On Tue, 6 Jun 2000, Richard B. Johnson wrote:
> Not correct. If you send a bad descriptor to INT 0x15, function 0x87,
> the processor will reset (crash). The shutdown-byte is checked early
I can't recall Linux using INT 0x15, function 0x87... This is
irrelevant.
> Now, imagine what happens if the machine was just started from a
> cold-boot and 0x09 was found in the CMOS shutdown byte. This will
> result in a crash requiring an on-site reset. The reset will work,
> because POST will have changed the shutdown byte to 0 before it
> did the '0x09 thing'. However, you need to physically be there.
If you start from a cold-boot, the BIOS checks for a cold startup
condition in the 8042 before checking the shutdown byte. It's usually
just after executing a far jump at 0xf000:0xfff0. There is only a smsw
in-between to check the BIOS is really in the real mode. For a cold
startup the shutdown byte is ignored and the POST is performed. Zeroing
of the shutdown byte is a standard step of the POST.
If your BIOS does not perform like this, complain to your vendor -- it's
a standard sequence since 80286.
> That is the purpose of the sequence. It is hardly dangerous. Its
> specific purpose is to cause another NMI if the latch is still set.
Surely -- the problem is it cannot be easily done without a side effect
of reprogramming the index.
> You could have the time be off by a maximum of 59 seconds. Since
> it's BCD, there is an additional probability consideration since
> the registers will mask (not wrap) to '99', which is '99' - '59' ='40'
> so with all bits set on a crash, it's most likely that the time will
> be off by 40 seconds.
If you use the RTC as a fallback NTP reference clock you may make your
network clients unhappy.
-- + Maciej W. Rozycki, Technical University of Gdansk, Poland + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + e-mail: macro@ds2.pg.gda.pl, PGP key available +- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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