Patent Publication Number: US-9424165-B2

Title: Debugging processor hang situations using an external pin

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The subject disclosure relates generally to processor debugging, and more particularly to techniques for escaping from processing hang situations when an external debugger is attempting to view internal processor states. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Many processors operate according to a cycle whereby program instructions are fetched from memory, decoded, and dispatched to one or more functional units, which perform operations specified by the instructions. The processor may track pending instructions that have been dispatched and are awaiting execution by the functional units. For example, when the processor dispatches an instruction of execution, a record of the pending instruction (or transaction) may be stored in an instruction window until the functional unit indicates that all necessary operations for the instruction have been completed. Upon receipt of this acknowledgement, the processor clears the pending instruction from the instruction window. If new instructions are fetched, decoded, and dispatched while all functional units are busy processing other instructions, the processor queues the new instructions in the instruction window to await execution. 
     During building and testing of a new system (e.g., a new motherboard or system-on-chip), a system designer may wish to initiate an external debug event in order to halt the processor and place the processor in a debug state so that the internal state of the processor (e.g., the general purpose and system registers) can be viewed. In response to such an external debug event, the processor typically waits until all pending transactions have completed execution before entering the debug state. 
     However, there may be circumstances in which the processor is not able to complete an outstanding transaction, and the recipient of the pending transaction (e.g., the functional unit) does not reply with an appropriate acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the transaction initiated by the processor. As a result, the transaction remains pending indefinitely, a situation referred to herein as “processor hang.” If an external debug event is received while in this hung state, the processor fails to enter the debug state, since the processor continues to wait for completion of the hung transaction. Consequently, the internal state of the processor is not available to the user. Moreover, the processor may not contain necessary information regarding the cause of the hung state. 
     The above-described description is merely intended to provide a contextual overview of current techniques and is not intended to be exhaustive. 
     SUMMARY 
     The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosed subject matter. It is intended to neither identify key nor critical elements of the disclosure nor delineate the scope thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. 
     In an example embodiment, a processor can include forced halt functionality that, when asserted, forces the processor to enter a debug state by aborting any pending non-acknowledged (“in-flight”) transactions. The forced halt functionality can be initiated using a dedicated I/O pin of the processor, or by using a dedicated forced halt register that triggers the forced halt sequence when a particular value is written to the register. 
     In addition, to facilitate troubleshooting of a hung transaction while in the debug state, one or more example embodiments can include modified instruction window logic—referred to herein as a scoreboard—that logs, for each dispatched instruction, the machine state of the processor at the time the instruction was dispatched. The scoreboard can also log other information for each dispatched instruction, including but not limited to a current program counter value. Thus, when the processor has been forced into debug state by the forced halt functionality described above, the user can view the machine states, current program counters, and/or other information for each aborted (presumed hung) transaction to facilitate troubleshooting the circumstances and causes of the failed transactions. 
     The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the subject disclosure. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various disclosed aspects can be employed and the disclosure is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting conventional processor design. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a flow diagram of an example operational sequence associated with an example processor design. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a processor system that utilizes forced halt functionality in accordance with one or more aspects described herein. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting operational sequence for an example processor system that utilizes forced halt functionality according to one or more aspects described herein. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a processor design that supports forced halt functionality and recording of processor states in accordance with various aspects described herein. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a multi-processor system that supports forced halt functionality in accordance with various aspects described herein 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for forcing a processor with hung transactions into a debug state. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for forcing a processor into a debug state and providing processor state information for debugging purposes. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a block diagram of an example electronic computing environment that can be implemented in conjunction with one or more aspects described herein. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates a block diagram of an example data communication network that can be operable in conjunction with various aspects described herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The disclosure herein is described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the subject innovation. It may be evident, however, that various disclosed aspects can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the subject innovation. 
     Various aspects of the present disclosure provide processor functionality that allows a user to force a processor into a debug state even if one or more pending transactions are awaiting completion. To this end, a processor is configured with a “forced halt” input that, when asserted, causes the processor to abort pending processor transactions (e.g., instructions that have been dispatched to the instruction window for execution but which have not yet received a response) and transition to a debug state so that a system designer can view an internal state of the processor (e.g. general purpose registers, system registers, etc.). In one or more embodiments, the forced halt input can be asserted on an external I/O pin of the processor. The forced halt functionality can also be asserted by setting a dedicated system register in some embodiments. 
     In another aspect, some embodiments can also support logging of processor state data associated with each instruction dispatched to the instruction window. For example, when an instruction has been fetched, decoded, and dispatched to the instruction window, the processor can also record the current machine state of the processor at the time the instruction was dispatched, a current program counter value (or instruction pointer value) at the time the instruction was dispatched, or other information indicative of the processor&#39;s state at the time the instruction was dispatched. This processor state logging feature can work in coordination with the forced halt functionality described above. For example, when the forced halt functionality is asserted, any pending transactions in the instruction window (including hung transactions that have not received a completion acknowledgement) will be aborted and the processor will be forced into the debug state. In addition, the processor state information recorded for each pending transaction (e.g., machine state, program counter value, etc.) will be logged in the processor or in an associated memory so that the user can view this information during debug. This record of the processor&#39;s state at the time a hung transaction was dispatched can assist system designers to ascertain a root cause or system condition that resulted in the hung transaction. These features will be discussed in more detail below. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of an example processor design  100  in which aspects of the present innovation can be implemented. Although the example processor of  FIG. 1  is depicted as an out-of-order speculative processor design having particular functional elements, it is to be appreciated that aspects of the present disclosure can be incorporated in substantially any type of processor design, and are not limited to inclusion in the types of processor designs described herein. In an example application, processor design  100  may be implemented as part of a System-on-Chip (SoC). The functional blocks illustrated in  FIG. 1  can respectively comprise hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software implemented as a computer processing device. 
     Example processor design  100  includes an instruction fetch block  104  and an instruction decode block  106  that, respectively, fetch and decode instructions in accordance with a current program counter (PC) maintained by control block  102 . In some scenarios, the instruction fetch block  104  may prefetch instructions per commands received from a branch speculation/recovery block  112 . Rename block  108  can perform any necessary register renaming, and the fetched and decoded instruction can then be dispatched to an instruction window  110 . Instruction window  110  acts as a buffer in which pending instructions (also referred to as transactions) or instructions awaiting execution are tracked. Instructions dispatched to the instruction window await execution by one or more functional units  118 . For example, when the instruction window  110  receives an indication that one of the functional units  118  is ready to execute an instruction awaiting execution, and the instruction window determines that all necessary operands for executing the instruction are ready, the instruction window  110  will pass the instruction (translated into machine-language by the control block  102 ) to the functional unit  118 , which performs the operations (e.g., operations associated with a load store instruction) and/or calculations specified by the instruction. Each functional unit  118  may have associated bypass logic  116  to reduce latency and improve performance. Register file  114  comprises the set of general purpose registers in which data is temporarily stored in connection with dispatching and execution of processor transactions. 
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart  200  illustrating processor state transitions associated with the example processor design. Initially, at  202 , the processor fetches and decodes an instruction as directed by the current program counter (PC). Depending on the type of instruction, a Load Store Unit (LSU)/Co-processor transaction may be initiated at  206  or an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) instruction (which can perform arithmetic logic, multiplication, division, and/or other complex computations) may be initiated at  208 . In either case, the fetched and decoded instruction is dispatched to the instruction window to await processing. 
     At  210 , a determination is made regarding whether an external debug event has been initiated. Such debug events can be initiated, for example, via a debug port of the motherboard or SoC on which the processor is installed. If no external debug event has been initiated at  210 , normal (non-debug) processing continues at step  220 , where a determination is made regarding whether a limit on the number of outstanding instructions in the instruction window has been reached. If this limit has not been reached, processing returns to step  202 , and another instruction is fetched and decoded. Alternatively, if the limit on the number of outstanding instructions has been reached at step  220 , the processor waits for an acknowledgement (ACK) to be received at step  222  (e.g., from one of the functional units  118 ) indicating that an outstanding transaction has been completed. If, no ACK for an outstanding transaction is received at  222 , the processor continues to cycle through steps  210 ,  220 , and  222  until either an ACK is received at  222  or an external debug event is initiated at  210 . If an ACK is received at  222 , and no external debug event has been initiated at  224 , the cycle returns to step  202 , and the processor fetches and decodes another instruction. 
     If an external debug event is initiated at  210  or  224 , the processor begins a sequence to place the processor in debug mode. Typically, before the processor can be placed in debug mode, all pending transactions must be completed and cleared from the instruction window. Accordingly, at  212 , a determination is made regarding whether all outstanding transactions have been completed (e.g., have all pending transactions received ACKs from their respective functional blocks). If there are pending transactions remaining in the instruction window (“No” at step  212 ), the processor continues monitoring for ACKs that indicate completion of the respective transactions. If all transactions are complete (“Yes” at  212 ), the processor enters the debug state at  214 . Placing the processor in the debug state is also referred to as halting the processor. Once the processor is in the debug state, a user can probe and investigate the processor&#39;s internal system state using a debug application connected to the debug port. When finished examining the processor, the user can initiate an “exit debug mode” event at  218 , which causes the processor to exit the debug state and resume normal processing. 
     Although the sequence described above may be sufficient for halting the processor under normal conditions, there may be circumstances in which the processor is not able to complete an outstanding transaction after the external debug event has been initiated. For example, a load store unit (LSU) instruction may generate an invalid system address for which the bridge agent does not respond with an appropriate error message (e.g., a negative acknowledgement, or NACK). In another example, a dispatched transaction may experience deadlock because execution of the transaction under certain conditions creates a corner case not anticipated by the system designer. If no error handling or time-out condition has been written for such a situation, no error signaling will be received and the instruction may remain pending indefinitely. In yet another example, a transaction may send a snoop to a caching agent which has not been activated. As a result, the transaction will be waiting indefinitely for a response from the inactive caching agent, resulting in a hung state. 
     In scenarios such as those described above, the recipient of the pending transaction (e.g., the functional unit) will not reply with an appropriate acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the transaction initiated by the processor. As a result, the transaction will remain pending, causing the “no” loop of step  212  to execute indefinitely, a situation referred to herein as “processor hang.” If an external debug event is received while in this hung state, the processor will typically fail to enter the debug state. Consequently, the internal state of the processor will not be available to the user. Moreover, the user may have no information regarding the cause of the processor hang, rendering troubleshooting difficult. 
     To address these issues, one or more embodiments described herein provide a processor having forced halt functionality that can be initiated via a dedicating I/O pin or register.  FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary processor system  300  that utilizes forced halt functionality in accordance with one or more aspects of this disclosure. System  300  comprises a processor  302 , a memory  312 , and a memory controller  310  that controls movement of data to and from memory  312 . The processor  302  includes scoreboard logic  304  that tracks outstanding processes awaiting completion. The processor  302 , memory controller  310 , and memory  312  may operate in conjunction with an SoC  316 . System  300  may also include a debug port  314  (e.g., a Joint Test Action Group—or JTAG—port) which allows a system designer to interface with processor  302  or other components of system  300  using a debugging interface to view registers and internal states of the system  300 . 
     In accordance with various aspects described herein, processor  302  can include a dedicated I/O pin that, when asserted, initiates a forced halt sequence. This pin is referred to herein as a forced halt (or “Fhalt”) pin. When the forced halt sequence is initiated, processor  302  is forced into the debug state by aborting any pending (non-acknowledged) transactions remaining in the instruction window and placing the processor in the debug state. This can include aborting any hung transactions that may be awaiting completion acknowledgements. In some embodiments, after the pending transactions have been aborted in response to the forced halt command, processor  302  will then revert to a state associated with an earliest non-acknowledged transaction, as determined by referencing the processor&#39;s scoreboard logic  304 . 
     In the example system  300  illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the Fhalt pin of processor  302  is asserted by setting a particular value (e.g., 1) in a system register  308  of a coherent bridge agent  306 , which manages communication between motherboard devices of the system  300 . In an example scenario, the user can access register  308  through the system&#39;s debug port  314  without involving processor  302 . 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart  400  illustrating an example operating sequence for a processor system that utilizes forced halt functionality according to one or more embodiments of this disclosure. Flowchart  400  is segment of a modified version of flowchart  200  depicted in  FIG. 2 , and differs from flowchart  200  by the addition of a forced halt sequence  402 . Similar to flowchart  200  of  FIG. 2 , flowchart  400  executes normal instruction processing until an external debug event is detected at  210 . When an external debug event is initiated at  210 , a determination is made at  212  regarding whether all outstanding transactions have completed (e.g., whether ACK signals have been received for all pending transactions). Similar to flowchart  200 , if it is determined that all outstanding transactions have been completed, the processor enters debug mode at  214 . 
     Alternatively, if a determination is made at  212  that there are remaining transactions outstanding (as determined, for example, by referencing the processor&#39;s instruction window), the process moves to step  404 , where a determination is made regarding whether the processor&#39;s Fhalt pin has been asserted. As noted above, the Fhalt pin can be asserted, in some embodiments, by setting a particular value in an Fhalt register (e.g., register  308  of  FIG. 3 ). If the Fhalt pin has not been asserted, the sequence returns to step  212  and continues to wait until either all outstanding transactions have been completed at step  212  or the Fhalt pin has been asserted at step  404 . 
     If the Fhalt pin is asserted at  404 , all unacknowledged (incomplete) transactions remaining in the processor&#39;s instruction window are aborted at  406 , and the processor reverts to a state associated with an earliest non-acknowledged transaction at  408 . This state can be determined, for example, based on an examination of the processor&#39;s scoreboard logic. The processor then enters debug mode at  214 , and the flowchart proceeds to debug processing (e.g., the debug processing steps depicted in  FIG. 2 ). 
     In addition to the features described above, one or more embodiments of the forced halt functionality described herein can also include enhanced processor state logging features to assist a user in determining a root cause or condition that resulted in a hung transaction. To this end, a processor in accordance with one or more aspects described herein can include enhanced scoreboard logic (e.g., scoreboard logic  304  of  FIG. 3 ) that maintains not only a record of a pending transaction dispatched to the instruction window, but also processor state information associated with each pending transaction. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an example processor design  500  that supports forced halt functionality and recording of processor states in accordance with various aspects described herein. Although the example design  500  of  FIG. 5  is depicted as an out-of-order speculative processor design having particular functional elements, it is to be appreciated that aspects of the present disclosure can be incorporated in substantially any type of processor design, and are not limited to inclusion in the types of processor designs described herein. The functional blocks illustrated in  FIG. 5  can respectively comprise hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software implemented as a computer processing device. 
     Some functional blocks illustrated in  FIG. 5  (e.g., control block, instruction fetch, etc.) may be similar to the corresponding functional blocks depicted in  FIG. 1 , and as such are not discussed further in connection with  FIG. 5 . Processor design  500  includes scoreboard logic  516  comprising an instruction window area  510  and an associated machine state area  512  and current program counter (PC) area  514 . The current PC area  514  and machine state area  512  maintain a current PC and machine state, respectively, for each pending transaction entered in the instruction window area  510 . That is, when a new instruction is fetched, decoded, and dispatched, the processor creates an entry in the scoreboard logic  516  for the dispatched transaction comprising the transaction ID and transaction type (e.g., ALU or LSU/Co-processor), as well as additional information regarding the state of the processor at the time the instruction was dispatched. This additional state information can include, but is not limited to, the current PC, the current machine state of the processor (e.g., hypervisor, supervisor, secure, etc.), an operation code (opcode) executed, and/or other such state information. Processing on the dispatched transactions will then proceed as normal, with the instruction window passing the transactions to the functional units for execution. When a functional unit returns an acknowledgement that execution of a pending transaction has been completed, the entry for that transaction (including the transaction&#39;s associated state information) will be de-allocated from the scoreboard logic. 
     However, if the processor is unable to complete a pending transaction, resulting in a hung state for that transaction, the user may initiate a forced halt of the processor as described above. For example, the user may interface with the processor via a debug port  508  and set the forced halt register for the processor in the coherent bridge agent  518 , which places a high signal on the Fhalt pin of the processor. As described above, assertion of the Fhalt pin aborts any pending transactions recorded in scoreboard logic  516  (including the hung transaction) and forces the processor into debug mode. In addition, the previously recorded information for each aborted transaction, including the transaction information stored in instruction window area  510  and the processor state information associated with each aborted transaction stored in areas  512  and  514 , is maintained in the processor or in an associated memory while in debug mode for subsequent viewing. During debug mode, the transaction and associated processor state information can be accessed and viewed by the user via debug port  508 . For example, debug block  520  of the motherboard or SoC may include entry address generation logic  506  that allows the user to select an entry address of the scoreboard logic  516  containing transaction and state information for the aborted instruction. In response, state data from the selected register is moved to an entry data buffer  504  of the debug block  520  for viewing (e.g., on a debugging interface connected to debug port  508 ). Thus, during debug mode, a record of the processor state at the time the hung transaction was originally dispatched can be accessed and viewed by the user during debug mode to assist in determining the root cause or condition(s) that caused the transaction to hang. 
     In addition to recording information relating the processor state at the time the transaction was dispatched, one or more embodiments can also maintain information relating to a status of the aborted transaction at the time the forced halt was initiated (e.g., waiting for execution, waiting for acknowledgement, etc.). For aborted transactions that were awaiting completion acknowledgement at the time the forced halt was asserted, some embodiments may also include a record of the particular functional unit responsible for executing the transaction. This information may be useful, for example, if the hung transaction is due to an issue with the functional unit. 
     Aspects of the forced halt functionality described above can also be implemented in multi-processor systems.  FIG. 6  depicts an example multi-processor system  600  that supports forced halt functionality in accordance with various aspects described herein. System  600  comprises N processor  602 , each having associated scoreboard logic  608 . Similar to the single-processor system  300  illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the coherent bridge agent  610  includes a force halt register  604  that can be written to using a debugging application via debug port  612 . In the present example, force halt register  604  comprises N bits respectively corresponding to the N processors  602 . Asserting a bit corresponding to a particular processor of the N processors  602  will initiate the forced halt sequence for that processor only. This can include aborting all pending transactions recorded in the scoreboard logic  608  for the processor, placing the processor in the debug state, and recording the transaction and processor state information for each aborted transaction in the scoreboard logic  608 , as described above. 
     In view of the example systems described above, methods that may be implemented in accordance with the described subject matter may be better appreciated with reference to the flowcharts of  FIGS. 7-8 . While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methods are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described hereinafter. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment for forcing a processor with hung transactions into a debug state is shown. Method  700  can begin at block  702 , where one or more transactions are dispatched in a processor. For example, the processor can fetch an instruction in accordance with a current program counter, decode the instruction, and dispatch the instruction to the processor&#39;s instruction window as a transaction to be executed. At  704 , a determination is made regarding whether a debug event is received. The debug event can be initiated, for example, by a debugging application interfaced to a debug port of a system that includes the processor. If no debug event is received at  704 , a determination is made at  714  regarding whether the limit on the number of pending transactions has been reached. If the limit has not been reached, the methodology returns to  702 , where additional transactions may be dispatched. Alternatively, if the limit has been reached at  714 , the processor returns to step  704  and awaits a debug event without dispatching additional transactions. The methodology continues to loop between steps  704  and  714  until either a debug event is received at  704  or a determination is made at  714  that the number of transactions is less than the limit (e.g., a pending transaction has completed execution, which has brought the number of pending transactions below the limit). 
     If a debug event is received at  704 , a determination is made at  708  regarding whether there are pending transactions entered in the processor&#39;s instruction window awaiting execution or awaiting acknowledgement that the transactions have completed execution. One or more of the pending transactions may include an instruction that is in the process of execution but which cannot be completed for unforeseen reasons, causing the processor to remain in a hung state while waiting for an acknowledgement that the transaction has completed. If there are no pending transactions at  706 , the methodology moves to step  712  where the processor enters debug mode and allows a user to view internal state information (e.g., general purpose registers or system registers) for the processor. 
     Alternatively, if it is determined at  706  that there are pending transactions in the instruction window, a determination is made at  708  regarding whether a forced halt has been asserted for the processor. In one or more embodiments, the forced halt can be asserted by placing a signal on a dedicated I/O pin on the processor, or by setting a bit or predetermined value in a dedicated forced halt register that initiates the forced halt sequence. If the forced halt is not asserted at  708 , the methodology returns to step  706 , where it is again determined whether there are pending transactions in the instruction window. The sequence will continue to loop between steps  706  and  708  until all pending transactions have been completed at  706  (e.g., completion acknowledgements have been received for all outstanding transactions) or until a forced halt is asserted at  708 . If a forced halt is asserted at  708 , the processor aborts execution of the pending instructions. The processor then enters debug mode at  712 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 8 , a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for forcing a processor into a debug state and providing processor state information that can be used for debugging purposes is shown. Method  800  can begin at step  802 , where one or more transactions are dispatched in a processor, as described in previous examples. At  804 , a record is created in the processor for the pending transaction. The record can include information relating to the transaction (e.g., a transaction type, transaction identifier, etc.) as well as information describing the processor state at the time the transaction was dispatched. The processor state information can include, but is not limited to, the current program counter value, the current machine state of the processor (e.g., hypervisor, supervisor, secure, etc.), an opcode executed, and/or other such state information. The transaction and processor state information for the pending transaction can be recorded, for example, in scoreboard logic associated with the processor. 
     At  806 , a determination is made regarding whether a debug event has been received. If no debug event is received at  806 , the methodology makes a determination at  816  regarding whether the limit in the number of pending transactions has been reached. If the limit has not been reached, the methodology returns to step  802 , where one or more additional transactions are dispatched. Alternatively, if the limit has been reached at  816 , the methodology continues to loop between  806  and  816  until a debug event is received at  806  or until a determination is made at  816  that the number of pending transactions is no longer at the limit. 
     If a debug event is received at  806 , the methodology moves to  808 , where a determination is made regarding whether there are pending transactions recorded in the scoreboard logic. If there are no pending transactions, the methodology moves to step  814 , where the processor enters debug mode and allows a user to view internal states of the processor (e.g., using a debugging application connected to a debug port). Alternatively, if there are outstanding transactions pending at  808 , a determination is made at  810  regarding whether a forced halt has been asserted, as described in previous examples. If no forced halt has been initiated at  810 , the methodology continues to loop between steps  808  and  810  until all pending transactions have received completion acknowledgements at  808 , or until a forced halt has been asserted at  810 . 
     If a forced halt has been asserted at  810 , the methodology moves to  812 , where the pending transactions are aborted, while a record of each pending transaction—including the transaction and processor state information recorded at step  804 —is maintained in the processor (or in an associated memory area) for viewing. The processor then enters debug mode at  814 , which allows a user to view internal state information for the processor. This can include allowing the user to view the transaction and processor state information for any aborted transactions recorded at  804  and maintained at  812 . 
     Example Computing Environment 
     As mentioned, advantageously, the techniques described herein can be applied to any device where it is desirable to facilitate large receive offload functionality. It is to be understood, therefore, that handheld, portable and other computing devices and computing objects of all kinds are contemplated for use in connection with the various non-limiting embodiments, i.e., anywhere that a device may wish to implement large receive offload functionality. Accordingly, the below general purpose remote computer described below in  FIG. 9  is but one example, and the disclosed subject matter can be implemented with any client having network/bus interoperability and interaction. Thus, the disclosed subject matter can be implemented in an environment of networked hosted services in which very little or minimal client resources are implicated, e.g., a networked environment in which the client device serves merely as an interface to the network/bus, such as an object placed in an appliance. 
     Although not required, some aspects of the disclosed subject matter can partly be implemented via an operating system, for use by a developer of services for a device or object, and/or included within application software that operates in connection with the component(s) of the disclosed subject matter. Software may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions, such as program modules or components, being executed by one or more computer(s), such as projection display devices, viewing devices, or other devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosed subject matter may be practiced with other computer system configurations and protocols. 
       FIG. 9  thus illustrates an example of a suitable computing system environment  1200  in which some aspects of the disclosed subject matter can be implemented, although as made clear above, the computing system environment  1200  is only one example of a suitable computing environment for a device and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the disclosed subject matter. Neither should the computing environment  1200  be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment  1200 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 9 , an exemplary device for implementing the disclosed subject matter includes a general-purpose computing device in the form of a computer  910 . Components of computer  910  may include, but are not limited to, a processing unit  920 , a system memory  930 , and a system bus  921  that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit  920 . The system bus  921  may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. 
     Computer  910  typically includes a variety of computer readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computer  910 . By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media can comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by computer  910 . Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. 
     The system memory  930  may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and/or random access memory (RAM). A basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer  910 , such as during start-up, may be stored in memory  930 . Memory  930  typically also contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit  920 . By way of example, and not limitation, memory  930  may also include an operating system, application programs, other program modules, and program data. 
     The computer  910  may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. For example, computer  910  could include a hard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and/or an optical disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk, such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. A hard disk drive is typically connected to the system bus  921  through a non-removable memory interface such as an interface, and a magnetic disk drive or optical disk drive is typically connected to the system bus  921  by a removable memory interface, such as an interface. 
     A user can enter commands and information into the computer  910  through input devices such as a keyboard and pointing device, commonly referred to as a mouse, trackball, or touch pad. Other input devices can include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, wireless device keypad, voice commands, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  920  through user input  940  and associated interface(s) that are coupled to the system bus  921 , but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game port, or a universal serial bus (USB). A graphics subsystem can also be connected to the system bus  921 . A projection unit in a projection display device, or a HUD in a viewing device or other type of display device can also be connected to the system bus  921  via an interface, such as output interface  950 , which may in turn communicate with video memory. In addition to a monitor, computers can also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers which can be connected through output interface  950 . 
     The computer  910  can operate in a networked or distributed environment using logical connections to one or more other remote computer(s), such as remote computer  970 , which can in turn have media capabilities different from computer  910 . The remote computer  970  can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device, personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone, handheld computing device, a projection display device, a viewing device, or other common network node, or any other remote media consumption or transmission device, and may include any or all of the elements described above relative to the computer  910 . The logical connections depicted in  FIG. 9  include a network  971 , such local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), but can also include other networks/buses, either wired or wireless. Such networking environments are commonplace in homes, offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet. 
     When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer  910  can be connected to the LAN  971  through a network interface or adapter. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer  910  can typically include a communications component, such as a modem, or other means for establishing communications over the WAN, such as the Internet. A communications component, such as wireless communications component, a modem and so on, which can be internal or external, can be connected to the system bus  921  via the user input interface of input  940 , or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer  910 , or portions thereof, can be stored in a remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown and described are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. 
     Example Networking Environment 
       FIG. 10  provides a schematic diagram of an exemplary networked or distributed computing environment. The distributed computing environment comprises computing objects  1010 ,  1012 , etc. and computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc., which may include programs, methods, data stores, programmable logic, etc., as represented by applications  1030 ,  1032 ,  1034 ,  1036 ,  1038  and data store(s)  1040 . It can be appreciated that computing objects  1010 ,  1012 , etc. and computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc. may comprise different devices, including a multimedia display device or similar devices depicted within the illustrations, or other devices such as a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), audio/video device, MP3 players, personal computer, laptop, etc. 
     Each computing object  1010 ,  1012 , etc. and computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc. can communicate with one or more other computing objects  1010 ,  1012 , etc. and computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc. by way of the communications network  1042 , either directly or indirectly. Even though illustrated as a single element in  FIG. 10 , communications network  1042  may comprise other computing objects and computing devices that provide services to the system of  FIG. 10 , and/or may represent multiple interconnected networks, which are not shown. Each computing object  1010 ,  1012 , etc. or computing object or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc. can also contain an application, such as applications  1030 ,  1032 ,  1034 ,  1036 ,  1038 , that might make use of an API, or other object, software, firmware and/or hardware, suitable for communication with or implementation of the techniques and disclosure described herein. 
     There are a variety of systems, components, and network configurations that support distributed computing environments. For example, computing systems can be connected together by wired or wireless systems, by local networks or widely distributed networks. Currently, many networks are coupled to the Internet, which provides an infrastructure for widely distributed computing and encompasses many different networks, though any network infrastructure can be used for exemplary communications made incident to the systems automatic diagnostic data collection as described in various embodiments herein. 
     Thus, a host of network topologies and network infrastructures, such as client/server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid architectures, can be utilized. The “client” is a member of a class or group that uses the services of another class or group to which it is not related. A client can be a process, i.e., roughly a set of instructions or tasks, that requests a service provided by another program or process. The client process utilizes the requested service, in some cases without having to “know” any working details about the other program or the service itself. 
     In a client/server architecture, particularly a networked system, a client is usually a computer that accesses shared network resources provided by another computer, e.g., a server. In the illustration of  FIG. 10 , as a non-limiting example, computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc. can be thought of as clients and computing objects  1010 ,  1012 , etc. can be thought of as servers where computing objects  1010 ,  1012 , etc., acting as servers provide data services, such as receiving data from client computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc., storing of data, processing of data, transmitting data to client computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc., although any computer can be considered a client, a server, or both, depending on the circumstances. 
     A server is typically a remote computer system accessible over a remote or local network, such as the Internet or wireless network infrastructures. The client process may be active in a first computer system, and the server process may be active in a second computer system, communicating with one another over a communications medium, thus providing distributed functionality and allowing multiple clients to take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of the server. Any software objects utilized pursuant to the techniques described herein can be provided standalone, or distributed across multiple computing devices or objects. 
     In a network environment in which the communications network  1042  or bus is the Internet, for example, the computing objects  1010 ,  1012 , etc. can be Web servers with which other computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc. communicate via any of a number of known protocols, such as the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Computing objects  1010 ,  1012 , etc. acting as servers may also serve as clients, e.g., computing objects or devices  1020 ,  1022 ,  1024 ,  1026 ,  1028 , etc., as may be characteristic of a distributed computing environment. 
     Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example,” “a disclosed aspect,” or “an aspect” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or aspect is included in at least one embodiment or aspect of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment,” “in one aspect,” or “in an embodiment,” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in various disclosed embodiments. 
     As utilized herein, terms “component,” “system,” “engine,” “architecture” and the like are intended to refer to a computer or electronic-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software (e.g., in execution), or firmware. For example, a component can be one or more transistors, a memory cell, an arrangement of transistors or memory cells, a gate array, a programmable gate array, an application specific integrated circuit, a controller, a processor, a process running on the processor, an object, executable, program or application accessing or interfacing with semiconductor memory, a computer, or the like, or a suitable combination thereof. The component can include erasable programming (e.g., process instructions at least in part stored in erasable memory) or hard programming (e.g., process instructions burned into non-erasable memory at manufacture). 
     By way of illustration, both a process executed from memory and the processor can be a component. As another example, an architecture can include an arrangement of electronic hardware (e.g., parallel or serial transistors), processing instructions and a processor, which implement the processing instructions in a manner suitable to the arrangement of electronic hardware. In addition, an architecture can include a single component (e.g., a transistor, a gate array, . . . ) or an arrangement of components (e.g., a series or parallel arrangement of transistors, a gate array connected with program circuitry, power leads, electrical ground, input signal lines and output signal lines, and so on). A system can include one or more components as well as one or more architectures. One example system can include a switching block architecture comprising crossed input/output lines and pass gate transistors, as well as power source(s), signal generator(s), communication bus(ses), controllers, I/O interface, address registers, and so on. It is to be appreciated that some overlap in definitions is anticipated, and an architecture or a system can be a stand-alone component, or a component of another architecture, system, etc. 
     In addition to the foregoing, the disclosed subject matter can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using typical manufacturing, programming or engineering techniques to produce hardware, firmware, software, or any suitable combination thereof to control an electronic device to implement the disclosed subject matter. The terms “apparatus” and “article of manufacture” where used herein are intended to encompass an electronic device, a semiconductor device, a computer, or a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. Computer-readable media can include hardware media, or software media. In addition, the media can include non-transitory media, or transport media. In one example, non-transitory media can include computer readable hardware media. Specific examples of computer readable hardware media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive . . . ). Computer-readable transport media can include carrier waves, or the like. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications can be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosed subject matter. 
     What has been described above includes examples of the subject innovation. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the subject innovation, but one of ordinary skill in the art can recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the subject innovation are possible. Accordingly, the disclosed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Furthermore, to the extent that a term “includes”, “including”, “has” or “having” and variants thereof is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. 
     Moreover, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. 
     Additionally, some portions of the detailed description have been presented in terms of algorithms or process operations on data bits within electronic memory. These process descriptions or representations are mechanisms employed by those cognizant in the art to effectively convey the substance of their work to others equally skilled. A process is here, generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of acts leading to a desired result. The acts are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Typically, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical and/or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and/or otherwise manipulated. 
     It has proven convenient, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise or apparent from the foregoing discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the disclosed subject matter, discussions utilizing terms such as processing, computing, calculating, determining, or displaying, and the like, refer to the action and processes of processing systems, and/or similar consumer or industrial electronic devices or machines, that manipulate or transform data represented as physical (electrical and/or electronic) quantities within the registers or memories of the electronic device(s), into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the machine and/or computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission and/or display devices. 
     In regard to the various functions performed by the above described components, architectures, circuits, processes and the like, the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., a functional equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure, which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary aspects of the embodiments. In addition, while a particular feature may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. It will also be recognized that the embodiments include a system as well as a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the acts and/or events of the various processes.