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Date:      Fri, 24 Mar 1995 19:35:31 +1000
From:      Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
To:        FreeBSD-hackers@FreeBSD.org, wilko@yedi.iaf.nl
Subject:   Re: obscure NMI
Message-ID:  <199503240935.TAA12296@godzilla.zeta.org.au>

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>Any suggestions on:
>	 NMI port 61 a0, port 70 7f, port 461 10
>?

>This happens just after the npx probe message is displayed on _every_
>boot (1.1.5). The system board is a Philips P3464 EISA, with 20Mb mem.

NMI was used on XTs for reporting FPU exceptions.  It is even less
suitable for this purpose than the IRQ13 used on AT's, but XTs have
even less spare interrupts than AT's and 8086's don't even generate
exceptions for illegal opcodes.

The npx probe generates an FPU exception.  Perhaps the P3464 generates
both IRQ13 and NMI for reporting FPU exceptions.  This braindamage is
required for compatibility but it is usually implemented in software
(by jumping from the IRQ13 handler to the NMI handler after dismissing
the IRQ13).

Bruce



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