The datasheet of Intel 82574 GbE Controller gives out the layout of NIC's NVM (Non-Volatile Memory), and the "APT uCode Pointer" field (word 0x2a) seems to be a pointer to some code. So, I'm curious about when these codes get invoked and what dose these code do?

I have dumped the NVM of my 82574L NIC by flashrom, and the contents are listed below (from offset 0xa0 to 0x12b are the ucodes):

00000000h: 00 1B 21 32 10 41 20 04 46 F7 80 10 FF FF FF FF
00000010h: 69 E4 03 81 6B 02 1F A0 86 80 D3 10 FF FF 58 9C
00000020h: 00 00 01 20 94 7E FF FF 00 10 48 00 00 00 04 27
00000030h: C9 6C 50 31 3E 07 0B 46 84 2D 40 01 00 F0 06 07
00000040h: 00 60 00 71 08 14 FF FF 01 4D EC 92 5C FC 83 F0
00000050h: 28 00 33 02 50 00 1F 7D 61 19 53 04 A0 00 FF FF
00000060h: 00 01 00 40 15 13 03 40 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00000070h: FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 30 01 FF FF C5 1E
00000080h: FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
00000090h: FF FF FF FF 00 C7 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
000000a0h: 00 00 1F 38 0A 00 04 00 80 02 00 20 FF FF FF 7F
000000b0h: 00 00 1F 38 08 00 04 00 00 00 1F 38 09 00 04 00
000000c0h: 00 00 3F 0A 14 00 20 00 01 7E 5F 10 3F 00 20 00
000000d0h: 00 7C 9F 61 00 08 00 00 00 7C 5F 62 00 00 30 00
000000e0h: 01 04 E6 08 CA FA E3 7F 02 07 00 20 02 04 06 09
000000f0h: 03 04 26 09 01 7A E4 7F 81 03 00 20 0E 7A E4 7F
00000100h: 02 00 1F 38 C4 04 04 00 0E 08 26 08 04 02 89 10
00000110h: 10 04 26 08 06 02 49 10 01 12 49 10 00 00 1F 38
00000120h: 30 03 04 00 00 00 1F 38 07 00 04 00 FF FF FF FF
00000130h: FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

The datasheet seems mean that the ucode are composed of 4 bytes instructions, so what's the risc core type (MIPS/PPC...) inside Intel 82574 GbE Controller?

Thanks!

Not PPC for sure. That's an Intel chip. You have the datasheet. I would be thinking industrial cou types. Why don't you search for an assembler for it? You will find out that way. Also, if you get on to the local Intel parts distributor, their tech support engineers will have the beef on it.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks for business_kid's answer.

After days of research, I think that these SMBus ucode are of ARCtangent-A4 assembly language, and I guess these ucode should be called by intel ME management firmware, since intel ME has a RISC core of ARCtangent-A4, though not very sure.

I'm glad you sorted it.