Method and infrastructure for recognition of the resources of a defective hardware unit

• US 7,725,806 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2008
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Milligan, Charles H., Probst, Juergen
• Primary Examiner(s): Lamarre; Guy J
• Application Number:
  US12/174,649
• Publication Number:
  US 20080276121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 677 Days
• Field of Search: 714/763, 714/5, 711/141
• US Class Current: 714/763
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2289 by configuration test

Abstract

A system and method of recognizing resources of a computer comprising a system serial number and a broken hardware unit comprising a non-volatile memory unit and enablement definition data relating to functions of the broken hardware unit, wherein the method comprises starting the computer; entering a serial number in a read/write non-volatile memory field of the non-volatile memory unit; reading the read/write non-volatile memory field; and matching the serial number of the read/write non-volatile memory field with the system serial number. The method may further comprise detecting failure of the broken hardware unit after the starting of the computer. Preferably, a reading that the serial number of the read/write non-volatile memory field matches with the system serial number permits acceptance of the enablement definition data of the broken hardware unit.

Claims

1. A system able to recognize hardware resources of a computer, said system comprising:

said computer comprising;

a system serial number; and

a broken hardware unit comprising;

a non-volatile memory unit comprising a read/write non-volatile memory field; and

enablement definition data relating to functions of said broken hardware unit;

a power unit starting said computer;

a control mechanism reading said read/write non-volatile memory field to acquire a previously entered system serial number;

a processor determining if said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field is the same as said system serial number and, when said previously entered serial number and said system serial number do not match, preventing acceptance by said computer of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit so as to prevent addition of capacity and features of said broken hardware unit and outputting an error message.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a diagnostic unit adapted to detect failure of said broken hardware unit after said power unit starts said computer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein a reading that said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field matches with said system serial number permits acceptance of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit so as to allow addition of said capacity and features of said broken hardware unit to said computer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a reading that said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field does not match with said system serial number discourages transferring said broken hardware unit to an alternate computer having another system serial number different from said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory unit.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a transferring of said read/write non-volatile memory unit to an alternate computer having said another system serial number different from said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory unit results in a non-acceptance of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit.

6. A system able to recognize hardware resources of a computer, said system comprising:

said computer comprising;

a system serial number; and

a broken hardware unit comprising;

a non-volatile memory unit comprising a read/write non-volatile memory field; and

enablement definition data relating to functions of said broken hardware unit;

a power unit starting said computer;

a diagnostic unit adapted detecting failure of said broken hardware unit after said power unit starts said computer;

a control mechanism reading said read/write non-volatile memory field to acquire a previously entered system serial number; and

a processor determining if said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field is the same as said system serial number and, when said previously entered serial number and said system serial number do not match, preventing acceptance by said computer of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit so as to prevent addition of capacity and features of said broken hardware unit and outputting an error message.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein a reading that said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field matches with said system serial number permits acceptance of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit so as to allow addition of said capacity and features of said broken hardware unit to said computer.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein a reading that said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field does not match with said system serial number discourages transferring said broken hardware unit to an alternate computer having another system serial number different from said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory unit.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein a transferring of said read/write non-volatile memory unit to an alternate computer having said another system serial number different from said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory unit results in a non-acceptance of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit.

10. A system comprising:

said computer comprising;

a system serial number; and

a broken hardware unit comprising;

a non-volatile memory unit comprising a simple serial electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (SEEPROM) comprising a read/write non-volatile memory field; and

enablement definition data relating to functions of said broken hardware unit;

a power unit starting said computer;

a control mechanism reading said read/write non-volatile memory field to acquire a previously entered system serial number;

a processor determining if said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field is the same as said system serial number and, when said previously entered serial number and said system serial number do not match, preventing acceptance by said computer of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit so as to prevent addition of capacity and features of said broken hardware unit and outputting an error message.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a diagnostic unit adapted to detect failure of said broken hardware unit after said power unit starts said computer.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein a reading that said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field matches with said system serial number permits acceptance of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit so as to allow addition of said capacity and features of said broken hardware unit to said computer.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein a reading that said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory field does not match with said system serial number discourages transferring said broken hardware unit to an alternate computer having another system serial number different from said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory unit.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein a transferring of said read/write non-volatile memory unit to an alternate computer having said another system serial number different from said previously entered system serial number acquired from said read/write non-volatile memory unit results in a non-acceptance of said enablement definition data of said broken hardware unit.