r600_dma_ring_test() failed - synchronization problem with write-combining memory

[Alexander Fyodorov]

Hi David,

I'm using 3.10.53-rt56 kernel and encounter a problem in
r600_dma_ring_test() when vram memory is mapped as write-combining:
no matter how long the polling is done, old value (0xCAFEDEAD) is read.

Looking with hardware analyzer at what actually happens in the PCI-E bus,
the memory is accessed with 32-byte loads (8 words at a time). That is,
when the memory is mapped as write-combining, the processor converts
every readl() into a 32-bytes load transaction.

After doing some more experiments, it seems that Radeon has some kind of
cache that keeps the old value (0xCAFEDEAD), and this cache is invalidated
when:
1) Some other VRAM address is accessed, or
2) Processor issues a 4-byte load transaction.

The problem is that as long as the memory is write-combining, all loads
will be converted to be 32-bytes long by the CPU, so the test fails with
timeout. But if I comment out this particular ring test, everything
seems to be working fine (tested with Doom 3).

Is it possible that the situation r600_dma_ring_test() checks for does
not happen in real life, and I should be OK commenting it out?

Or maybe the test is broken and some cache-flushing command must be
written into the ring buffer?

BTW this is an out-of-tree architecture, so bisecting is not possible.