From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S964938AbVLQUiH (ORCPT ); Sat, 17 Dec 2005 15:38:07 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S964948AbVLQUiG (ORCPT ); Sat, 17 Dec 2005 15:38:06 -0500 Received: from smtp.osdl.org ([65.172.181.4]:24545 "EHLO smtp.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S964943AbVLQUiC (ORCPT ); Sat, 17 Dec 2005 15:38:02 -0500 Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 12:37:29 -0800 From: Andrew Morton To: Patch Devil Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH 2.6] i8xx_tco - Add SuperMicro ICH[56] Pentium 4 watchdog support Message-Id: <20051217123729.498c7919.akpm@osdl.org> In-Reply-To: <1134600697.43a0a1f9de94e@www.paypc.com> References: <1134600697.43a0a1f9de94e@www.paypc.com> X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 2.1.8 (GTK+ 2.8.7; i686-pc-linux-gnu) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Patch Devil wrote: > > Hello friends of LK: > > It seems that SuperMicro P4-based motherboards DO actually have working > watchdog hardware (be sure jumpers *and* BIOS settings are configured > appropriately), however the setup of their internal ports and registers > deviate from canonical Intel specification. > > Because it seems impossible/difficult to do a proper auto-detection for these > deviations, I've added a module_param to the TCO module to provide minor > changes to the existing i8xx TCO code. I've given it some testing on i845 > (Northwood P4) and E7520 (Nacona/EM64T SMP-Xeon) and it does indeed activate > watchdog (reset/reboot) functionality and provide WDT resets to keep the > system up. > > SuperMicro had provided me with some documentation for their Pentium III > motherboards, however I was not able to ever get it functioning on my SSE370+, > however I've incorporated the logic as documented as a bit of a "bookmark" for > future implementors who MAY be lucky to have P3 SuperMicros with working WDT > functionality. > > My patch activates the watchdog even if the BIOS setting disables it, however > it cannot override the jumper on the motherboard. > > Naturally, users should do two-way testing before deploying this on production > hardware: 1) Verify that the watchdog IS actually able to reset the machine -- > so you'll need to deliberately lockup or kill the WDT refresh and make sure > the machine reboots, and then 2) Verify that the watchdog timer is being > properly reset. > > This patch was made against 2.6.13.2, and I provide some background detail in > the patched source. > > I've had this working in production for a couple of months now without any > issues. Of course, these very reliable systems never lockup (typical uptimes > are over 300-400 days, and are rebooted for kernel upgrades only). But hey, I > was a bit annoyed that an advertised feature wasn't available to me. > > Cheers, > Robert > Thanks for doing this work. Unfortunately we shouldn't be merging nontrivial patches from new contributors with names like "Robert the Patch Devil" ;) Please review Section 11 of Documentation/SubmittingPatches.txt and, if you find the terms there to be acceptable, resend the patch with a Signed-off-by: and your real name, thanks.