Self correcting server with automatic error handling

• US 6,763,456 B1
• Filed: 02/25/2000
• Issued: 07/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd. (Xiaomi Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Agnihotri, Manoj B., Martinez, Jesus A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Butler, Dennis M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): WANG, ALBERT C
• Application Number:
  US09/514,849
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: 709/222, 713/2, 714/48, 717/171
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• 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

Abstract

A reliable and automated boot process for computer systems of limited access. Both the power-on routine and the operating system report error conditions to common storage during execution, are repeatedly re-executed in an effort to automatically boot successfully, and may diagnose system problems as desired. When failures persist, the computer system may be assisted remotely.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a first initialization failure on a first processor-based system;

attempting to re-initialize the first processor-based system without manual intervention;

identifying a second initialization failure on the first processor-based system;

sending an indicator to a second processor-based system;

receiving a command in response to the second initialization failure from the second processor-based system; and

loading a remote command interpreter function on the first processor-based system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

loading a program to send information about the first processor-based system to a display; and

loading a second program, wherein the second program;

intercepts the information from being received by the display; and

sends the information to the second processor-based system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling a modem within the first processor-based system;

dialing a second modem within the second processor-based system by the first modem; and

connecting the first and the second modem by a telephone line.

4. The method of claim 3, sending an indicator to a second processor-based system further comprising paging the second modem by the first modem.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a connection to a network using a network interface card in the first processor-based system;

establishing a second connection to the network using a second network interface card in the second processor-based system; and

sending an address associated with the second processor-based system across the network by the first processor-based system.

6. The method of claim 5, sending an indicator to the second processor-based system further comprising addressing a local area network alert to the second processor-based system.

7. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage medium coupled to the processor including a software program that, upon execution;

identifies a first initialization failure on the system;

attempts to re-initialize the system without manual intervention;

identifies a second initialization failure on the system;

sends an indicator to a second processor-based system;

receives a command in response to the second initialization failure from the second processor-based system;

stores information about the system in the memory,

receives a command from the second processor-based system to supply information about the system;

retrieves the information from the memory; and

sends the information to the second processor-based system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the memory is a non-volatile random access memory.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the first initialization failure is a failure of an operating system to load properly.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the system is a headless server system.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the indicator is a page of the second processor-based system.

12. An article comprising a medium storing software that causes a processor-based system to:

identify a first initialization failure on the processor-based system;

attempt to re-initialize the processor-based system without manual intervention;

identify a second initialization failure on the processor-based system;

send an indicator to a second processor-based system;

receive a command from the second processor-based system in response to the second initialization failure of the processor-based system; and

load a remote command interpreter function on the processor-based system.

13. The article of claim 12, further storing software that causes a processor-based system to:

load a program to send information about the processor-based system to a display; and

load a second program to intercept information from being received by the display and to send the information to the second processor-based system.

14. The article of claim 12, further storing software that causes a processor-based system to respond to the command by entering a power-on mode.

15. The article of claim 12, further storing software that causes a processor-based system to respond to the command by shutting down the system.

16. A method of operating a self correcting system, comprising:

attempting a first boot of a first processor-based system;

identifying an error during the first boot;

making an adjustment in the boot process in accordance with the identified error and without manual intervention;

attempting a second boot of the first processor-based system;

loading a remote command interpreter function on the first processor-based system;

sending an indicator from the first processor-based system to a second processor-based system; and

receiving information from the second processor-based system in response to the indicator and without manual intervention,

wherein the adjustment in the boot process is based on the information received from the second processor-based system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the making an adjustment comprises re-loading a primary operating system.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the making an adjustment comprises identifying a different boot device.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the making an adjustment comprises identifying a backup operating system for booting.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the backup operating system resides on a hard disk of the first processor-based system.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the backup operating system resides on a boot partition of the hard disk.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the backup operating system and a primary operating system reside on different portions of the hard disk.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the backup operating system and a primary operating system reside on different boot partitions of the hard disk.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the backup operating system comprises a pre-boot execution environment.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the backup operating system resides on a second processor-based system.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

sending a page from the first processor-based system subsequent to the second boot attempt.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein at least two adjustments of the boot process are made on the first processor-based system with corresponding re-boot attempts before sending the indicator to the second processor-based system.