The invention provides a system and method for resolving ambiguous
invalidate messages received by an entity of a computer system. An
invalidate message is considered ambiguous when the receiving entity
cannot tell whether it applies to a previously victimized memory block or
to a memory block that the entity is waiting to receive. When an entity
receives such an invalidate message, it stores the message in its miss
address file (MAF). When the entity subsequently receives the memory
block, the entity "replays" the Invalidate message from its MAF by
invalidating the block from its cache and issuing an Acknowledgement
(Ack) to the entity that triggered issuance of the Invalidate message
command.