PCI Express System Architecture

ROM Detection

When the configuration software is configuring a PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-Express function, it determines if a function-specific ROM exists by checking to see if the designer has implemented an Expansion ROM Base Address Register (refer to Figure 23-1 on page 873).

Figure 23-1. Expansion ROM Base Address Register Bit Assignment

As described in “Expansion ROM Base Address Register” on page 783, the programmer writes all ones (with the exception of bit zero, to prevent the enabling of the ROM address decoder; see Figure 23-1 on page 873) to the Expansion ROM Base Address Register and then reads it back. If a value of zero is returned, then ...