Re: RFD: Should we remove the HLT check? (was Re: [PATCH 1/8] x86: avoid check hlt if no timer interrupts)

Alan Cox
2010-05-07T22:19:25Z

> I'd be cool skipping it for family 5 or newer. I'm just wondering if we
> should kill it completely -- IIRC it was only a handful of 386/486
> systems which had problems, usually due to marginal power supplies which
> couldn't handle the noise of a variable load (DOS not having any power
> management would run at a reliable 100% load) -- that's not exactly the
> type of systems which would have survived to modern day.

Also SMM and hardware bugs on some platforms - Cyrix MediaGX 5510 for
example where a hlt at the wrong moment during ATA transfers hung the box
until power cycle. But all old old stuff.

Alan