found that the best way for me to learn
about this was to play with the factory BIOS settings.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The memory hole allows you to boost part
of memory above 4GB so that you have more room for I/O devices without losing
memory capacity.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>For example, if you had a graphics card
with 256MB of memory and 4GB of RAM installed in the machine, you cannot address
both and keep them inside 32-bits. The solution is to use registers on
the Opteron to map some of your RAM above that limit.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Myles<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
linuxbios-bounces@linuxbios.org [mailto:linuxbios-bounces@linuxbios.org] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Alan Mimms<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, October 04, 2006
1:59 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Lu, Yinghai;
linuxbios@linuxbios.org; Andi Kleen<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [LinuxBIOS] ACPI NVS
and last 64k-ish area of RAM?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:blue'>The problem occurs with 1GB, 2GB or 4GB
of memory installed for sure. I do not know about the HW memory
hole. Can you explain what that is?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 color=black face=ge><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:ge;color:black'>Alan Mimms, Senior Architect</span></font><font
color=blue face=Garamond><span style='font-family:Garamond;color:blue'><br>
</span></font><b><font color=red face=ge><span style='font-family:ge;
color:red;font-weight:bold'>F5 Networks, Inc.</span></font></b><font
color=blue face=ge><span style='font-family:ge;color:blue'> </span></font><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font color=black face=ge><span
style='font-family:ge;color:black'>Spokane</span></font></st1:PlaceName><font
color=black face=ge><span style='font-family:ge;color:black'> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Development</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></span></font></st1:place><br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><font color=black face=ge><span
style='font-family:ge;color:black'>1322 North Whitman Lane</span></font></st1:address></st1:Street><br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font color=black face=ge><span
style='font-family:ge;color:black'>Liberty Lake</span></font></st1:City><font
color=black face=ge><span style='font-family:ge;color:black'>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font color=black
face=ge><span style='font-family:ge;color:black'> 99019</span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=ge><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:ge;color:black'>v: 509-343-3524 f: 509-343-3501<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Georgia><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Lu, Yinghai
[mailto:yinghai.lu@amd.com] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, October 04, 2006
12:05 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Alan Mimms;
linuxbios@linuxbios.org; Andi Kleen<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> RE: [LinuxBIOS] ACPI NVS and
last 64k-ish area of RAM?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>What’s your total RAM installed? 4G
or more. With HW memory hole enable?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>YH<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
linuxbios-bounces@linuxbios.org [mailto:linuxbios-bounces@linuxbios.org] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Alan Mimms<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, October 04, 2006
11:28 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> linuxbios@linuxbios.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [LinuxBIOS] ACPI NVS and
last 64k-ish area of RAM?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>We have AMD dual Opteron hardware with AMD 8131+8111
chipsets attached. Using LinuxBIOS, we have a slight problem, that APPEARS
to be related to the last 64Kbytes of RAM. Our kboot based environment,
running in 32 bit instruction set, seems to randomly crash, and the implicated
area of memory is this last 64KB.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>When we run a commercial BIOS on nearly identical
hardware, we see that that BIOS has created in the E820 table an ACPI
Non-Volatile-Storage area covering this last 64KB. LinuxBIOS is NOT doing
that; LinuxBIOS is treating all of the space as simple USABLE space.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>In trying to figure this out, we have used the AMD HDT
tool to read the last 64KB. We (SOMETIMES) the system crashes when we
read this area using HDT.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>Can someone please explain what this area is for and why
it’s strange to read even using a hardware debugging tool? Is it
REALLY in use for the ACPI NVS, and can we simply tell Linux to ignore it (map
it out) by creating an entry in E820 table so it won’t be used (we
don’t use ACPI suspend/resume)?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'>Thanks very much for any information.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Georgia><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 color=black face=ge><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:ge;color:black'>Alan Mimms, Senior Architect</span></font><font
face=Garamond><span style='font-family:Garamond'><br>
</span></font><b><font color=red face=ge><span style='font-family:ge;
color:red;font-weight:bold'>F5 Networks, Inc.</span></font></b><font face=ge><span
style='font-family:ge'> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font
color=black><span style='color:black'>Spokane</span></font></st1:PlaceName><font
color=black><span style='color:black'> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Development</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></span></font></st1:place><br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><font color=black><span
style='color:black'>1322 North Whitman Lane</span></font></st1:address></st1:Street><br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font color=black><span
style='color:black'>Liberty Lake</span></font></st1:City><font color=black><span
style='color:black'>, <st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font
color=black><span style='color:black'> 99019</span></font></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 color=black face=ge><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:ge;color:black'>v: 509-343-3524 f: 509-343-3501<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>