Why my driver wasn't loading...

NTDEV
1

In some previous stage of setting this computer up, I had set the /3GB flag
in the boot.ini. For some reason, a 6.x GB driver could not be loaded in
this configuration, but can be loaded when you split the memory equally
between the kernel and user space… Who knows why?

Anyway, the mystery is solved. It was just pure chance that I thought of
checking my boot.ini file…

Thanks to everyone who suggested things to trouble-shoot it. I hope I can
repay by suggesting something useful in the future.

–
Mats

2

Hopefully you mean 6.x MB driver?

KVA is at a real premium with /3GB set - it’s not that surprising that
you couldn’t find a 6.x MB range for your driver with it set.

-p

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 9:51 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

In some previous stage of setting this computer up, I had set the /3GB
flag in the boot.ini. For some reason, a 6.x GB driver could not be
loaded in this configuration, but can be loaded when you split the
memory equally between the kernel and user space… Who knows why?

Anyway, the mystery is solved. It was just pure chance that I thought of
checking my boot.ini file…

Thanks to everyone who suggested things to trouble-shoot it. I hope I
can repay by suggesting something useful in the future.

–
Mats

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

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

3

Yes, I meant 6 something Megs. It appears that it’s only a fee hundred
kilobytes too large, but it’s still too large to fit in the Kernel in that
mode.

Bring on the 64-bit world, I say… (Not that I really need the 3GB in user
mode, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to “fight” for the address
space in this way).

–
Mats

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Wieland [mailto:xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 6:06 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

Hopefully you mean 6.x MB driver?

KVA is at a real premium with /3GB set - it’s not that surprising that
you couldn’t find a 6.x MB range for your driver with it set.

-p

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 9:51 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

In some previous stage of setting this computer up, I had set the /3GB
flag in the boot.ini. For some reason, a 6.x GB driver could not be
loaded in this configuration, but can be loaded when you split the
memory equally between the kernel and user space… Who knows why?

Anyway, the mystery is solved. It was just pure chance that I
thought of
checking my boot.ini file…

Thanks to everyone who suggested things to trouble-shoot it. I hope I
can repay by suggesting something useful in the future.

–
Mats

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

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as:
xxxxx@windows.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: xxxxx@3dlabs.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

4

How is it possible to have a 6.x MB driver? Did you write it in VB script?

Jamey

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:14 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

Yes, I meant 6 something Megs. It appears that it’s only a fee hundred
kilobytes too large, but it’s still too large to fit in the Kernel in that
mode.

Bring on the 64-bit world, I say… (Not that I really need the 3GB in user
mode, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to “fight” for the address
space in this way).

–
Mats

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Wieland [mailto:xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 6:06 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

Hopefully you mean 6.x MB driver?

KVA is at a real premium with /3GB set - it’s not that surprising that
you couldn’t find a 6.x MB range for your driver with it set.

-p

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 9:51 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

In some previous stage of setting this computer up, I had set the /3GB
flag in the boot.ini. For some reason, a 6.x GB driver could not be
loaded in this configuration, but can be loaded when you split the
memory equally between the kernel and user space… Who knows why?

Anyway, the mystery is solved. It was just pure chance that I
thought of
checking my boot.ini file…

Thanks to everyone who suggested things to trouble-shoot it. I hope I
can repay by suggesting something useful in the future.

–
Mats

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

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as:
xxxxx@windows.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: xxxxx@3dlabs.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: xxxxx@storagecraft.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

5

Jamey,

No, we’ve got a large simulator that simulates the next generation graphics
chip. It’s pretty large, to put it mildy. Graphics drivers are rarely small
in the first place, as they have to support a lot of different things with
DirectX and GDI+, but having a full chip simulator easily adds a several
megabytes. This includes that the actual display driver is built in “debug”
mode, which means that code optimisation is non-existant, and a lot of
pessimization exists, including assert() and DebugPrint statements.

Just to scare you: The library file generated from the simulator project is
62.4 MB in release build. But that includes a heap of debug symbols and
other gunk that goes into a library file, so once it’s linked into the DLL,
the final image is between 6 and 7 MB depending on what options are chosen.
The simulator has debug printouts even in release mode, so a lot of
formatting text goes into this as well (because it’s very handy when you’ve
waited three hours for a 3DMark frame to appear on the screen to know what’s
going on when the chip has just stopped [or appear to have stopped] even if
you wanted a release build for speed).

Btw, I think if the simulator was written in VB script, we’d need a lot more
than 6MB to do the driver and simulator… :wink:

The release driver is much smaller. The latest build of the released product
is about 1.4MB, which I’m sure you agree is a reasonable size considering
the work needed in a display driver. I haven’t compared it lately with the
nVidia or ATI driver, but I’m pretty sure we’re not that far off their
sizes. I sure hope that this is small enough to allow our customers to run
with /3GB, as I expect a lot of them will like to do that when they are
doing video editing or advanced CAD stuff…

–
Mats

-----Original Message-----
From: Jamey Kirby [mailto:xxxxx@storagecraft.com]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 6:20 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

How is it possible to have a 6.x MB driver? Did you write it
in VB script?

Jamey

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:14 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

Yes, I meant 6 something Megs. It appears that it’s only a fee hundred
kilobytes too large, but it’s still too large to fit in the
Kernel in that
mode.

Bring on the 64-bit world, I say… (Not that I really need
the 3GB in user
mode, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to “fight” for
the address
space in this way).

–
Mats

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Wieland [mailto:xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com]
> Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 6:06 PM
> To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
> Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…
>
>
> Hopefully you mean 6.x MB driver?
>
> KVA is at a real premium with /3GB set - it’s not that
surprising that
> you couldn’t find a 6.x MB range for your driver with it set.
>
> -p
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
> [mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
> xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
> Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 9:51 AM
> To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
> Subject: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…
>
> In some previous stage of setting this computer up, I had
set the /3GB
> flag in the boot.ini. For some reason, a 6.x GB driver could not be
> loaded in this configuration, but can be loaded when you split the
> memory equally between the kernel and user space… Who knows why?
>
> Anyway, the mystery is solved. It was just pure chance that I
> thought of
> checking my boot.ini file…
>
> Thanks to everyone who suggested things to trouble-shoot
it. I hope I
> can repay by suggesting something useful in the future.
>
> –
> Mats
>
> —
> Questions? First check the Kernel Driver FAQ at
> http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=256
>
> You are currently subscribed to ntdev as:
> xxxxx@windows.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: xxxxx@3dlabs.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: xxxxx@storagecraft.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: xxxxx@3dlabs.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to xxxxx@lists.osr.com

6

I had the same issue many years ago, when we had to start developing drivers
before the chip arrived, but the simulator ran under Unix, and that made our
life simpler.

Alberto.

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com]On Behalf Of Jamey Kirby
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 1:20 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

How is it possible to have a 6.x MB driver? Did you write it in VB script?

Jamey

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:14 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

Yes, I meant 6 something Megs. It appears that it’s only a fee hundred
kilobytes too large, but it’s still too large to fit in the Kernel in that
mode.

Bring on the 64-bit world, I say… (Not that I really need the 3GB in user
mode, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to “fight” for the address
space in this way).

–
Mats

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Wieland [mailto:xxxxx@windows.microsoft.com]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 6:06 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

Hopefully you mean 6.x MB driver?

KVA is at a real premium with /3GB set - it’s not that surprising that
you couldn’t find a 6.x MB range for your driver with it set.

-p

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@3Dlabs.com
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 9:51 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Why my driver wasn’t loading…

In some previous stage of setting this computer up, I had set the /3GB
flag in the boot.ini. For some reason, a 6.x GB driver could not be
loaded in this configuration, but can be loaded when you split the
memory equally between the kernel and user space… Who knows why?

Anyway, the mystery is solved. It was just pure chance that I
thought of
checking my boot.ini file…

Thanks to everyone who suggested things to trouble-shoot it. I hope I
can repay by suggesting something useful in the future.

–
Mats

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

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as:
xxxxx@windows.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: xxxxx@3dlabs.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: xxxxx@storagecraft.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

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7

> the work needed in a display driver. I haven’t compared it lately with the

nVidia or ATI driver, but I’m pretty sure we’re not that far off their

nVidia has around 1.5 to 2 MB for both the DLL and the miniport.

Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation
xxxxx@storagecraft.com
http://www.storagecraft.com