Anish's Weblog

Anish's Weblog
Anish's Weblog

Wednesday November 08, 2006

New misc module: pcie(7d) for x64 Solaris

PCI Express x64 Install errors: post Solaris Express Build 53

In case Solaris Express installation fails or hangs on your PCI Express system, then discard the previous suggested workaround per x64_solaris_installation_could_fail. Solaris Express Build 53 introduces a new module for x64 PCI Express Error handling called - pcie(7d). This is same as on the SPARC based machines. The workaround is now:

Step 1: Boot with -kd option

Do break into the GRUB menu editor and append "-kd" to
the line that begins with "kernel ..."

When Solaris boots, it will pause at the kernel debugger prompt.

Step 2: Set a kernel breakpoint for the symbol "attach_drivers" thus:
[0]> ::bp -d -n 1 attach_drivers
[0]> :c

Step 3: Disable PCI Express Error Handling thus:
[0]> pcie`pcie_error_disable_flag/W 1
[0]> :c

Step 4: To make this setting permanent, append to /etc/system
set pcie:pcie_errror_disable_flag = 1

A more permanent solution is in the works.

Posted by anish ( Nov 08 2006, 09:22:31 AM PST ) Permalink

Friday June 09, 2006

x64: Solaris Installation could fail with certain PCI Express chipsets

Solaris Express x64 Installation failures with certain PCI Express Chipsets

Solaris Express x64 installation, after PCI Express support was added, could fail with certain
PCI Express chipsets. This is specially seen with ATI's RS480 chipsets. It has been fixed in
Solaris Express Build 41. Interim, if you run into this, you could apply this workaround:

Step 1: Boot with -kd option
You could break into GRUB menu editor
and append "-kd" to the line that begins with "kernel ..."

When Solaris boots, it will stop at the kernel debugger.

Step 2: Set a debugger breakpoint for the symbol "attach_drivers" thus:
::bp -d -n 1 attach_drivers
:c

Solaris will hit above breakpoint
Step 3: Disable Error Handling
npe`pcie_error_disable_flag/W 1
:c

Step 4: This setting could be made permanent by adding this line to /etc/system
set npe:pcie_errror_disable_flag = 1

Note that, above is not needed post Solaris Express Build 41.

Technorati Tag: OpenSolaris Technorati Tag: Solaris Posted by anish ( Jun 09 2006, 09:41:46 AM PDT ) Permalink

Monday January 30, 2006

SX 1/06: PCIe x86
See What's new for SX 1/06 for details on x86: PCI Express Support.

Technorati Tag: OpenSolaris Technorati Tag: Solaris
Posted by anish ( Jan 30 2006, 02:22:30 PM PST ) Permalink

Tuesday December 27, 2005

PCIe support for x86

"x86" Support for PCI Express (PCIe)

OpenSolaris b28 onwards provides support for the PCIe (PCIe) interconnect which is designed to interconnect peripheral devices to desktop, enterprise, mobile, communcation, and embedded applications. For details on PCIe serial I/O bus see PCI SIG.

With Opensolaris b28 release onwards the followin features are being provided

Support for PCIe extended configuration space
New nexus drivers for PCIe (npe(7d)) and PCIe to PCI bridge (pcie_pci(7d))

On PCIe systems npe(7d) replaces pci(7d)
This can be viewed through prtconf(1m)

Support for MSI interrupts and PCIe baseline error handling
Modified IEEE-1275 properties (device_type shows 'pciex' )

Any OpenSolaris drivers that look for device_type "pci" should also look for "pciex"

Support for PCIe hotplug (both ACPI based and Native PCIe).

Provided via cfgadm(1m) CLI by modifying cfgadm_pci(1m)
ATTN Button usage based PCIe peripheral auto-configuration
Administrative model for PCIe hotplug is akin to PCI

Posted by anish ( Dec 27 2005, 07:04:45 PM PST ) Permalink