Managing boot errors

• US 20030212936A1
• Filed: 03/14/2003
• Published: 11/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Stephan, Yann, Neuman, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,315,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2268 Logging of test results

Abstract

A system (100) and a method (500) for managing boot errors. When errors occur during boot, the errors may be recorded in non-volatile storage (115). The errors in the nonvolatile storage (115) may be retrieved, decoded, and displayed in a form more understandable to the user. Also, tie errors may be analyzed to efficiently detect and correct the causes of the errors. In addition, the analysis may be used to prevent errors altogether.

Claims

1. A boot error manager (100) for a data processing system, comprising:

a error log module (110) configured to log one or more boot errors of the data processing system in a non-volatile storage (115); and

an error processing module (120) configured to process the one or more boot errors stored in the non-volatile storage (115).

2. The boot error manager (100) of claim 1, wherein the error processing module (120) comprises:

a retrieval module (310) configured to retrieve the one or more boot errors from the non-volatile storage (115);

a decode module (320) configured to decode the one or more boot errors retrieved by the retrieval module (310); and

a display module (330) configured to display the one or more boot errors decoded by the decode module (320).

3. The boot error manager (100) of claim 2, wherein the decode module (320) is configured to decode boot errors for one or more data processing system types.

4. The boot error manager (100) of claim 2, wherein the error processing module (120) further comprises one or more of:

a localization module (340) configured to interpret the one or more boot errors in one or more languages; and

an analysis module (350) configured to analyze the one or more boot errors, wherein a type of analysis performed by the analysis module (350) includes one or more of a historical analysis and a statistical analysis.

5. The boot error manager (100) of claim 4, wherein the display module (330) is configured to display one or more of:

the one or more boot errors interpreted in the one or more languages by the localization module (340); and

the one or more boot errors analyzed by the analysis module (350).

7. The boot error manager (100) of claim 2, wherein one or more of the error log module (110), the retrieval module (310), the decode module (320), and the display module (330) are implemented as instructions in BIOS, as software programs, as dedicated firmware, in hardware, and any combination thereof.

6. The boot error manager (100) of claim A) wherein one or more of the error log module (110), the retrieval module (310), the decode module (320), and the display module (330) reside in one or more data processing systems.

8. A method (500) to manage boot errors of a data processing system, comprising:

logging (510) boot errors of the data processing system in a non-volatile storage (115); and

processing (520) the boot errors stored in the non-volatile storage (115).

9. The method of (500) claim 8, wherein the processing (520) step comprises:

retrieving (610) the one or more boot errors from the non-volatile storage (115);

decoding (620) the one or more boot errors retrieved in the retrieving (610) step; and

displaying (630) the one or more boot errors decoded in the decoding (620) step.

10. The method (500) of claim 9, wherein the decoding (620) step comprises:

decoding boot errors for one or more data processing system types.

11. The method (500) of claim 9, wherein the processing (520) step further comprises one or more of:

interpreting (640) the one or more boot errors in one or more languages; and

analyzing (650) the one or more boot errors, wherein a type of analysis performed includes one or more of a historical analysis and a statistical analysis.

12. The method (500) of claim 11, wherein the step of displaying (630) further comprises one or more of:

displaying the one or more boot errors interpreted in the interpreting (640) step; and

displaying the one or more boot errors analyzed in the analyzing (650) step.