Loading Microcode

NTDEV
1

Can any of you guys point me to some wisdom re loading microcode
into a PCI board from its WDM driver at AddDevice or Start time
? Superficially it looks like flipping a few registers will do,
but I’ve never done it, and there’s no limit to what can go
wrong. Any piece of information will be welcome!

Alberto.

2

Off the top of my head, I know of the following

  1. does your device identify itself differently after you download the
    microcode? If so, power down/up might be painful.
  2. your device must be powered up enough to accept the download.
    AddDevice is not yet the right time. You would do it on the first start
    device.
  3. in what D state does the microcode get lost? Ie when the machine
    goes into standby and returns, you might have to redownload it when you
    process the D0 irp
  4. is your device a demand start or boot start device? the
    availability of the filesystem / storage stack vs when your device
    starts when the machine is booted might be an issue

d

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Alberto Moreira
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 5:55 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Loading Microcode

Can any of you guys point me to some wisdom re loading microcode
into a PCI board from its WDM driver at AddDevice or Start time
? Superficially it looks like flipping a few registers will do,
but I’ve never done it, and there’s no limit to what can go
wrong. Any piece of information will be welcome!

Alberto.

Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at
http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@microsoft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

3

Thanks, Doron! Much appreciated. I hadn’t thought about the
interactions between power management and microcode loading,
I’ll definitely pay good attention to it. The trick of course is
to get our hw guys to speak, but I’ll give it my best try!

Alberto.

----- Original Message -----
From: “Doron Holan”
To: “Windows System Software Devs Interest List”

Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:45 PM
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Loading Microcode

Off the top of my head, I know of the following
1) does your device identify itself differently after you
download the
microcode? If so, power down/up might be painful.
2) your device must be powered up enough to accept the
download.
AddDevice is not yet the right time. You would do it on the
first start
device.
3) in what D state does the microcode get lost? Ie when the
machine
goes into standby and returns, you might have to redownload it
when you
process the D0 irp
4) is your device a demand start or boot start device? the
availability of the filesystem / storage stack vs when your
device
starts when the machine is booted might be an issue

d

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Alberto
Moreira
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 5:55 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Loading Microcode

Can any of you guys point me to some wisdom re loading microcode
into a PCI board from its WDM driver at AddDevice or Start time
? Superficially it looks like flipping a few registers will do,
but I’ve never done it, and there’s no limit to what can go
wrong. Any piece of information will be welcome!

Alberto.

—
Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at
http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as:
xxxxx@microsoft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
xxxxx@lists.osr.com

—
Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at
http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: unknown lmsubst tag
argument: ‘’
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
xxxxx@lists.osr.com