Xen users - Nov 2008 - RE: GPL PV Intermittent Network Problems (HAL Issue)

Okay, well, stumbled upon the following site:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12269

The site gives instructions for setting up a boot entry that specifies
the new HAL DLL that you want to use (extracting the new DLL and then
using the /hal= switch to tell Windows to use that HAL).  After you boot
with that /hal option, Windows permanently installs the new HAL and then
asks you to reboot.  After the reboot, the new HAL is installed and the
XEN drivers are getting the proper IRQs and functioning correctly.

Thanks for the help James & Dustin - just took a little pointing to get
me going in the right direction.  

-Nick

-----Original Message-----
From: Dustin Henning <Dustin.Henning@prd-inc.com>
Reply-To: Dustin.Henning@prd-inc.com
To: 'Nick Couchman' <Nick.Couchman@seakr.com>,
james.harper@bendigoit.com.au
Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] GPL PV Intermittent Network Problems
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:00:39 -0500

If you’re feeling bold and daring, just switch it, but have a backup
handy.  In some cases it will work, in others it won’t.  There is good
documentation out there, but I  don’t  have hand links to any of it.
Here is what I am suggesting:

1)      Device Manager

2)      Right click on Advanced Configuration and Power Interface PC

3)      Click Update Driver

4)      Select Advanced (Install from a list or specific location)

5)      Select Don’t Search. I will choose the driver to install

6)      Uncheck the “Show compatible hardware” box if necessary (it
probably isn’t)

7)      Choose ACPI Uniprocessor PC

8)      Proceed through the remaining steps and reboot

As I said, you should certainly have a backup ready, but I believe this
should work (assuming XP/2003 or newer), I’m not sure it was that easy
in 2000, my MCSE class back then said no, but could have been wrong.
Good luck,

                Dustin

 

From:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Nick
Couchman
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 09:52
To: james.harper@bendigoit.com.au
Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] GPL PV Intermittent Network Problems


 

Well, I've just stumbled upon another couple of things that seem to be
causing the problem.  First, in looking at the Computer type (Device
Manager -> Computer Name -> Computer), the working ones all have
"ACPI
Uniprocessor PC" and the two that don't work have "Advanced
Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC."  On the surface, this
seems to be about the same - even looking at the driver version, date,
etc., yields the same information.  However, if I go to the Details tab
of this device and look at "Hardware Ids," I see that the
"Advanced
Configuration...PC" shows "acpipic_up" whereas the "ACPI
Uniprocessor
PC" shows "acpiapic_up."  So, the computer types are actually
different,
and, just like when you switch from a single processor to a
multiprocessor configuration, Windows is incapable of picking up the
change from a non-APIC (PIC, I guess??) machine (VM) to an APIC machine
(VM), even though I've switched over the Xen configuration.

Furthermore, if I look at the Device Manager and view as "Resources by
Type" and look at IRQs, the machine that is failing doesn't have ANY
devices assigned an IRQ over 15 whereas the ones that work have a few
other devices (besides the Xen ones) assigned IRQs over 15.

Guess it comes down to a HAL issue at this point - anyone have any good
hints or documents for switching out the HAL?

-Nick


-----Original Message-----
From: James Harper <james.harper@bendigoit.com.au>
To: Nick Couchman <Nick.Couchman@seakr.com>,
xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] GPL PV Intermitent Network Problems
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:29:23 +1100


 
Nick,
 
I have built a xenpci.sys that will tell Windows not to give it an IRQ
under 16. Other than testing that it doesn't crash I haven't given it
any other testing. You can download it at:
http://www.meadowcourt.org/downloads/xenpci.sys.no_irq_under_16.xp.bin
 
rename the downloaded file to xenpci.sys and copy it to
c:\windows\system32\drivers, then reboot.
 
I also have a windows 2003 version there.
 
If, for some reason, windows won't assign an irq > 16 to it then a boot
with /GPLPV will probably fail (bug check 0x7b), but you should still be
able to reboot without /GPLPV.
 
Let me know how it goes. If it boots, assigns an irq > 16, and your
stability problems go away, then I'll keep the fix in there.
 
Thanks
 
James
                                    
________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the
sole use of the intended recipient. If this email is not intended for
you, or you are not responsible for the delivery of this message to the
intended recipient, please note that this message may contain SEAKR
Engineering (SEAKR) Privileged/Proprietary Information. In such a case,
you are strictly prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing
or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way.
If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately
by replying to this e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox.
Information contained in this message that does not relate to the
business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to SEAKR. 





This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of
the intended recipient.  If this email is not intended for you, or you are not
responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please
note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR)
Privileged/Proprietary Information.  In such a case, you are strictly prohibited
from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message,
its contents or attachments in any way.  If you have received this message in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the
message from your mailbox.  Information contained in this message that does not
relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to
SEAKR.


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

> Okay, well, stumbled upon the following site:
> http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12269
> 
> The site gives instructions for setting up a boot entry that specifies
the
> new HAL DLL that you want to use (extracting the new DLL and then
using
> the /hal= switch to tell Windows to use that HAL).  After you boot
with
> that /hal option, Windows permanently installs the new HAL and then
asks
> you to reboot.  After the reboot, the new HAL is installed and the XEN
> drivers are getting the proper IRQs and functioning correctly.
> 
> Thanks for the help James & Dustin - just took a little pointing to
get me
> going in the right direction.
> 
Please get back to me in a few days just to confirm that things are
still running well (eg that the IRQ thing definitely changed things for
the better).

Making Windows do the right thing with IRQ''s etc was really hard, I
tried quite a few different approaches and this was the best one I could
come up with. It is a pity that it doesn''t work with apic=0, but I
don''t
think that there is a valid reason these days why you would set apic=0.
Previously (xen 3.0.x) it was required to make some versions of windows
work.

I may keep the code in there that causes a fail when the no IRQ''s >=
16
are available. It sounds like IRQ''s < 16 don''t work
properly and given
the choice between ''appearing to work but crashing in strange
ways'' and
''not working at all'', I''d prefer the latter.
It''s easier to get to the
bottom of :)

James

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

James,
I''ll definitely keep an eye on it for the next few days.  I''m
fairly confident that was the issue, as the results were an almost instant
improvement in the functionality of the network card.
 
I agree with what you''re saying about making it fail when the IRQ is
under 16 - the thought that crossed my mind is that if it were the XEN SCSI
(VBD) driver that decided to work intermittently, there could be some more
serious issues in terms of the integrity of the data written to disk.  Better to
get a BSOD on boot up because the PCI driver cannot get the correct IRQ than run
the system for a while and have a BSOD and FS corruption because of an IRQ
conflict.
 
Anyway, thanks, again, for the assistance, and for your work on these drivers!
 
-Nick
>>> "James Harper" <james.harper@bendigoit.com.au>
2008/11/11 19:39 >>>
> Okay, well, stumbled upon the following site:
> http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12269 
> 
> The site gives instructions for setting up a boot entry that specifies
the
> new HAL DLL that you want to use (extracting the new DLL and then
using
> the /hal= switch to tell Windows to use that HAL).  After you boot
with
> that /hal option, Windows permanently installs the new HAL and then
asks
> you to reboot.  After the reboot, the new HAL is installed and the XEN
> drivers are getting the proper IRQs and functioning correctly.
> 
> Thanks for the help James & Dustin - just took a little pointing to
get me
> going in the right direction.
> 
Please get back to me in a few days just to confirm that things are
still running well (eg that the IRQ thing definitely changed things for
the better).

Making Windows do the right thing with IRQ''s etc was really hard, I
tried quite a few different approaches and this was the best one I could
come up with. It is a pity that it doesn''t work with apic=0, but I
don''t
think that there is a valid reason these days why you would set apic=0.
Previously (xen 3.0.x) it was required to make some versions of windows
work.

I may keep the code in there that causes a fail when the no IRQ''s >=
16
are available. It sounds like IRQ''s < 16 don''t work
properly and given
the choice between ''appearing to work but crashing in strange
ways'' and
''not working at all'', I''d prefer the latter.
It''s easier to get to the
bottom of :)

James


This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of
the intended recipient.  If this email is not intended for you, or you are not
responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please
note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR)
Privileged/Proprietary Information.  In such a case, you are strictly prohibited
from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message,
its contents or attachments in any way.  If you have received this message in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the
message from your mailbox.  Information contained in this message that does not
relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to
SEAKR.


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users