From owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jan 22 21:24:58 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1F81816A4CE for ; Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:24:58 -0800 (PST) Received: from tangerine.metron.com (tangerine.metron.com [192.160.193.14]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8E3C243D45 for ; Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:24:56 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from mikeobrien@spamcop.net) Received: from c-24-130-251-202.we.client2.attbi.com (c-24-130-251-202.we.client2.attbi.com [24.130.251.202]) by tangerine.metron.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) with ESMTP id VAA01868 for ; Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:24:53 -0800 (PST) X-Envelope-To: Received: from c-24-130-251-202.we.client2.attbi.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) id i0N5OlPu000268 for ; Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:24:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from mikeobrien@spamcop.net) Message-Id: <200401230524.i0N5OlPu000268@c-24-130-251-202.we.client2.attbi.com> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.6.3 04/04/2003 with nmh-1.0.4 To: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org From: mikeobrien@spamcop.net (Mike O'Brien) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:24:47 -0800 Subject: Dual Xeons on Iwill DP533 motherboard X-BeenThere: freebsd-smp@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD SMP implementation group List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 05:24:58 -0000 I run -STABLE (4.9) on an Iwill DP533 motherboard with dual 2.4GHz Xeon processors. I enable hyperthreading, and till now, I've had to put an ugly little hack into the mp_machdep.c file because the Iwill BIOS reported funny APIC ID numbers for the processors. This note, which is more or less for the archives, is to say that I just upgraded the BIOS on this motherboard to the latest release on the Iwill web site (http://www.iwillusa.com). I had not previously done this because no sane person upgrades the BIOS if it's not giving them any problems. To my shock, it turns out I _was_ having BIOS problems. There have been occasional odd hangs of this machine under XP (it's a dual-boot) though FreeBSD has been solid as a rock. The clincher came when the client for Second Life started hanging the machine every five minutes. In desperation I upgraded the BIOS to the June, 2003 (latest as of this message) release, and the problem went away completely. Apparently interrupts were being misvectored or something. That isn't all. FreeBSD would no longer boot until I disabled hyperthreading in the BIOS setup. On a hunch, I backed out my hack, reenabled hyperthreading, and FreeBSD-STABLE now correctly finds the four virtual processor cores without it. Apparently this update fixes the funny APIC numbering. Anyone running an Iwill DP533 motherboard should install this BIOS upgrade, it seems. Mike O'Brien