Hotfix for kernel power manager not in SP2?

[Guest Dario]

Hi.

 

Anybody know how to solve the following problem??? I want to power manage

the CPU cores of an AMD Opteron using PoweNow drivers ... however:

 

Seems like a previously solved problem with a hotfix for a deadlock in the

kernel power manager of Win2003 SP1 did not make it into Win2003 SP2. There

seems to be no hotfix at the moment?

 

Whenever I apply the processor driver to the Win2003 SP2 system a problem

with symptoms like kb924441 seems to appear. At some point the system will

stop so I dont use the opteron powernow driver at the moment effectively not

power managing the cores - but we have a green policy here!. So need to fix

this asap.

 

So any advice - ??

 

Regards,

Dario

 

I dropped a reference below to the statements in the MS KB article ...

 

Is KB924441 actually fixed in Windows Server 2003 SP2?

( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924441 )

 

SYMPTOMS

A Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or Microsoft Windows XP-based computer

that is using a dual core or multiprocessor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

processor that supports ACPI processor performance states (AMD PowerNow!) may

stop responding. This problem is most likely to occur when you run a

video-intensive program. However, this problem can occur whenever there is a

processor performance state change.

Back to the top

 

CAUSE

This problem occurs because of a deadlock in the kernel power manager. This

deadlock occurs because of a race condition that can occur when the processor

performance state is changed on an AMD processor.

[Guest Thee Chicago Wolf]

Re: Hotfix for kernel power manager not in SP2?

 

>Hi.

>

>Anybody know how to solve the following problem??? I want to power manage

>the CPU cores of an AMD Opteron using PoweNow drivers ... however:

>

>Seems like a previously solved problem with a hotfix for a deadlock in the

>kernel power manager of Win2003 SP1 did not make it into Win2003 SP2. There

>seems to be no hotfix at the moment?

>

>Whenever I apply the processor driver to the Win2003 SP2 system a problem

>with symptoms like kb924441 seems to appear. At some point the system will

>stop so I dont use the opteron powernow driver at the moment effectively not

>power managing the cores - but we have a green policy here!. So need to fix

>this asap.

>

>So any advice - ??

>

>Regards,

>Dario

>

>I dropped a reference below to the statements in the MS KB article ...

>

>Is KB924441 actually fixed in Windows Server 2003 SP2?

>( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924441 )

>

>SYMPTOMS

>A Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or Microsoft Windows XP-based computer

>that is using a dual core or multiprocessor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

>processor that supports ACPI processor performance states (AMD PowerNow!) may

>stop responding. This problem is most likely to occur when you run a

>video-intensive program. However, this problem can occur whenever there is a

>processor performance state change.

>Back to the top

>

>CAUSE

>This problem occurs because of a deadlock in the kernel power manager. This

>deadlock occurs because of a race condition that can occur when the processor

>performance state is changed on an AMD processor.

 

How about system BIOS? Up to date? Latest PowerNow! drivers for the

CPU as well? I wonder if you can roll back the driver, reboot, and

re-install the PowerNow! drivers freshly. Makes me wonder if SP2

"tweaked" something it wasn't supposed to and it's just one of those

dumb issues that requires the driver to be re-recognized to turn the

functionality back on.

 

What about using a newer set of ntkrnl files from this KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938486/en-us

 

It is odd that it seems broken from SP2 but not entirely impossible

that what should have been incorporated from 924441 got left out or

wasn't entirely regression tested.

 

There's been a bunch of changes to the ntkrnl set since SP2 so it's

worth seeing if KB938486 files help. Some other KB article changes

since SP2 ntkrnl files here in case you want to read.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931308/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935926/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932375/en-us

 

Good luck.

 

- Thee Chicago Wolf

[Guest Dario]

Re: Hotfix for kernel power manager not in SP2?

 

Thanks a lot for the refs to the kernel updates since SP2.

 

I will try that that out.

 

P.s. BIOS up to date and we tried out the latest Opteron CPU drivers from AMD.

Regardin rollback: The drivers has seemed to roll backed nicely, i.e. the

problems from performance state changes goes away when you uninstall the

PowerNow drivers. Besides the processor driver (PowerNow) we used the

complementing Power Monitor to watch power states changes in the cores - and

in this sense the processor driver seems to install / uninstall corretctly -

again and gang. But I will also try out what you suggest about looking at

into the registry, file system etc. and clean it form any left overs if there

.... and then install the PowerNow drivers.

 

BTW We're awaiting an answer from AMD on this whole issue.

 

 

"Thee Chicago Wolf" wrote:

> >Hi.

> >

> >Anybody know how to solve the following problem??? I want to power manage

> >the CPU cores of an AMD Opteron using PoweNow drivers ... however:

> >

> >Seems like a previously solved problem with a hotfix for a deadlock in the

> >kernel power manager of Win2003 SP1 did not make it into Win2003 SP2. There

> >seems to be no hotfix at the moment?

> >

> >Whenever I apply the processor driver to the Win2003 SP2 system a problem

> >with symptoms like kb924441 seems to appear. At some point the system will

> >stop so I dont use the opteron powernow driver at the moment effectively not

> >power managing the cores - but we have a green policy here!. So need to fix

> >this asap.

> >

> >So any advice - ??

> >

> >Regards,

> >Dario

> >

> >I dropped a reference below to the statements in the MS KB article ...

> >

> >Is KB924441 actually fixed in Windows Server 2003 SP2?

> >( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924441 )

> >

> >SYMPTOMS

> >A Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or Microsoft Windows XP-based computer

> >that is using a dual core or multiprocessor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

> >processor that supports ACPI processor performance states (AMD PowerNow!) may

> >stop responding. This problem is most likely to occur when you run a

> >video-intensive program. However, this problem can occur whenever there is a

> >processor performance state change.

> >Back to the top

> >

> >CAUSE

> >This problem occurs because of a deadlock in the kernel power manager. This

> >deadlock occurs because of a race condition that can occur when the processor

> >performance state is changed on an AMD processor.

>

> How about system BIOS? Up to date? Latest PowerNow! drivers for the

> CPU as well? I wonder if you can roll back the driver, reboot, and

> re-install the PowerNow! drivers freshly. Makes me wonder if SP2

> "tweaked" something it wasn't supposed to and it's just one of those

> dumb issues that requires the driver to be re-recognized to turn the

> functionality back on.

>

> What about using a newer set of ntkrnl files from this KB article:

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938486/en-us

>

> It is odd that it seems broken from SP2 but not entirely impossible

> that what should have been incorporated from 924441 got left out or

> wasn't entirely regression tested.

>

> There's been a bunch of changes to the ntkrnl set since SP2 so it's

> worth seeing if KB938486 files help. Some other KB article changes

> since SP2 ntkrnl files here in case you want to read.

>

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931308/en-us

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935926/en-us

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932375/en-us

>

> Good luck.

>

> - Thee Chicago Wolf

>

[Guest Dario]

Re: Hotfix for kernel power manager not in SP2?

 

BTW:

> not entirely impossible that what should have been incorporated from 924441 got left out or wasn't entirely regression tested.

 

Nice point! ... I will post here again regarding trying later kernel updates

of KB's that hasn't been distributed by update services.

 

 

"Dario" wrote:

> Thanks a lot for the refs to the kernel updates since SP2.

>

> I will try that that out.

>

> P.s. BIOS up to date and we tried out the latest Opteron CPU drivers from AMD.

> Regardin rollback: The drivers has seemed to roll backed nicely, i.e. the

> problems from performance state changes goes away when you uninstall the

> PowerNow drivers. Besides the processor driver (PowerNow) we used the

> complementing Power Monitor to watch power states changes in the cores - and

> in this sense the processor driver seems to install / uninstall corretctly -

> again and gang. But I will also try out what you suggest about looking at

> into the registry, file system etc. and clean it form any left overs if there

> ... and then install the PowerNow drivers.

>

> BTW We're awaiting an answer from AMD on this whole issue.

>

>

> "Thee Chicago Wolf" wrote:

>

> > >Hi.

> > >

> > >Anybody know how to solve the following problem??? I want to power manage

> > >the CPU cores of an AMD Opteron using PoweNow drivers ... however:

> > >

> > >Seems like a previously solved problem with a hotfix for a deadlock in the

> > >kernel power manager of Win2003 SP1 did not make it into Win2003 SP2. There

> > >seems to be no hotfix at the moment?

> > >

> > >Whenever I apply the processor driver to the Win2003 SP2 system a problem

> > >with symptoms like kb924441 seems to appear. At some point the system will

> > >stop so I dont use the opteron powernow driver at the moment effectively not

> > >power managing the cores - but we have a green policy here!. So need to fix

> > >this asap.

> > >

> > >So any advice - ??

> > >

> > >Regards,

> > >Dario

> > >

> > >I dropped a reference below to the statements in the MS KB article ...

> > >

> > >Is KB924441 actually fixed in Windows Server 2003 SP2?

> > >( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924441 )

> > >

> > >SYMPTOMS

> > >A Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or Microsoft Windows XP-based computer

> > >that is using a dual core or multiprocessor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

> > >processor that supports ACPI processor performance states (AMD PowerNow!) may

> > >stop responding. This problem is most likely to occur when you run a

> > >video-intensive program. However, this problem can occur whenever there is a

> > >processor performance state change.

> > >Back to the top

> > >

> > >CAUSE

> > >This problem occurs because of a deadlock in the kernel power manager. This

> > >deadlock occurs because of a race condition that can occur when the processor

> > >performance state is changed on an AMD processor.

> >

> > How about system BIOS? Up to date? Latest PowerNow! drivers for the

> > CPU as well? I wonder if you can roll back the driver, reboot, and

> > re-install the PowerNow! drivers freshly. Makes me wonder if SP2

> > "tweaked" something it wasn't supposed to and it's just one of those

> > dumb issues that requires the driver to be re-recognized to turn the

> > functionality back on.

> >

> > What about using a newer set of ntkrnl files from this KB article:

> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938486/en-us

> >

> > It is odd that it seems broken from SP2 but not entirely impossible

> > that what should have been incorporated from 924441 got left out or

> > wasn't entirely regression tested.

> >

> > There's been a bunch of changes to the ntkrnl set since SP2 so it's

> > worth seeing if KB938486 files help. Some other KB article changes

> > since SP2 ntkrnl files here in case you want to read.

> >

> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931308/en-us

> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935926/en-us

> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932375/en-us

> >

> > Good luck.

> >

> > - Thee Chicago Wolf

> >

[Guest Thee Chicago Wolf]

Re: Hotfix for kernel power manager not in SP2?

 

>BTW:

>

>> not entirely impossible that what should have been incorporated from 924441 got left out or wasn't entirely regression tested.

>

>Nice point! ... I will post here again regarding trying later kernel updates

>of KB's that hasn't been distributed by update services.

 

It happened with that recent cumulative update to IE6 from December's

updates that required a post-Cumulative update to be released or you

had to use a registry work around. It's more likely something got left

out of the ntkrnl set from SP2 that worked in that KB article you

originally cited. Let the group know if the newer files help out any

as it would indicate the fix might finally have been carried over to

the updated ntkrnl files in KB938486. Thanks.

 

- Thee Chicago Wolf

[Guest Thee Chicago Wolf]

Re: Hotfix for kernel power manager not in SP2?

 

>Thanks a lot for the refs to the kernel updates since SP2.

>

>I will try that that out.

>

>P.s. BIOS up to date and we tried out the latest Opteron CPU drivers from AMD.

>Regardin rollback: The drivers has seemed to roll backed nicely, i.e. the

>problems from performance state changes goes away when you uninstall the

>PowerNow drivers. Besides the processor driver (PowerNow) we used the

>complementing Power Monitor to watch power states changes in the cores - and

>in this sense the processor driver seems to install / uninstall corretctly -

>again and gang. But I will also try out what you suggest about looking at

>into the registry, file system etc. and clean it form any left overs if there

>... and then install the PowerNow drivers.

>

>BTW We're awaiting an answer from AMD on this whole issue.

 

Hmm, that almost seems to indicate AMD has not regression tested on

SP2 thoroughly enough or this problem is not yet widespread on certain

vendor machines to merit investigating by Microsoft. What hardware is

this running on, HP? I'd be interested to see what AMD's take is on it

as they're pretty good about locating bugs like this. I wonder if you

can use a slightly older version than the current one from September

(1.3.2.0085)? If you can find it, maybe try the 1.3.1 driver.

 

- Thee Chicago Wolf