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TD_HDWBP.TXT
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1997-05-06
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/*************************************************************************/
TURBO DEBUGGER
USING THE HARDWARE DEBUGGING FEATURES
CONFIGURING YOUR SYSTEM
=======================
Before you can set hardware breakpoints, you must install TDDEBUG.386.
Turbo Debugger uses the debug registers of 80386 (and higher) processors to
set hardware breakpoints. However, for Turbo Debugger to take advantage of
the special debug registers, TDDEBUG.386 must be properly installed.
(TDDEBUG.386 provides the same functionality as the Windows SDK file
WINDEBUG.386, with added support for the debug registers.)
INSTALL.EXE copies TDDEBUG.386 to your hard disk and alters your Windows
SYSTEM.INI file so that Windows loads TDDEBUG.386 instead of WINDEBUG.386.
If you are having problems setting hardware breakpoints, make sure that
TDDEBUG.386 is correctly installed:
1) The installation program copies TDDEBUG.386 from the installation disks
to your your language BIN directory. If you move the file to another
directory, substitute that directory in the following instructions.
2) With an editor, open the Windows SYSTEM.INI file, search for "[386enh]".
Add the following line to that section:
device = c:\lang_dir\bin\TDDEBUG.386
3) If there's a line in the [386enh] section that loads WINDEBUG.386, you
must either comment that line out with a semicolon or delete it
altogether. (You can't load both TDDEBUG.386 and WINDEBUG.386.)
For example, if you load WINDEBUG.386 from the C:\WINDOWS directory,
the commented-out line would read:
;device=c:\windows\windebug.386
SETTING HARDWARE BREAKPOINTS
============================
There are several ways to set a hardware-assisted breakpoint:
o Choose Breakpoints|Changed memory global.
In the input box of the dialog box that opens, enter a memory
address followed by the number of bytes TDW is to watch to determine
if your program has changed anything in that part of memory. If you
enter a variable name or expression as the address, the count refers
to how many objects of that size to watch.
For example, if your program contains a word-sized variable x,
typing "x,2" causes two objects of size sizeof(x) (4 bytes total)
to be watched.
When you set a breakpoint using the Changed Memory Global command, Turbo
Debugger automatically determines whether that breakpoint can make use of
the available hardware. If it can, Turbo Debugger sets a hardware
breakpoint for you and indicates that the breakpoint is set in hardware
by putting an asterisk (*) after the global breakpoint number in the left
pane of the Breakpoints window.
o Choose Breakpoints|Hardware Breakpoint.
Use this command to set a general-purpose hardware breakpoint. This
command displays the Hardware Breakpoint Options dialog box (described
later).
o Use the Breakpoint Options dialog box (see the paragraphs after the next
one for an explanation of how to display this dialog box) to get to the
Hardware Breakpoint Options dialog box (described later).
In the Breakpoint Options dialog box, check the Global checkbox, then
press the Change button to display the Conditions and Actions dialog
box. In this dialog box, select the Hardware radio button in the
Condition group, then press the Hardware button at the bottom of the
box to display the Hardware Breakpoint Options dialog box.
You can get to the Breakpoint Options dialog box from two locations:
the Breakpoints menu or the Breakpoints view window.
- Choose Breakpoints|At (Alt-B A) to display the Breakpoint Options
dialog box.
- Choose View|Breakpoints to display the Breakpoints window. In the left
pane, highlight the breakpoint you want to work with, then display the
local menu (Alt-F10 or right-hand mouse click) and choose the Set
Options or the Add command to display the Breakpoint Options dialog box.
USING THE HARDWARE BREAKPOINT OPTIONS DIALOG BOX
================================================
This section starts with a description of the hardware and software
limitations on the hardware conditions you can set with Turbo Debugger,
and then explains all the options you can set from the Hardware Breakpoints
dialog box.
Hardware conditions permitted with TDDEBUG.386
----------------------------------------------
When you're using TDDEBUG.386 with Turbo Debugger, you can set the following
types of hardware breakpoints from the Hardware Breakpoint dialog box:
o Instruction fetch
o Read from memory
o Read/write memory
Because you can't set any type of data matching when you use TDDEBUG.386,
you must always set the Data Match radio buttons to Match All. You can
also match only a single memory address or range of memory addresses.
A range can encompass from 1 to 16 bytes, depending on how many other
hardware breakpoints you have set and the address of the beginning of
the range.
The other options in the Hardware Breakpoint dialog are for other hardware
debuggers and device drivers that might support more matching modes.
The Hardware Breakpoint Options dialog box
------------------------------------------
This section describes the options on the Hardware Breakpoint Option
dialog box. Remember that your hardware isn't likely to support
all combinations of matching that you can specify from this menu. The
previous section describes the combinations that are allowed for the
TDDEBUG.386 device driver supplied with Turbo Debugger.
The Hardware Breakpoint Options dialog box lets you set the three matching
criteria that make up a hardware breakpoint:
o The bus cycle type to be matched
o The range of addresses to be matched
o The range of data values to be matched
For example, a hardware breakpoint might say "Watch for an I/O write
anywhere from address 3F8 to 3FF as long as the data value is equal to
1." This breakpoint will then be triggered any time a byte of 1 is
written to any of the I/O locations that control the COM1 serial port.
Usually, you set far simpler hardware breakpoints than this, such
as "Watch for I/O to address 200."
Cycle Type radio buttons
------------------------
With these radio buttons, you can make one of the following settings:
Read Memory Match memory reads
Write Memory Match memory writes
Access Memory Match memory read or write
Input I/O Match I/O input
Output I/O Match I/O Output
Both I/O Match I/O input or output
Fetch Instruction Match instruction fetch
The Access Memory option is a combination of the Read Memory and Write
Memory options--it matches either memory reads or writes. Likewise,
the Both I/O option matches I/O reads or writes.
Some hardware debuggers are capable of distinguishing between simple
data reads from memory and instruction fetches. In this case, if you
set a breakpoint to match on read memory, an instruction fetch from
that location will not trigger the hardware breakpoint. Instruction
cycles include all the bytes that the processor reads in order to
determine the instruction operation to perform, including prefix
bytes, operand addresses, and immediate values. The actual data read
or written to memory referenced by an operand's address is not
considered to be part of the instruction fetch. For example,
MOV AX,[1234]
fetches 3 instruction bytes from memory and reads 2 data bytes. If you
use instruction fetch matching, remember that the 80x86 processor
family prefetches instructions to be executed, so you may get false
matches, depending on whether your hardware debugger can sort out
prefetched instructions from ones that are really executed.
Address radio buttons
---------------------
With these radio buttons, you can make one of the following settings:
Above Match above an address
Below Match below an address
Range Match within address range
Not Range Match outside address range
Less or Equal Match below or equal to address
Greater or Equal Match above or equal to address
Equal Match a single address
Unequal Match all but a single address
Match All Match any address
Data Match radio buttons
------------------------
The Data Match radio buttons let you make the following settings:
Above Match above a value
Below Match below a value
Range Match within value range
Not Range Match outside value range
Less or Equal Match below or equal to value
Greater or Equal Match above or equal to value
Equal Match a single value
Unequal Match all but a single value
Match All Match any value
If you turn on a Data or Address option that involves any less-than or
greater-than condition, a single address match range either starts at
zero and extends to the value you specified, or starts at the value
you specified and extends to the highest allowed value for addresses
or data.
/***************************** END OF FILE *******************************/