Method of powering down a computer system by performing an unconditional shutdown after interrupts of first and second software systems respectively fail following a power button event

• US 6,587,951 B1
• Filed: 12/23/1999
• Issued: 07/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Flanigan, Edward P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Trujillo, James K.
• Application Number:
  US09/471,839
• Time in Patent Office: 1,286 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/324, 713/330, 713/340, 713/310
• US Class Current: 713/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1441 Resetting or repowering

Abstract

A method for powering down a computer system is shown. A power button is actuated and an interrupt is generated in response to the actuation of the power button. An unconditional shutdown of the computer system is performed on system software failing to respond to the interrupt. The system software powers down the computer system on the system software responding to the interrupt.

Claims

1. A method for powering down a computer system comprising:

actuating a power button;

generating a first interrupt and a second interrupt in response to the actuation of the power button;

powering down the computer system by the first system software in response to the first system software responding to the first interrupt;

powering down the computer system by the second system software-in response to the first system software failing to respond to the first interrupt and the second system software responding to the second interrupt; and

performing an unconditional shut down after first system software and second system software have failed to respond to the first and second interrupts, respectively.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the unconditional shut down comprises de-asserting a signal to a power supply.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein handling the first interrupt by the first system software comprises handling the first interrupt according to a power management policy.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first system software is an operating system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first system software is a basic input output system.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling a counter and requiring first system software to respond before the counter reaches a first value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing the unconditional shut down on the system software failing to respond to the interrupt within a predetermined time period, wherein the predetermined time period is shorter than a time required to power down the computer system.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising a step of verifying the actuating of the power button, wherein the verifying step occurs after the system software response to the interrupt and before the powering down of the computer system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second interrupt is generated before the first system software has failed to respond to the first interrupt.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second interrupt is a bios interrupt.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second interrupt is a non-maskable interrupt.

12. A method for powering down a computer system, comprising:

generating an interrupt on a power button input;

enabling a shut down counter;

shutting down a computer system on an operating system failing to respond to the interrupt prior to the counter reaching a predetermined limit and if a BIOS is locked;

handling the power button input by the operating system on the operating system responding before the counter reaches the predetermined limit; and

handling the power button input by the BIOS if the operating system fails to respond to the interrupt prior to the counter reaching the predetermined limit and if the BIOS is not locked.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein handling the power button input by the operating system comprises:

verifying the power button input;

disabling the shut down counter; and

handling the power button input according to operating system power management policies.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein handling the power button input according to operating system management policies comprises waiting until critical processes have finished processing before shutting down the computer system.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein shutting down a computer system comprises signaling a power supply to unconditionally shut down.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the shut down counter counts to a first value and the first value is set by the operating system.

17. A method for powering down a computer system comprising:

generating a power button event;

generating an interrupt in response to the power button event;

determining whether the computer system is set to initially handle power button events through a basic input output system (BIOS) or an operating system;

initially handling power button events by the BIOS if the BIOS is set to initially handle power button events;

handling power button events by the BIOS if the operating system is set to initially handle power button events and the operating system is hung; and

initially handling power button events by the operating system if the operating system is set to initially handle power button events.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said interrupt is a BIOS interrupt and wherein handling power button events by the BIOS comprises:

generating the BIOS interrupt in response to the power button event;

enabling a BIOS shut down counter;

on the BIOS responding to the BIOS interrupt prior to the BIOS shut down counter reaching a first value, performing the following;

disabling the BIOS shut down counter;

verifying the power button event; and

handling the power button event according to BIOS power management policies; and

on the BIOS failing to respond to the BIOS interrupt prior to the BIOS counter reaching the first value, unconditionally powering down the computer system.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said interrupt is an operating system interrupt and wherein handling power button events by the operating system comprises:

generating an operating system interrupt in response to the power button event;

enabling an operating system shut down counter;

on the operating system failing to respond to the operating system interrupt prior to the operating system shut down counter reaching a second value, unconditionally powering down the computer system; and

on the operating system responding to the operating system interrupt prior to the operating system shut down counter reaching the second value, performing the following;

disabling the operating system shut down counter;

verifying the power button event; and

handling the power button event according to operating system power management policies.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising, selecting one of the BIOS and the operating system to initially handle power button events.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing an unconditional shut down of the computer system if the BIOS is hung and the operating system is hung.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the interrupt is a non-maskable interrupt.

23. A method of powering down a computer system comprising:

receiving a power button input;

on a first system software layer being locked, handling the power button input by a second system software layer according to second power management policies;

on the second system software layer being locked, handling the power button input by the first system software layer according to first power management policies; and

performing an unconditional shut down of the computer system on the first system software layer and the second system software layer being locked.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first system software layer is an operating system and the second system software layer is a basic input output system (BIOS).

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the first system software layer is a first operating system layer and the second system software layer is a second operating system layer.

26. A method of powering down a computer system comprising:

generating a power button event;

generating an operating system interrupt in response to the power button event;

enabling a basic input output system (BIOS) counter;

determining if the operating system is operational;

handling the power button event according to operating system policies if the operating system is operational;

determining if the BIOS is locked on the operating system being locked;

performing an unconditional shut down of the computer system if the BIOS is locked and the operating system is locked;

handling the power button event according to BIOS system policies if the BIOS is operational.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein handling the power button event according to operating system policies further comprises:

disabling the BIOS counter;

disabling the operating system counter; and

verifying the power button event.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein handling the power button event according to BIOS system policies further comprises:

disabling the operating system counter;

disabling the BIOS counter; and

verifying the power button event.