Redundant BIOS Flash ROM Self-Diagnosis and Restoration
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Solution Overview
Problem
In storage control devices, recovering from BIOS memory abnormalities is challenging due to the risk of human error during maintenance and difficulty in identifying abnormalities, leading to increased maintenance costs and system downtime.
Innovation Solution
A storage control device with two redundant BIOS flash ROMs, where one BIOS is used for startup and the other for redundancy, allowing for self-diagnosis and data restoration by overwriting faulty data with data from the redundant BIOS during startup, ensuring system availability and reducing maintenance costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If BIOS memory recovery is performed by manual maintenance work, then BIOS data can be restored, but human error risk increases and maintenance cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic self-diagnosis and self-restoration of BIOS data by detecting abnormalities in the first BIOS flash ROM during startup and automatically restoring data from the second BIOS flash ROM, eliminating the need for manual maintenance intervention and reducing human error risk
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains a redundant copy of BIOS data in the second BIOS flash ROM and uses this copy to restore the first BIOS flash ROM when abnormalities are detected, enabling automatic recovery without manual intervention
2Reliability
If BIOS memory is restored using external devices or other components, then BIOS data can be recovered, but it becomes difficult to identify where the abnormality exists in the BIOS memory
Solution Approach 1:
The second BIOS flash ROM serves as an intermediary storage medium that contains a valid copy of BIOS data, allowing the system to restore the first BIOS flash ROM without requiring external devices while maintaining the ability to identify and locate abnormalities through comparison with the redundant copy
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-stores a valid copy of BIOS data in the second BIOS flash ROM before any abnormality occurs, enabling immediate restoration and abnormality identification during startup without requiring external intervention or complex diagnostic procedures
3Device complexity
If a single BIOS flash ROM is used, then device complexity is reduced, but system availability decreases when BIOS abnormality occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system assigns different roles to different parts of the BIOS storage system: the first BIOS flash ROM is used for active startup operations while the second BIOS flash ROM is dedicated to storing redundant backup data, with each part optimized for its specific function
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically detects when the first BIOS flash ROM contains abnormalities and recovers by switching to use the second BIOS flash ROM for startup operations, effectively discarding the faulty first ROM temporarily while maintaining system availability
Data Source
AI summary
A storage control device includes a first memory, a second memory, and a processor. The first memory stores therein a first startup program for starting up the storage control device. The second memory stores therein a second startup program for starting up the storage control device. The processor performs a startup process of starting up the storage control device by executing the first startup program stored in the first memory. The processor performs diagnosis for the first memory during the startup process. The processor restores, in a case where an abnormality is detected in a first portion of a first area of the first memory, first data stored in the first portion by overwriting the first data with data of a part of the second startup program stored in the second memory. The first area is a storage area in which the first startup program is stored.