next »

[bthomp]

Just to update my progress/research notes here...

I've determined that devices are declared in the ACPI Namespace via compiled ASL that is usually stored in the DSDT table or in a SSDT table.  The DSDT is where the root namespace is initialized while the SSDT is where additional devices and ALM code can be added.  My best bet at this point is to compile some ASL logic for describing the HPET device and add that compile ALM code into and SSDT table entry and append it to the RSDT table declared by the BIOS (hopefully there is an empty entry or free memory at the end).

Please keep in mind that these posts are as much for keeping track of progress on this as it is for keeping notes about research that I do on this topic.  I don't expect people to understand or care about these posts but if you do understand this stuff feel free to butt in if I am misunderstanding something or if you have an idea that may help.

[frantisheq]

i don't understand any of this but i like to see there's some progress

[bthomp]

My first attempt at inject AML code into the ACPI tables in order to force registration of the HPET device failed.  However, it most likely failed because I did not define the scope and device to register it under so it was not being found in the expected location.  I think it needs to be registered under scope "\_SB" and under device "PCI0" and I will test it out later this evening.

I have submitted a Dell support forum question to see if I can get confirmation that this is the reason that Plug and Play operating systems are failing to detect the device and whether or not they intend to fix it in future BIOS revisions.

[bthomp]

No luck unfortunately.  I'm running out of ideas and don't want to invest too much more time in this.  I might attempt to make a kernel extension to create the PNP0103 device before the AppleHPET kernel extension is loaded, but I'm not entirely hopeful that it will work.

[EqUaTe]

Did you manage to get a dump from a MBP ?
If not, do you have an idea of the commands necessary (and OS) to get such a dump?


A few folk at work have one, and I'm sure I could get the info from one of them, if it would still help you..

EqUaTe

[josftx]

http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/76205/Dell_BIOS_and_HPET_timer_support


 matt_d
4:02pm    Report abuse. HPET is not available in the chipset on all systems, and on a few older chipsets the feature was never enabled in BIOS or tested. In some instances, forcing the HPET on via the kernel will work, but it is not guaranteed to work. HPET is enabled and exposed by BIOS on most newer systems.

[blackbit]

I'm glad to see someone is still looking into this! I would really like to be able to turn my 2nd core on again...

[forik]

How can i change the bios DSDT using bootloader to pass it to the system plz ?

I cant edit my DSDT table (bios locked) but i need to to enable dual core by removing aliases which panic the appleacpiplatform


Thsx: )

[duvel300]

Hi, just wondering if you made any progress with this project. I looked at this myself as well but I am still not sure if updating the DSDT table (in bios) or updating the boot loader is the way the go. Are you willing to share your source code so more people can have a shot at this? It would be great if we can get this working!

[josftx]

hello, i was search once a week about this.. i've found a fix for Linux with DSDT tables..but its for Dell E1505, http://acpi.sourceforge.net/dsdt/view.php?id=949. also on insanelymac Kabyl , has a solution but for some bioses, modd the bios and change a parameter for alias..

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=90505&st=0

i hope that all this information helps.