linux-kernel - Re: [tip:x86/setup] x86, setup: "glove box" BIOS calls -- infrastructure

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Message-ID: <49E41447.2060400@zytor.com>
Date:	Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:42:47 -0700
From:	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
To:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>
CC:	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...ux.intel.com>,
	alan-jenkins@...fmail.co.uk, Avi Kivity <avi@...hat.com>,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Pavel Machek <pavel@....cz>, mingo@...hat.com,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, tglx@...utronix.de, rjw@...k.pl,
	linux-tip-commits@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [tip:x86/setup] x86, setup: "glove box" BIOS calls --	infrastructure

Ingo Molnar wrote:
> 
> ... looks like an x86 descriptor table. Does the pattern below make 
> any sense to anyone? I've attached the relevant bits of one of the 
> reports below.
> 

It's weird... it's clearly not random, but the pattern is shifting all
over the place.  Almost makes me want to guess some kind of bitmask (the
0xaaaaaa00 bit and the stretches of 00 and ff kind of hint that way) but
even then it doesn't really seem to make a whole lot of sense.  Perhaps
it's a data segment of some code which is barfing on memory.

960 bytes at 0xc000 (48K)... almost makes one wonder if someone confused
address 0xc000 with segment 0xc000 (the VGA BIOS)...

	-hpa

-- 
H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open Source Technology Center
I work for Intel.  I don't speak on their behalf.

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