INTEL E7500

R
Intel® E7500 Chipset Memory
Controller Hub (MCH)
Specification Update
December 2002
®
Notice: The Intel E7500 MCH may contain design defects or errors known as errata,
which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current
characterized errata are documented in this Specification Update.
Document Number: 290731-002
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Information in this document is provided in connection with Intel®
property rights is granted by this document. Except as provided
whatsoever, and Intel disclaims any express or implied warranty,
fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, or infringement of
for use in medical, life saving, or life sustaining applications.
products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual
in Intel’s Terms and Conditions of Sale for such products, Intel assumes no liability
relating to sale and/or use of Intel products including liability or warranties relating to
any patent, copyright or other intellectual property right. Intel products are not intended
Intel may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice.
Designers must not rely on the absence or characteristics of any features or instructions marked "reserved" or "undefined." Intel reserves these for future
definition and shall have no responsibility whatsoever for conflicts or incompatibilities arising from future changes to them.
®
The Intel E7500 chipset MCH may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications.
Current characterized errata are available on request.
Contact your local Intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order.
Copies of documents which have an ordering number and are referenced in this document, or other Intel literature, may be obtained by calling
1-800-548-4725 or by visiting Intel’s website at http://www.intel.com.
Intel and the Intel Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Copyright © 2002, Intel Corporation
2
Specification Update
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Contents
Revision History ........................................................................................................................... 4
Preface......................................................................................................................................... 5
Specification Changes ................................................................................................................. 9
Errata ......................................................................................................................................... 11
Specification Clarifications ......................................................................................................... 13
Documentation Changes ........................................................................................................... 15
Specification Update
3
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Revision History
Rev.
4
Draft/Changes
Date
-001
Initial Release
February 2002
-002
Added A3 Spec Number
December 2002
Specification Update
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Preface
This document is an update to the specifications contained in the Intel® E7500 Chipset Datasheet: E7500
Memory Controller Hub (MCH) (document number 290730) It is a compilation of device/document
errata and specification clarifications/changes, and is intended for hardware system manufacturers and
software developers of applications, operating system, and tools. It contains Specification Changes,
Errata, Specification Clarifications, and Documentation Changes.
Nomenclature
Specification Changes are modifications to the current published specifications. These changes will be
incorporated in the next release of the specifications.
Errata are design defects or errors. Errata may cause the Intel® E7500 MCH behavior to deviate from
published specifications. Hardware and software designed to be used with any given stepping must
assume that all errata documented for that stepping are present on all devices.
Specification Clarifications describe a specification in greater detail or further highlight a
specification’s impact to a complex design situation. These clarifications will be incorporated in the next
release of the specifications.
Documentation Changes include typos, errors, or omissions from the current published specifications.
These changes will be incorporated in the next release of the specifications.
Component Identification via Programming Interface
The Intel® E7500 MCH may be identified by the following register contents:
Stepping
Vendor ID1
Device ID2
Revision Number3
A2
8086h
2540h
02h
A3
8086h
2540h
03h
NOTES:
1. The Vendor ID corresponds to bits 15-0 of the Vendor ID Register located at offset 00h in the PCI function 0
configuration space.
2. The Device ID corresponds to bits 15-0 of the Device ID Register located at offset 02h in the PCI function 0
configuration space.
3. The Revision Number corresponds to bits 7-0 of the Revision ID Register located at offset 08h in the PCI
function 0 configuration space.
Specification Update
5
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Component Marking Information
The Intel® E7500 MCH may be identified by the following component markings:
6
Stepping
S-Spec
Top Marking
Notes
A2
SL64H
RGE7500PL
Production
A3
SL69U
RGE7500PL
Production
Specification Update
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Summary Table of Changes
The following table indicates the Specification Changes, Errata, Specification Clarifications or
Documentation Changes which apply to the listed Intel® E7500 MCH steppings. Intel intends to fix some
of the errata in a future stepping of the component and to account for the other outstanding issues through
documentation or Specification Changes as noted. This table uses the following notations:
Codes Used in Summary Table
Stepping
X:
Erratum, Specification Change or Clarification that applies to this stepping.
(No mark) or (Blank Box): This erratum is fixed in listed stepping or specification change does not
apply to listed stepping.
Status
Doc:
Document change or update that will be implemented.
Fix:
This erratum is intended to be fixed in a future stepping of the component.
Fixed:
This erratum has been previously fixed.
No Fix
There are no plans to fix this erratum.
Eval
Plans to fix this erratum are under evaluation.
Other
Shaded:
This item is either new or modified from the previous version of the
document.
NO.
1
SPECIFICATION CHANGES
There are no specification changes in this Specicification Update Revision
NO.
A2
1
X
Fixed
System Bus Strobe Glitch Falsely Reported (Partial Fix)
2
X
Fixed
Data Corruption In Mixed x4 / x8 DIMM Configurations
NO.
A3
PLANS
ERRATA
SPECIFICATION CLARIFICATIONS
1
Section 3.6.16 DRAM Row Boundary Register
2
Section 4.1 System Memory Spaces
Specification Update
7
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
NO.
DOCUMENTATION CHANGES
There are no documentation changes in this Specification Update revision
8
Specification Update
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Specification Changes
There are no documentation changes in this Specification Update revision.
Specification Update
9
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
This page is intentionally left blank.
10
Specification Update
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Errata
1.
System Bus Strobe Glitch Falsely Reported
Problem:
The Intel® E7500 Chipset MCH logic that monitors the system bus for data strobe glitches incorrectly
detects a glitch even though no glitch has occurred.
Implication: SYSBUS_FERR bit [1], SYSBUS_NERR bit [1], and FERR_GLOBAL bit [16] will falsely report that a
system bus error has been detected. Clearing these bits is not possible, as they are incorrectly set on
every system bus transaction.
Workaround: Monitor SYSBUS_NERR for system bus errors, ignoring bit [1].
Status:
Fixed in the MCH A3 stepping.
2.
Data Corruption In Mixed x4 / x8 DIMM Configurations
Problem:
Read data on the DDR memory interface is latched into an input FIFO using either all of the DQS signals
(when reading from a DIMM with x4 devices) or only the lower half of the DQS signals (when reading
from a DIMM with x8 devices). When a system is populated with both x4 and x8 DIMMs, an internal
MUX is used to switch between using all or half of the DQS signals to latch the FIFO (depending on
which DIMM is being accessed). When the internal MUX select signal switches, the MUX outputs may
incorrectly signal the FIFO to latch data.
Implication: Data corruption has been observed on the DDR memory interface when system configurations include
mixing of x4 and x8 DIMM types.
Workaround: Populate homogenous DIMM configurations only (all x4 DIMMs or all x8 DIMMs)
Status:
Fixed in the MCH A3 stepping.
Specification Update
11
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
This page intentionally left blank
12
Specification Update
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Specification Clarifications
1.
Section 3.6.16 DRAM Row Boundary Register
Locked cycles to out of bounds memory locations (i.e. – locations above the top of total memory) are not
supported. Typically both locked and unlocked cycles to out fo bounds memory locations will result in
all 1s being returned on the system bus. Infrequently, however, locked cycles to these regions can result
in unpredicable Intel® E7500 Chipset MCH behavior.
2.
Secion 4.1 System Memory Spaces
Locked cycles to out of bounds memory locations (i.e. – locations above the top of total memory) are not
supported. Typically both locked and unlocked cycles to out fo bounds memory locations will result in
all 1s being returned on the system bus. Infrequently, however, locked cycles to these regions can result
in unpredicable Intel® E7500 Chipset MCH behavior.
Specification Update
13
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
This page intentionally left blank
14
Specification Update
®
R
Intel E7500 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Documentation Changes
There are no documentation changes in this Specification Update revision.
Specification Update
15