Adjusting the use of a chip/socket having a damaged pin

• US 9,703,623 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2014
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Global Technologies International Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Decesaris, Michael, Whetzel, John K., Remis, Luke D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rizkallah, Kimberly
• Assistant Examiner(s): Turner, Brian
• Application Number:
  US14/538,216
• Publication Number:
  US 20160132383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• Field of Search: 438530, 32475007, 32475023, 32475418, 32475602, 32475903, 32476202, 348 46, 382141-147
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/303 of integrated circuits G01R31/305 - G01R31/315 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/68 Testing of releasable connections, e.g. of terminals mounted on a printed circuit board
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• 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

Abstract

An electronic system comprises: a pin sensor; and an integrated management module, wherein the integrated management module: identifies a location of a damaged connector between a semiconductor chip and a hardware socket, wherein the location of the damaged connector is described by one or more readings from the pin sensor, and wherein the damaged connector prevents a particular signal from being supplied to the semiconductor chip via the hardware socket; identifies the particular signal as an input for a particular semiconductor function; determines whether the semiconductor chip provides the particular semiconductor function; and adjusts a use of the semiconductor chip based on whether or not the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function.

Claims

1. An electronic system comprising:

a pin sensor; and

an integrated management module, wherein the integrated management module comprises;

means for identifying a location of a damaged connector between a semiconductor chip and a hardware socket, wherein the location of the damaged connector is described by a reading from the pin sensor, and wherein the damaged connector prevents a particular signal from being supplied to the semiconductor chip via the hardware socket;

means for identifying the particular signal as an input for a particular semiconductor function;

means for determining whether the semiconductor chip provides the particular semiconductor function; and

means for adjusting a functionality of the semiconductor chip based on whether or not the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function.

2. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the pin sensor is a camera, and wherein the reading from the pin sensor is a video image of the damaged connector.

3. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the pin sensor is a pressure sensor, and wherein the reading from the pin sensor is a pressure reading caused by the damaged connector contacting the pin sensor.

4. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for, in response to determining that the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function, issuing an instruction to repair the damaged connector.

5. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for, in response to determining that the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function, issuing an instruction to replace the hardware socket.

6. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for, in response to determining that the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function, issuing an instruction to replace the semiconductor chip.

7. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for, in response to determining that the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function, disabling the particular semiconductor function in the semiconductor chip.

8. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for, in response to determining that the particular signal is a null signal, issuing an instruction to the semiconductor chip to enable the semiconductor chip.

9. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for, in response to determining that the particular signal is not used by the semiconductor chip, issuing an instruction to the semiconductor chip to enable the semiconductor chip.

10. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for, in response to determining that the particular signal is used by a functional logic within the semiconductor chip, issuing an instruction to the semiconductor chip to alter the functional logic within the semiconductor chip.

11. The electronic system of claim 10, wherein the functional logic provides means for accessing specific memory devices.

12. The electronic system of claim 10, wherein the semiconductor chip is on a board that is populated by other semiconductor chips, wherein the particular signal describes a temperature of the semiconductor chip, wherein the functional logic adjusts power usage on the semiconductor chip, and wherein the integrated management module further comprises:

means for receiving temperature readings from the other semiconductor chips; and

means for directing the functional logic, as altered by the integrated management module, to adjust the power usage on the semiconductor chip based on the temperature readings from the other semiconductor chips.

13. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the integrated management module further comprises means for adjusting the functionality of the semiconductor chip by adjusting a configuration of the semiconductor chip.

14. An electronic system comprising:

a pin sensor; and

an integrated management module, wherein the integrated management module is configured to;

identify a location of a damaged connector between a semiconductor chip and a hardware socket, wherein the location of the damaged connector is described by a reading from the pin sensor, and wherein the damaged connector prevents a particular signal from being supplied to the semiconductor chip via the hardware socket;

identify the particular signal as an input for a particular semiconductor function;

determine whether the semiconductor chip provides the particular semiconductor function;

adjust a use of the semiconductor chip based on whether or not the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function; and

in response to determining that the particular signal is used by a functional logic within the semiconductor chip, issue an instruction to the semiconductor chip to alter the functional logic within the semiconductor chip.

15. The electronic system of claim 14, wherein the integrated management module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function, issue an instruction to repair the damaged connector.

16. The electronic system of claim 14, wherein the integrated management module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function, issue an instruction to replace the hardware socket.

17. The electronic system of claim 14, wherein the integrated management module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the semiconductor chip uses the particular signal to provide the particular semiconductor function, disable the particular semiconductor function in the semiconductor chip.

18. The electronic system of claim 14, wherein the integrated management module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the particular signal is a null signal, issue an instruction to the semiconductor chip to enable the semiconductor chip.

19. The electronic system of claim 14, wherein the integrated management module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the particular signal is not used by the semiconductor chip, issue an instruction to the semiconductor chip to enable the semiconductor chip.