Unattended BIOS recovery

• US 7,313,685 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2004
• Issued: 12/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Broyles, Paul J. III, James, Don R. Jr., Piwonka, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nitin C.
• Application Number:
  US10/897,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20060020845A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• Field of Search: 713/2, 714/36
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures

Abstract

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method for recovering a BIOS in a computer is described, comprising: unattendingly loading a BIOS recovery code image into system ROM stored on a bootable device; and unattendingly rebooting the computer.

Claims

1. A method for recovering a basic input/output system (BIOS) code comprising:

loading a BIOS recovery code image into system memory of a blade personal computer (blade-PC) having no connected input/output devices from a pre-boot execution environment (PXE) server when the BIOS code of the blade-PC is corrupt; and

rebooting the blade-PC once the BIOS recovery code image replaces the BIOS code of the blade-PC, wherein the blade-PC is connected to at least one thin client having one or more input/output devices, and wherein the at least one thin client uses the replaced BIOS code on the blade-PC to communicate with the one or more input/output devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

determining that the BIOS code of the blade-PC is corrupt.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining that the BIOS code is corrupt occurs during a BIOS power-on self test (POST) operation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

loading an update tool from the PXE server; and

executing the update tool to load the BIOS recovery code image into the system memory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the blade-PC further comprises a network card for communicating with the PXE server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one thin client has a network connection for communication with the blade-PC.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the system memory comprises a non-volatile memory.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more input/output devices comprises a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and external disk drive.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of loading the BIOS recovery code is done unattended.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of rebooting the blade-PC is done unattended.

11. A method for recovering a basic input/output system (BIOS) code comprising:

concurrently loading a BIOS recovery code image into system memory of a plurality of co-local blade personal computers (blade-PCs), each blade-PC having no connected input/output devices, from one pre-boot execution environment (PXE) server when the BIOS code of each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs is corrupt; and

rebooting each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs once the BIOS recovery code image replaces the BIOS code of each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs, wherein each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs is connected to at least one thin client having one or more input/output devices, and wherein the at least one thin client uses the replaced BIOS code on the connected blade-PC to communicate with the one or more input/output devices.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

determining that the BIOS code of each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs is corrupt.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining that the BIOS code is corrupt occurs during a BIOS power-on self test (POST) operation.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

loading an update tool from the PXE server; and

executing the update tool to load the BIOS recovery code image into the system memory.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs further comprises a network card for communicating with the one PXE server.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one thin client has a network connection for communication with one of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the system memory comprises a non-volatile memory.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more input/output devices comprises a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and external disk drive.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of concurrently loading the BIOS recovery code is done unattended.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of rebooting each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs is done unattended.

21. A system for recovering a basic input/output system (BIOS) code comprising:

means for loading a BIOS recovery code image into system memory of a blade personal computer (blade-PC) having no connected input/output devices from a pre-boot execution environment (PXE) server when the BIOS code of the blade-PC is corrupt; and

means for rebooting the blade-PC once the BIOS recovery code image replaces the BIOS code of the blade-PC, wherein the blade-PC is connected to at least one thin client having one or more input/output devices, and wherein the at least one thin client uses the replaced BIOS code on the blade-PC to communicate with the one or more input/output devices.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

means for determining that the BIOS code of the blade-PC is corrupt.

23. The system of claim 21, the means for loading loads an update tool from the PXE server.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

means for executing the update tool to load the BIOS recovery code image into the system memory.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the blade-PC further comprises a network card for communicating with the PXE server.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one thin client has a network connection for communication with the blade-PC.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the system memory comprises a non-volatile memory.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more input/output devices comprises a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and external disk drive.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the loading means is configured to unattendedly load the BIOS recovery code image.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the rebooting means is configured to unattendedly reboot the blade-PC.

31. A system for recovering a basic input/output system (BIOS) code comprising:

means for concurrently loading a BIOS recovery code image into system memory of a plurality of co-local blade personal computers (blade-PCs), each blade-PC having no connected input/output devices, from one pre-boot execution environment (PXE) server when the BIOS code of each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs is corrupt; and

means for rebooting each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs once the BIOS recovery code image replaces the BIOS code of each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs, wherein each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs is connected to at least one thin client having one or more input/output devices, and wherein the at least one thin client uses the replaced BIOS code on the connected blade-PC to communicate with the one or more input/output devices.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising the step of:

means for determining that the BIOS code of each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs is corrupt.

33. The system of claim 31, the means for loading loads an update tool from the PXE server.

34. The system of claim 33, further comprising:

means for executing the update tool to load the BIOS recovery code image into the system memory.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs further comprises a network card for communicating with the one PXE server.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the at least one thin client has a network connection for communication with one of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the system memory comprises a non-volatile memory.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more input/output devices comprises a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and external disk drive.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein the concurrently loading means is configured to unattendedly load the BIOS recovery code image.

40. The system of claim 31, wherein the rebooting means is configured to unattendedly reboot each of the plurality of co-local blade-PCs.