Method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for disabling BIOS-provided console redirection capabilities in the presence of an incompatible communications device

1. A method for disabling console redirection capabilities provided by a basic input and output system (BIOS) in the presence of an incompatible device, the method comprising:

determining whether a communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature during a BIOS initialization;

in response to determining that a communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature, determining whether a device connected to the communications port is incompatible with console redirection;

in response to determining that a device connected to the communications port is incompatible with console redirection, disabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature during a BIOS power-on self test procedure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether a communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature comprises reading configuration data stored in a non-volatile memory device to determine whether the communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining whether a device connected to the communications port is incompatible with console redirection comprises:

enabling the communications port for communication;

transmitting first data on the communications port for reception by the device;

determining whether a receive buffer of the communications port contains second data from the device following the transmission of the first data on the communications port; and

determining that the device connected to the communications port is incompatible with console redirection in response to determining that the receive buffer contains the second data from the device following the transmission of the first data on the communications port.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the BIOS-provided console redirection feature is implemented by a compressed redirection module and wherein disabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature comprises not uncompressing or executing the redirection module.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising enabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature in response to determining that a device connected to the communications port is compatible with console redirection.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein enabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature comprises decompressing the compressed redirection module and executing the redirection module.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the device that is incompatible comprises one of a mouse input device, a modem, or a serial loopback device connected to the communications port.

8. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 1 .

9. A method for disabling basic input and output system (BIOS) provided console redirection capabilities in the presence of a non-universal-asynchronous-receiver-transmitter (non-UART) device, the method comprising:

during a BIOS initialization, determining whether a communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature;

in response to determining that a communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature, determining whether a non-UART device is connected to the communications port; and

in response to determining that a non-UART device is connected to the communications port, disabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature prior to completing the BIOS initialization.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining whether a communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature comprises reading configuration data stored in a non-volatile memory device to determine whether the communications port has been enabled for utilization with a BIOS-provided console redirection feature.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining whether a non-UART device is connected to the communications port comprises:

enabling the communications port for communication;

transmitting first data on the communications port for reception by a device connected to the communications port;

determining whether a receive buffer of the communications port contains second data from the device following the transmission of the first data on the communications port; and

determining that a non-UART device is connected to the communications port in response to determining that the receive buffer contains the second data from the device following the transmission of the first data on the communications port.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the BIOS-provided console redirection feature is implemented by a compressed redirection module and wherein disabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature comprises not uncompressing or executing the redirection module.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising enabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature in response to determining that a UART device is connected to the communications port.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein enabling the BIOS-provided console redirection feature comprises decompressing the compressed redirection module and executing the redirection module.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the non-UART device comprises one of a mouse input device, a modem, or a serial loopback device connected to the communications port.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising executing a BIOS power-on self test procedure.

17. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 9 .

18. The method of claim 7 , further comprising executing an operating system in response to executing the BIOS power-on self test procedure.

19. The method of claim 9 , further comprising executing an operating system following completing the BIOS initialization.