Intel P6 / AMD K7 MTRRs management IOCtl PDD, ver.0.06b

0. Table of Contents

0. Table of Contents
1. Welcome
- 1.1. Copyright and Disclaimer
- 1.2. System Requirements
- 1.3. Contact Author
- 1.4. Revision History
2. How to Use
- 2.1. Driver Installation
- 2.2. How to Apply Write-Combining to Video Frame Buffer Aperture
3. P6K7MTRR.sys Device IOCtl Reference
- 3.1. Constants and Structures
- 3.2. Precautions and Limitations
- 3.3. DosDevIOCtl() Interface
  - 3.3.1. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT (40h)
  - 3.3.2. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRDEFTYPE (41h)
  - 3.3.3. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRFIXEDRANGE (42h)
  - 3.3.4. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRVARIABLERANGE (43h)
  - 3.3.5. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRCAP (60h)
  - 3.3.6. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRDEFTYPE (61h)
  - 3.3.7. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRFIXEDRANGE (62h)
  - 3.3.8. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRVARIABLERANGE (63h)
4. Troubleshooting
5. Credits

1. Welcome

P6K7MTRR.sys is a simple interface physical device driver (PDD) that can manage Memory Type Range Registers (MTRRs) of Intel P6^* / AMD K7^** series processors. Programmer can query/modify any MTRR settings via DosDevIOCtl() API, from non-Ring0 privileges.
A sample executable, VFBWC.exe, sets MTRR write-combining strategy to video frame buffer aperture. It can often improve graphic performance, especially DIVE.
Free to use, under the GNU LGPL.

^* P6 includes PentiumPro, PentiumII, Celeron and PentiumIII.
^** K7 includes Athlon and Duron.

1.1. Copyright and Disclaimer

'THIS SOFTWARE AND WHOLE SET OF DOCUMENTS' (CALLED 'THE PACKAGE') ARE ENTIRELY COPYRIGHTED BY TAKAYUKI 'JANUARY JUNE' SUWA/BELIEFIA PRODUCTIONS, AUTHOR/HOLDER OF THE PRODUCT.
THIS PACKAGE IS DISTRIBUTED UNDER THE "GNU LESSER PUBLIC LICENSE" (LGPL). IT CLAIMS:
- YOU CAN USE OR INCLUDE A COMPILED VERSION OF THIS SOFTWARE (P6K7MTRR.SYS/VFBWC.EXE) WITH OTHER SOFTWARES.
- YOU CANNOT INCLUDE ANY SOURCE CODE FROM THIS SOFTWARE, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF FILES WHOSE ONLY PURPOSE IS TO DESCRIBE THE LIBRARY INTERFACE (SUCH AS P6K7MTRR.H).
- ANY MODIFICATIONS OF THIS SOFTWARE MUST BE RELEASED UNDER THE LGPL.
- YOU MUST GIVE PROMINENT NOTICE THAT YOUR PROGRAM IS:
  1. USING THIS SOFTWARE (INCLUDING VERSION/REVISION NUMBER).
  2. THIS SOFTWARE IS UNDER THE LGPL.
  3. PROVIDE A COPY OF THE LGPL. (THE FILE COPYING CONTAINS THE LGPL)
  4. PRIVIDE A COPY OF SOURCE OF THIS SOFTWARE, OR POINTER WHERE THE SOURCE CAN BE OBTAINED (SUCH AS ANONYMOUS FTP ARCHIVE URI).
SEE "COPYING" FOR DETAIL.
THE PACKAGE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR TORT (INCLUDED NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THE PRODUCT, EVEN THOUGH SUCH HOLDER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY DAMAGE.

1.2. System Requirements

This software will be functioned in environment such as:

OS/2 version 3 or later (Warp v3 / WarpServer v4 / Warp v4 / WSeB / MCP / ACP / eCS, uniprocessor or multiprocessor)
In order to set MTRRs to all CPUs, version 4.5 or later (Warp v4 w/FP13+, WSeB, MCP, ACP or eCS) are required.
Intel P6 / AMD K7 series processor

In development, some P6/K7 MTRRs knowledge are of course required.

1.3. Contact Author

Email to Takayuki 'January June' Suwa:

mailto:jjsuwa@sys3175.com

1.4. Revision History

ver.0.01 - December 1st,1999
1. Initial release.
ver.0.02 - December 4th,1999
1. (P6MTRR.sys) Added parameter/data checking.
2. (P6MTRR.h) Added some comments/constants.
3. (P6MTRR.sym) Included for kernel debugger.
ver.0.03 - January 3rd,2000
1. (P6MTRR.sys) Added P6 fast string feature management IOCtl, P6MTRR_QRYFASTSTRING / P6MTRR_QRYFASTSTRING.
2. (P6MTRR.h) Added P6MTRR_QRYFASTSTRING / P6MTRR_QRYFASTSTRING constants/structure definition.
3. (P6MTRR.asm/P6MTRR.def) Included source. In order to build, use ALP and LINK386.
ver.0.04 - January 17th,2000
1. (P6K7MTRR.sys) Renamed to P6K7MTRR.sys due to support AMD K7(Athlon). Obsoleted P6 fast string feature management.
2. (P6K7MTRR.h) Renamed filename and symbols. Removed P6MTRR_QRYFASTSTRING / P6MTRR_QRYFASTSTRING constants/structure definition.
3. (P6K7MTRR.asm/P6K7MTRR.def) Renamed.
4. (VFBWC.exe) Rewrote wholly.
5. (READMEJ) Added Japanese documentation.
ver.0.04 r2 - January 19th,2000
1. (VFBWC.exe) Improved video frame buffer size detection. Added -1 option for frational video frame buffer size.
ver.0.05 - October 9th,2000
1. (P6K7MTRR.sys) Added resetting to default feature, P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT.
2. (P6K7MTRR.h) Added P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT constant definition.
3. (VFBWC.exe) Changed to reset to default using P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT before applying settings.
4. (README.htm) Renamed/converted from README and enriched contents.
ver.0.05a - October 30th,2000
1. (P6K7MTRR.sys) Reduced resident size slightly.
2. (VFBWC.exe) Added more strict PM activity checking.
ver.0.05a (rev.2) - November 7th,2000
1. (VFBWC.exe) Added experimental Warp4.5-based multiprocessor support.
ver.0.06 - March 23rd,2001
1. (P6K7MTRR.sys) Added /Q switch that surpress any startup messages.
2. (VFBWC.exe) Modified aperture size detection. DIVE feature was no longer required.
ver.0.06a - June 11th,2001
1. (Package) Changed license to LGPL. Now all sources included.
2. (P6K7MTRR.sys) Changed a few messages.
3. (VFBWC.exe) Rewrote wholly in order to enhance Warp4.5-based multiprocessor support.
ver.0.06b - June 23rd,2001
1. (P6K7MTRR.sys) Changed a little (source notations).
2. (VFBWC.exe) Modified aperture size detection to use together with GRADD VMAN if available.

2. How to Use

2.1. Driver Installation

Unzip archive to where you desire. (e.g. C:\P6K7MTRR)
Add
DEVICE=d:\path\P6K7MTRR.sys
line to your CONFIG.SYS. (d and path must be replaced with actual installation drive/path)

Restart your system. If installation successfully, you will see:

P6K7MTRR.sys - Intel P6 / AMD K7 MTRRs management IOCtl PDD, ver.0.06b
Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Takayuki 'January June' Suwa
Intel P6 MTRR feature is found. The driver has been installed.

P6K7MTRR.sys - Intel P6 / AMD K7 MTRRs management IOCtl PDD, ver.0.06b
Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Takayuki 'January June' Suwa
AMD K7 MTRR feature is found. The driver has been installed.

In order not to show any messages, add /Q switch:
DEVICE=d:\path\P6K7MTRR.sys /Q

2.2. How to Apply Write-Combining to Video Frame Buffer Aperture

Run VFBWC.exe from Presentation Manager-aware environment such as WPS OS/2 Windowed VIO. You will see such as:

VFBWC.exe - Video Frame Buffer to Write-Combining for P6K7MTRR.sys, ver.0.08a
Copyright 1999-2001 Takayuki 'January June' Suwa.
 
main memory :
  81920 pages @ 0x00000000, 327680kB -> write-back, valid
video frame buffer aperture :
  576 pages @ 0xe6000000, 2304kB -> write-combining, valid
VGA region (32 pages @ 0x000a0000, 128kB) : as-is
 
in order to apply this setting, rerun with -a option.

In this example, video frame buffer aperture PhysAddr is 0xe6000000 and Pages is 576.

If detection seems true, rerun VFBWC.exe with -a option.
If seems false, add correct PhysAddr in hexadecimal and Pages in decimal such as:
VFBWC e6000000 1024 -a
You will see:
setting has been applied.
In Warp4.5-based multiprocessor environments, VFBWC will apply to all available CPUs automatically.
To apply automatically in startup sequence, add
RUN=d:\path\VFBWC.exe PhysAddr Pages -a
line to your CONFIG.SYS. (d and path must be replaced with actual installation drive/path)
Use of CALL= statement is not recommended, especially in Warp4.5-based multiprocessor environments (causes hang-up).
PhysAddr and Pages also must be specified, because autodetection cannot be used in pre-Presentation Manager environment.
And, for laptop/notebook machines,
RUN=d:\path\VFBWC.exe PhysAddr Pages -a -d
to re-apply automatically after APM suspend resuming.

Run VFBWC.exe with -?, and you will see usage summary and other options:

usage:
  VFBWC.exe  [-options]  [{PhysAddr in hexadecimal}  {Pages in decimal}]
    PhysAddr/Pages is not specified, VFBWC will try to detect physical
    address/pages of video frame buffer aperture.
    (requires Presentation Manager activity)
options:
  -1  rounds Pages up to 1MB granule
  -a  applies settings to MTTRs actually
  -b  rings beep when setting is applied
  -d  goes into daemon mode, waits until APM suspend resuming and re-apply
  -i  turns to invalid settings to video frame buffer aperture /
        uncacheable to VGA region
  -v  also applies write-combining to VGA region
  -?  displays this message

3. P6K7MTRR.sys Device IOCtl Reference

3.1. Constants and Structures

All constants and structures needed for development are defined in P6K7MTRR.h. See also.

3.2. Precautions and Limitations

Be with great care when modifying any MTRRs.
Improper MTRR settings may cause kernel-level crashes or significant poor performance immediately.
One DosDevIOCtl() call will affect one of any CPUs only.
Thus, in multiprocessor environments, multiple DosDevIOCtl() calls must be required with thread-CPU binding such as DosSetThreadAffinity() (Warp4.5+ only). See sources of VFBWC in detail.

3.3. `DosDevIOCtl()` Interface

3.3.1. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT` (40h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT (40h)

Desctiption:

Set all MTRR settings to default

Parameter Packet Format:

None. This pointer should be NULL.

Data Packet Format:

None. This pointer should be NULL.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER: Not supported.

Remarks:

In this function, 'default' means a set of all MTRR settings at initialization of P6K7MTRR.sys in startup sequence.

3.3.2. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRDEFTYPE` (41h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRDEFTYPE (41h)

Desctiption:

Set MTRR default type

Parameter Packet Format:

None. This pointer should be NULL.

Data Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRDEFTYPEDATA. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER: Wrong default memory type is specified.

Remarks:

MTRR enabled flag cannot be 0, because of restriction of P6K7MTRR.sys.

3.3.3. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRFIXEDRANGE` (42h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRFIXEDRANGE (42h)

Desctiption:

Set MTRR fixed ranges

Parameter Packet Format:

None. This pointer should be NULL.

Data Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRFIXEDRANGEDATA. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER: Wrong memory types are specified.

Remarks:

None.

3.3.4. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRVARIABLERANGE` (43h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRVARIABLERANGE (43h)

Desctiption:

Set MTRR variable range

Parameter Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRVARIABLERANGEPARM. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Data Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRVARIABLERANGEDATA. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER: Either wrong index or memory type is specified (or both).

Remarks:

None.

3.3.5. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRCAP` (60h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRCAP (60h)

Desctiption:

Query MTRR capabilities

Parameter Packet Format:

None. This pointer should be NULL.

Data Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRCAPDATA. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.

Remarks:

None.

3.3.6. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRDEFTYPE` (61h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRDEFTYPE (61h)

Desctiption:

Query MTRR default type

Parameter Packet Format:

None. This pointer should be NULL.

Data Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRDEFTYPEDATA. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.

Remarks:

None.

3.3.7. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRFIXEDRANGE` (62h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRFIXEDRANGE (62h)

Desctiption:

Query MTRR fixed ranges

Parameter Packet Format:

None. This pointer should be NULL.

Data Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRFIXEDRANGEDATA. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.

Remarks:

None.

3.3.8. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRVARIABLERANGE` (63h)

Category:

IOCTL_P6K7MTRR (c4h)

Function:

P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRVARIABLERANGE (63h)

Desctiption:

Set MTRR variable range

Parameter Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRVARIABLERANGEPARM. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Data Packet Format:

P6K7MTRRVARIABLERANGEDATA. See also P6K7MTRR.h.

Returns:

NO_ERROR: Success.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER: Wrong index is specified.

Remarks:

None.

4. Troubleshooting

Q. P6K7MTRR.sys cannot be installed on my machine...
A. CPU of your machine is not Intel P6 nor AMD K7 :)
Q. VFBWC autodetection is not functioned...
A. This feature requires PM activity. Or, PM driver of your video card is buggy :)

5. Credits

Development
Special thanks to

Copyright 1999-2001 January June / Yotogi-Hime / Beliefia Productions. All rights reserved.
Beliefia Productions and its logo design are trademarks of Beliefia Productions. All rights reserved.
Other copyrighted works(images, musics, programs, and so on), trademarks and servicemarks in this document are owned by their respective owners.

[This document is HTML3.2(Wilbur)-compliant.]

Intel P6 / AMD K7 MTRRs management IOCtl PDD, ver.0.06b

0. Table of Contents

1. Welcome

1.1. Copyright and Disclaimer

1.2. System Requirements

1.3. Contact Author

1.4. Revision History

2. How to Use

2.1. Driver Installation

2.2. How to Apply Write-Combining to Video Frame Buffer Aperture

3. P6K7MTRR.sys Device IOCtl Reference

3.1. Constants and Structures

3.2. Precautions and Limitations

3.3. DosDevIOCtl() Interface

3.3.1. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT (40h)

3.3.2. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRDEFTYPE (41h)

3.3.3. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRFIXEDRANGE (42h)

3.3.4. P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRVARIABLERANGE (43h)

3.3.5. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRCAP (60h)

3.3.6. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRDEFTYPE (61h)

3.3.7. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRFIXEDRANGE (62h)

3.3.8. P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRVARIABLERANGE (63h)

4. Troubleshooting

5. Credits

3.3. `DosDevIOCtl()` Interface

3.3.1. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRR2DEFAULT` (40h)

3.3.2. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRDEFTYPE` (41h)

3.3.3. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRFIXEDRANGE` (42h)

3.3.4. `P6K7MTRR_SETMTRRVARIABLERANGE` (43h)

3.3.5. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRCAP` (60h)

3.3.6. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRDEFTYPE` (61h)

3.3.7. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRFIXEDRANGE` (62h)

3.3.8. `P6K7MTRR_QRYMTRRVARIABLERANGE` (63h)