Boot recovery of simple boot BIOS

• US 6,640,316 B1
• Filed: 05/23/2000
• Issued: 10/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dell Products (Dell Technologies Inc.), Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Herzi, Dirie N., Martin, Todd R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bonura, Timothy M.
• Application Number:
  US09/577,025
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• Field of Search: 713/2, 714/21, 714/23, 714/24, 714/36, 714/25
• US Class Current: 714/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures

Abstract

A method, computer system, and apparatus perform a modified simple boot. Rather than following Ver. 1 of the Simple Boot Flag Specification, the simple boot flag is ignored if certain platform corruption errors are detected by the BIOS. When the simple boot flag is set, the BIOS runs through a set of core diagnostics to determine whether a platform corruption has occurred. If BIOS detects that the simple boot flag is set and that no platform corruptions have occurred, then a simple boot is performed. However, if a platform corruption is detected, the set simple boot flag is ignored and a full suite of diagnostics routines is performed by the BIOS during the boot process.

Claims

1. A method for performing a boot for a computer system, comprising:

evaluating the contents of a diagnostics indicator to determine whether the diagnostics indicator contains a simple boot value;

if the diagnostics indicator contains the simple boot value, determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred;

if the diagnostics indicator contains the simple boot value and the at least one platform corruption has not occurred, executing a simple boot routine; and

otherwise, executing at least one diagnostic routine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a user setup change has occurred.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a basic input/output system change has occurred.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a chassis intrusion has occurred.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a power loss has occurred.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a CMOS corruption has occurred.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a thermal error has occurred.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a fan error has occurred.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a smart error has occurred.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a memory error has occurred.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a voltage error has occurred.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further comprises determining whether a voltage regulator error has occurred.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating the value of diagnostics indicator further comprises retrieving the contents of the diagnostics indicator from a boot register.

14. A computer system that performs a simple boot, comprising:

a processor;

a system startup memory coupled to the processor; and

a basic input/output system (BIOS) memory coupled to the processor, the BIOS memory including;

a module that evaluates the contents of a diagnostics indicator to determine whether the diagnostics indicator contains a simple boot value;

a module that determines, if the diagnostics indicator contains the simple boot value, whether at least one platform corruption has occurred;

a module that executes, if the diagnostics indicator contains the simple boot value and the at least one platform corruption has not occurred, a simple boot routine; and

a module that otherwise executes at least one diagnostic routine.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a user setup change has occurred.

16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a BIOS change has occurred.

17. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a chassis intrusion has occurred.

18. The computer systems of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a power loss has occurred.

19. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a CMOS corruption has occurred.

20. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a thermal error occurred.

21. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a fan error has occurred.

22. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a smart error has occurred.

23. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a memory error has occurred.

24. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a voltage error has occurred.

25. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that determines whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further determines whether a voltage regulator has occurred.

26. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the module that evaluates the contents of a diagnostics indicator further comprises a module that retrieves the contents of the diagnostics indicator from a boot register.

27. An apparatus that performs a simple boot, comprising:

a basic input/output system (BIOS) memory loaded with instructions for;

evaluating the contents of a diagnostics indicator to determine whether the diagnostics indicator contains a simple boot value;

if the diagnostics indicator contains the simple boot value, determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred;

if the diagnostics indicator contains the simple boot value and the at least one platform corruption has not occurred, executing a simple boot routine; and

otherwise, executing at least one diagnostic routine.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a user setup change has occurred.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instruction for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a BIOS change has occurred.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a chassis intrusion has occurred.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a power loss has occurred.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred includes instructions for determining whether a CMOS corruption has occurred.

33. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a thermal error has occurred.

34. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a fan error has occurred.

35. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a smart error has occurred.

36. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a memory error has occurred.

37. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a voltage error has occurred.

38. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether at least one platform corruption has occurred further includes instructions for determining whether a voltage regulator has occurred.

39. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions for evaluating the contents of a diagnostics indicator further include instructions for retrieves the contents of the diagnostics indicator from a boot register.