Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developers Manual Volume 3A, System Programming Guide, Part 1

8-10 Vol. 3A
ADVANCED PROGRAMMABLE INTERRUPT CONTROLLER (APIC)
flags returned in the EDX register indicates the presence (set) or absence (clear) of a
local APIC.
8.4.3 Enabling or Disabling the Local APIC
The local APIC can be enabled or disabled in either of two ways:
1. Using the APIC global enable/disable flag in the IA32_APIC_BASE MSR (MSR
address 1BH; see Figure 8-5):
— When IA32_APIC_BASE[11] is 0, the processor is functionally equivalent to
an IA-32 processor without an on-chip APIC. The CPUID feature flag for the
APIC (see Section 8.4.2, “Presence of the Local APIC”) is also set to 0.
— When IA32_APIC_BASE[11] is set to 0, processor APICs based on the 3-wire
APIC bus cannot be generally re-enabled until a system hardware reset. The
3-wire bus loses track of arbitration that would be necessary for complete re-
enabling. Certain APIC functionality can be enabled (for example:
performance and thermal monitoring interrupt generation).
— For processors that use Front Side Bus (FSB) delivery of interrupts, software
may disable or enable the APIC by setting and resetting
IA32_APIC_BASE[11]. A hardware reset is not required to re-start APIC
functionality.
— When IA32_APIC_BASE[11] is set to 0, prior initialization to the APIC may be
lost and the APIC may return to the state described in Section 8.4.7.1, “Local
APIC State After Power-Up or Reset.”
2. Using the APIC software enable/disable flag in the spurious-interrupt vector
register (see Figure 8-23):
— If IA32_APIC_BASE[11] is 1, software can temporarily disable a local APIC at
any time by clearing the APIC software enable/disable flag in the spurious-
interrupt vector register (see Figure 8-23). The state of the local APIC when
in this software-disabled state is described in Section 8.4.7.2, “Local APIC
State After It Has Been Software Disabled.”
— When the local APIC is in the software-disabled state, it can be re-enabled at
any time by setting the APIC software enable/disable flag to 1.
For the Pentium processor, the APICEN pin (which is shared with the PICD1 pin) is
used during power-up or RESET to disable the local APIC.
Note that each entry in the LVT has a mask bit that can be used to inhibit interrupts
from being delivered to the processor from selected local interrupt sources (the
LINT0 and LINT1 pins, the APIC timer, the performance-monitoring counters, the
thermal sensor, and/or the internal APIC error detector).