amd64/129315: amd64 motherboard: Intel DG965WH motherboard compatibility with AMD64

[Robert Brown]

>Number:         129315
>Category:       amd64
>Synopsis:       amd64 motherboard: Intel DG965WH motherboard compatibility with AMD64
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    freebsd-amd64
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Sun Nov 30 23:00:05 UTC 2008
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Robert Brown
>Release:        8.0-CURRENT
>Organization:
None
>Environment:
N/A - Kernel will not boot
>Description:
On the Intel DG965WH motherboard, FreeBSD will not boot.  I am using the Intel DG965WH motherboard as described here:
http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/dg965wh/sb/d5600801us.pdf
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/dg965wh/dg965wh-overview.htm

The kernel does not panic; the system simply gets to the same point during an initial bootup and then reboots as if the 'reset' button on the front of the machine was pressed. Generally this happens after the 'em0' device is initialized but before any disks are detected or mounted. This behavior is consistent with 6.3-RELEASE, 6.4-RELEASE, 7.0-RELEASE, and 7.1-BETA2 using the bootonly installation ISOs. 

There is an interesting difference using the 200811 snapshot ISO for FreeBSD 8. On this kernel bootup, it does not just reset the computer but hangs/freezes during the boot. The good news is that I am able to capture the output at the point that it freezes:

-- BEGIN CAPTURED OUTPUT --

pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
pci0: domain=0, physical bus=0
found ->	vendor=0x8086, dev=0x29a0, revid=0x02
		domain=0, bus=0, slot=0, func=0
		class=06-00-00, hdrtype=0x00, mfdev=0
		cmdreg=0x0006, statreg=0x2090, cachelnsz=0 (dwords)
		lattimer=0x00 (0ns), mingnt=0x00 (0 ns), maxlat=0x00 (0 ns)
found ->	vendor=0x8086, dev=0x29a2, revid=0x02
		domain=0, bus=0, slot=2, func=0
		class=03-00-00, hdrtype=0x00, mfdev=0
		cmdreg=0x0007, statreg=0x0090, cachelnsz=0 (dwords)
		lattimer=0x00 (0 ns), mingnt=0x00 (0 ns), maxlat=0x00 (0 ns)
		intpin=a, irq=11
		powerspec 2 supports D0 D3 current D0
		MSI supports 1 message
		map[10]: type Memory, range 32, base 0xd0200000, size 20, enabled

-- END CAPTURED OUTPUT --

At that point it just stops booting and sits there. The machine must be physically reset.

OK, so this tells me that it could have something to do with the PCI bus and/or disk controller. To troubleshoot, I first made sure I was on the latest BIOS release 1754, which is the latest release as of 11/08. Next, I went into the BIOS configuration and configured it as follows. The idea was to disable everything possible to narrow down the cause.

Advanced -> Boot Configuration:
-- Numlock: On
-- Max CPUID Value Limit: Disable
-- Display Setup Prompt: On

Advanced -> Peripheral Configuration:
-- Serial Port: Disable
-- Parallel Port: Disable
-- Audio: Disable
-- On-board LAN: Disable
-- Onboard 1394: Disable

Advanced -> Drive Configuration:
-- ATA/IDE Mode: Legacy (Other option is 'Native')
-- S.M.A.R.T.: Enable
-- Hard Disk Pre-Delay: No

NOTE: Changing ATA/IDE mode to "Native" allows another option, which is "Configure SATA As" with three choices - IDE, RAID, and AHCI. I have tried with every combination as follows:

1) Legacy - Produces errors as described above
2) Native, IDE - Hangs after pcib0 and pci0 lines, no 'found' lines
3) Native, RAID - Produces errors as described above
4) Native, AHCI - Produces errors as described above

Advanced -> Floppy Configuration:
<Disabled>

Advanced -> Video Configuration:
-- DVMT Mode: DVMT
-- IGD DVMT Memory: 128mb
-- IGD Aperture Size: 256mb
-- Primary Video Adaptor: auto

Advanced -> Chipset Configuration -> Memory Configuration
-- SDRAM Control: Automatic (800Mhz, 5.0-5-5-18)

Advanced -> Chipset Configuration
-- PCI Latency Timer: 32
-- HPET: Enable

Advanced -> USB Configuration
-- USB Ports: Disable


That's it for the relevant BIOS settings. Note that there are no USB or Firewire devices connected and there are no PCI or other cards of any sort plugged in to this system. It is the motherboard, CPU, RAM, a single ATA100 hard drive of type ST3160812A, and a DVD-ROM of type HL-DT-STDVD-ROM. 

This same system can and does run Fedora Linux. There are a few special boot options that are required to boot Linux properly, as described in this link:
http://www.gvenkat.com/archives/2007/08/09/gentoo-linux-20070-intel-dg965wh-and-ide-cddvd-drives/

Specifically, the Linux kernel wants the options "all-generic-ide pci=nommconf" which I am not very familiar with. The same problems of rebooting on kernel boot happened with Linux until those options were passed to the kernel. 

Under Linux, it appears that the pci=nommconf boot option tells the kernel not to probe the PCI hardware. I am wondering if there is something similar for FreeBSD.

>How-To-Repeat:
Boot the install media for any FreeBSD release, 6.3, 6.4, 7.0, 7.1-BETA2, or the 200811 snapshot of FreeBSD 8.
>Fix:
None at this time. I expect that there may be some special kernel boot option similar to what is required on Linux. 

I can capture any and all debugging information requested for this issue as well. Let me know what is needed and I'm happy to help. 

Suggestions, comments, or questions are welcome. Thanks!

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: