From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 9 19:24:56 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BD33716A4CE for ; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 19:24:56 -0800 (PST) Received: from red.csi.cam.ac.uk (red.csi.cam.ac.uk [131.111.8.70]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8D4A443D31 for ; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 19:24:56 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from br260@cam.ac.uk) Received: from br260.wolfson.cam.ac.uk ([131.111.242.109] helo=[192.168.0.2]) by red.csi.cam.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.12) id 1B0uL1-00069d-00 for freebsd-current@freebsd.org; Wed, 10 Mar 2004 03:24:55 +0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v612) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Resent-Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 03:24:56 +0000 Message-Id: <80F268D6-7242-11D8-BBA4-000A9576014E@cam.ac.uk> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Resent-To: Current FreeBSD From: Bin Ren Resent-Message-Id: <71D11378-7242-11D8-BBA4-000A9576014E@cam.ac.uk> Resent-From: Bin Ren Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 03:24:31 +0000 To: Eric Anderson X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.612) Resent-Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 03:24:55 +0000 Subject: Re: garbage string as cpu identifier X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 03:24:56 -0000 On 10 Mar 2004, at 02:46, Eric Anderson wrote: > Julian wrote: >> Bin Ren writes: >>> The patch is not to 'fix' your problem by replacing garbage >>> string with a sane one, but rather to make sure on your >>> Athlon CPU, 'cpuid' does return garbage string expectedly. >>> This could mean a very tricky software initialization bug >>> or even a hardware bug. After confirming fault 'cpuid', >>> I'll try to find the very reason and fix it. >> Perhaps not as unusual as reporting garbage, my CPU (AMD Athlon XP >> 2400+) claims to be "Unknown CPU Type". E.g. mprime chokes on this and >> detects it as Cyrix... Could this be fixed by a BIOS upgrade? >> CPU: Unknown CPU Type (2008.53-MHz 686-class CPU) >> Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0x681 Stepping = 1 >> >> Features=0x383fbff> E,MCA,CM >> OV,PAT,PSE36,MMX,FXSR,SSE> >> AMD Features=0xc0400000 > > No - the cpuid ("Id = 0x681") is not in the BIOS. FreeBSD needs to be > updated to recognize it. > I think (a guess) that the appropriate file to look at is: > /usr/src/sys/i386/i386/identcpu.c Now, I'm almost certain that all these unrecognized CPU type and garbage CPU ID is due to flawed BIOS. First, for all details regarding 'cpuid' on AMD Duron and Athlon, please read 'AMD processor recognition application note': http://www.darkmoonbbs.org/files/doc_tech/20734.pdf On page 15, it says 'the name string must be programmed into processor by the BIOS'. The FreeBSD 'identcpu.c' codes are up-to-date and consistent with 'cpuid' extension functions. After all, most users detect CPU type correctly. So, the answer very likely turns out to be: flawed BIOS. Update your BIOS and good luck. -- Bin