We enabled write-combining for memory-mapped registers in commit
65f0b417de, but inhibited it for the
MCDI shared memory where this is not supported. However,
write-combining mappings also allow read-reordering, which may also
be a problem.
I found that when an SFC9000-family controller is connected to an
Intel 3000 chipset, and write-combining is enabled, the controller
stops responding to PCIe read requests during driver initialisation
while the driver is polling for completion of an MCDI command. This
results in an NMI and system hang. Adding read memory barriers
between all reads to the shared memory area appears to reduce but not
eliminate the probability of this.
We have not yet established whether this is a bug in our BIU or in the
PCIe bridge. For now, work around by mapping the shared memory area
separately.
Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <bhutchings@solarflare.com>