Intel SL8K2 Specification Update - Page 71

Errata R R119. Using 2M/4M Pages When A20M# Is Asserted May Result in Incorrect Address Translations Problem: An external A20M# pin if enabled forces address bit 20 to be masked (forced to zero) to emulates real-address mode address wraparound at 1 megabyte. However, if all of the following conditions are met, address bit 20 may not be masked: • paging is enabled • a linear address has bit 20 set • the address references a large page • A20M# is enabled Implication: When A20M# is enabled and an address references a large page the resulting translated physical address may be incorrect. This erratum has not been observed with any commercially available operating system. Workaround: Operating systems should not allow A20M# to be enabled if the masking of address bit 20 could be applied to an address that references a large page. A20M# is normally only used with the first megabyte of memory. Status: For the steppings affected, see the Summary Tables of Changes. R120. Writing Shared Unaligned Data that Crosses a Cache Line without Proper Semaphores or Barriers May Expose a Memory Ordering Issue Problem: Software which is written so that multiple agents can modify the same shared unaligned memory location at the same time may experience a memory ordering issue if multiple loads access this shared data shortly thereafter. Exposure to this problem requires the use of a data write which spans a cache line boundary. Implication: This erratum may cause loads to be observed out of order. Intel has not observed this erratum with any commercially available software or system. Workaround: Software should ensure at least one of the following is true when modifying shared data by multiple agents: • The shared data is aligned • Proper semaphores or barriers are used in order to prevent concurrent data accesses Status: For the steppings affected, see the Summary Tables of Changes. Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor on 90 nm Process Specification Update 71