[MinnowBoard] MinnowBoard Turbot Watchdog

Wed Apr 13 14:09:21 UTC 2016

Hi Mike,

As I understand it needs to be supported by BIOS SMM handler and as a Windows ACPI device. We have disabled it in our BIOS, but it may be a good idea to support it. It works exactly as you want anyway and is used by BIOS during POST to avoid being stuck in case of some abnormality.

Best regards,

B-O

> 13 apr. 2016 kl. 12:56 skrev Mike Winter (Work) <mike.winter at miwin.co.uk>:
> 
> Hi B-O
> 
> Thanks for looking at this. I have just looked up the E3800, and found a brief mention in the datasheet about the Watchdog. So it does look like the Minnowboard will have a Watchdog. I will need to investigate this (at a later date). First to get Windows IoT working...
> 
> Thanks again for the information
> 
> Mike
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Berth-Olof Bergman [mailto:bo.bergman at winzenttech.com] 
> Sent: 12 April 2016 10:59
> To: MinnowBoard Development and Community Discussion <elinux-minnowboard at lists.elinux.org>
> Subject: Re: [MinnowBoard] MinnowBoard Turbot Watchdog
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Why don’t use the built in watchdog present in all E3800 series chips? The watchdog is located in the TCO logic.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> B-O
> 
>> 12 apr. 2016 kl. 11:30 skrev Mike Winter (Work) <mike.winter at miwin.co.uk>:
>> 
>> Hi Eric
>> 
>> How have you implemented a software Watchdog? What happens if your WD 
>> software hangs?
>> 
>> Not that I have a lot of experience, but quite a few, if not all of 
>> the boards that I have come across for embedded purposes have a watchdog :
>> Beagleboard (http://beaglebone.cameon.net/home/watchdog-timer)
>> RPi
>> (http://blog.ricardoarturocabral.com/2013/01/auto-reboot-hung-raspberr
>> y-pi-u
>> sing-on.html)
>> The PC that I am looking to replace with the Minnowboard is a DMP eBox 
>> - In the manual, it tells you about the watchdog :
>> ftp://ftp.dmp.com.tw/DMP_Vortex86_Series_Software_Programming_Referenc
>> e_0912
>> 16.pdf
>> 
>> I just tried googling the processor used in the Turbot, and the first 
>> one that came up was this (which includes a WD):
>> http://www.portwell.com/pdf/catalog/Intel_Bay_Trail_E3800.pdf
>> 
>> From Wiki : "Watchdog timers are commonly found in embedded systems 
>> and other computer-controlled equipment where humans cannot easily 
>> access the equipment or would be unable to react to faults in a timely 
>> manner. In such systems, the computer cannot depend on a human to 
>> reboot it if it hangs; it must be self-reliant"
>> 
>> I may be wrong (frequently am!), but I think that the way these WD 
>> work, is by software enabling the Hardware WD, which has a timer (also 
>> initiated by s\w). The timer starts to count down, and if it gets to 
>> 0, will perform a hardware reset - same as physically turning the power off & then on again.
>> The software's 'job' is to make sure the timer never gets to 0, so 
>> should frequently set the timer back to your specified WD interval.
>> 
>> What I normally do is set the WD timeout period to 3 seconds, and then 
>> in my s\w initialize the WD every second. This allows you to miss a 
>> cycle by accident, without the PC rebooting.
>> 
>> Regards
>> 
>> Mike
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Eric [mailto:ericolv at cox.net]
>> Sent: 08 April 2016 20:39
>> To: 'MinnowBoard Development and Community Discussion'
>> <elinux-minnowboard at lists.elinux.org>
>> Subject: Re: [MinnowBoard] MinnowBoard Turbot Watchdog
>> 
>> I've not heard of any PC motherboard or embedded board with a feature like
>> this.   However, I have implemented this type of functionality in software.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: elinux-MinnowBoard
>> [mailto:elinux-minnowboard-bounces at lists.elinux.org] On Behalf Of Mike 
>> Winter (Work)
>> Sent: Friday, April 8, 2016 7:02 AM
>> To: 'MinnowBoard Development and Community Discussion'
>> Subject: Re: [MinnowBoard] MinnowBoard Turbot Watchdog
>> 
>> Hi John, thanks for the reply.
>> 
>> I am looking at using the Minnowboard in an embedded environment. 
>> Other PCs that I have used have a hardware Watchdog, which, when 
>> turned on, you are required to poll at definable intervals. If you do 
>> not poll it quickly enough (or stop polling, due to hung software), 
>> the PC will perform a hard reset. Is this a feature of the 
>> Minnowboard, or likely to be incorporated in future versions?
>> 
>> Thanks again for your help
>> 
>> Mike
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: John Hawley [mailto:john.hawley at intel.com]
>> Sent: 08 April 2016 06:09
>> To: elinux-minnowboard at lists.elinux.org
>> Subject: Re: [MinnowBoard] MinnowBoard Turbot Watchdog
>> 
>> What kind of watchdog are you looking for / need?  Just trying to 
>> figure out what kind of watchdog you are looking for.
>> 
>> - John 'Warthog9' Hawley
>> 
>> On 4/7/2016 3:25 AM, Mike Winter (Work) wrote:
>>> I have a MinnowBoard Turbot on the way, but when I ordered I forgot 
>>> to check whether there is a watchdog, which is a requirement for my 
>>> project. Is there one in the Turbot, I haven't found any mention of one?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Regards
>>> 
>>> *Mike Winter*
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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