DOCUMENT:Q126349 03-NOV-1999 [win16ddk] TITLE :PRB: FastDisk BusMaster DMA Disk Devices Crashes When Paging PRODUCT :Microsoft Windows Device Driver Kit PROD/VER::3.1 OPER/SYS: KEYWORDS: ====================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in this article applies to: - Microsoft Windows Device Development Kit (DDK) for Windows, version 3.1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPTOMS ======== The FastDisk device driver crashes once paging starts to occur on BusMastering DMA disk controller. CAUSE ===== The snooper hardware on the i486 and Pentium processors does not properly detect when a BusMaster device has written to pages in memory. Therefore, the dirty bit in these pages does not get set. The PAGESWAP device in Windows enhanced mode relies on the dirty bit for paging. Therefore, when a paging request is made, the pages do not get updated, so new code or data is not paged in. This causes any application that was paging in code or data to crash on invalid data in the regions that should have been paged in. RESOLUTION ========== In the fastdisk driver's BDD_Hw_Int_Proc, which is called when the command completes, the fastdisk driver should touch all pages that were updated by the BusMaster DMA by doing a DWORD READ/WRITE BACK on the first DWORD in each page. This will cause the cache to set the dirty bit in each of the affected pages manually, and cause the PAGESWAP device to function correctly. Additional query words: 3.10 ====================================================================== Keywords : Technology : kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbWinDDKSearch kbWinDDK310 Version : :3.1 ============================================================================= THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1999.