busTRACE This WEB page comes from the busTRACE 9.0 User's Manual. (Table of Contents)

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The busTRACE CDB Database also includes the ability to look for common software defects or common firmware defects. As an example, take a look at this actual screen shot of a CDB showing both a software defect and a firmware defect:

Notice how busTRACE has highlighted certain fields with a red background. This indicates a probable software or firmware defect. All you need to do is float the mouse over the topic to get a tooltip with a detailed explanation.

In this example, offset 6 of the CDB is highlighted red because it is a reserved field. All reserved fields should be set or returned zero. Any time busTRACE detects a non-zero reserved field, either in the CDB or in the data in/out, it will flag it as an error.

The second error occurs in the returned "Microcode Upgrade " feature descriptor. The firmware bug in the drive is that the "Version" field of zero is not valid for the structure returned. Had the drive returned 01h in this field, no error would have occurred.

This feature in busTRACE can be invaluable in helping software and firmware engineers improve the quality of their product.

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