Dual Purpose Boot Registers for Early Boot Error Detection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Servers often fail during the early boot process without generating event logs, making it difficult to diagnose 'dead on arrival' or 'dead on reboot' failures, which impacts their availability and serviceability.

Innovation Solution

A method using dual-purpose boot registers to track and analyze early boot phases and status in real-time, allowing for the detection of errors and potential self-healing actions, such as system resets, through a management processor that accesses these registers via a side-band interface before primary communication interfaces are initialized.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the console/video interface is used to detect boot failures, then failures after driver initialization can be detected, but failures during early boot process cannot be detected

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveboot failure detection capabilityVSAvoidtime window for error detection

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces dual-purpose boot registers that are initialized and updated during the early boot process before the console/video interface is fully operational. These registers capture boot phase information and error conditions in advance, enabling detection of early boot failures that would otherwise occur after the critical time window has passed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The dual-purpose boot registers serve as an intermediary mechanism between the boot process and the management processor. These registers act as a bridge that captures early boot state information without requiring the primary communication interfaces to be initialized, allowing the management processor to access boot information through the side-band interface.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If the primary communication interfaces are used to access boot information, then normal operation can be monitored, but early boot phases cannot be accessed before interface initialization

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveboot phase information availabilityVSAvoidcommunication interface dependency

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The side-band interface acts as an intermediary communication path that is independent from the primary communication interfaces. This allows the management processor to access dual-purpose boot registers and retrieve boot phase information even before the primary interfaces are initialized, eliminating the dependency on complex interface initialization sequences.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the communication pathways into two independent channels: the primary communication interfaces for normal operation and the side-band interface for early boot monitoring. This segmentation allows early boot information to be accessed through the side-band interface without interfering with or requiring the initialization of the primary interfaces.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If no boot tracking mechanism is implemented, then device complexity is minimized, but diagnostic capability for dead on arrival failures is lost

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveearly boot error detectionVSAvoidregister and monitoring mechanism

Core Design Contradiction:

Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The dual-purpose boot registers serve multiple functions: they track boot phase progress, capture error conditions, and provide diagnostic information for both early boot failures and normal operation. This multi-functionality justifies the added complexity by consolidating multiple monitoring needs into a single mechanism that provides comprehensive diagnostic capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The boot registers automatically capture and maintain boot phase information and error conditions without requiring active monitoring or complex diagnostic procedures. The system self-services by passively recording boot state changes, making the information available for analysis without adding significant operational complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS10430202B2Dual purpose boot registers

Publication Date: 2019.10.01 HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE DEV LP

AI summary

Techniques for detecting an early boot error are provided. In one aspect, a host processor may transition to a first phase of an early boot process. The early boot process may occur before the host processor initializes a primary link between the host processor and a management controller. The host processor may then update a dual purpose boot register to store an early boot phase identifier corresponding to the first phase and an early boot status identifier corresponding to the first phase.