Information handling system (IHS) and method to proactively restore firmware components to a computer readable storage device of an IHS

1. An information handling system (IHS), comprising:

a computer readable non-volatile memory configured to store boot firmware and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) firmware;

a computer readable storage device configured to store one or more boot firmware components and an operating system (OS); and

a processing device configured to execute the boot firmware when the IHS is powered on or rebooted;

wherein before the OS is loaded into a system memory of the IHS, the processing device is configured to execute program instructions contained within a boot service of the boot firmware to locate the one or more boot firmware components stored within the computer readable storage device; and

wherein if the boot service determines at least one of the boot firmware components is missing from the computer readable storage device, the processing device is configured to execute additional program instructions to:

retrieve a copy of the at least one boot firmware component from a remotely located system; and

store the retrieved copy of the at least one boot firmware component within the computer readable storage device.

2. The information handling system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the additional program instructions are contained within an additional boot service of the boot firmware and executed by the processing device before the OS is loaded into the system memory.

3. The information handling system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the additional program instructions are contained within a runtime service of the ACPI firmware and executed by the processing device after the OS is loaded into the system memory and executed by the processing device.

4. The information handling system as recited in claim 1 , wherein prior to said retrieving a copy of the at least one boot firmware component, the processing device is configured to execute further program instructions to display a warning message informing a user of the IHS that the at least one boot firmware component is missing and requesting user consent to retrieve the copy of the at least one boot firmware component from the remotely located system.

5. The information handling system as recited in claim 4 , wherein the copy of the at least one boot firmware component is retrieved from the remotely located system only if user consent is received.

6. The information handling system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the computer readable non-volatile memory is further configured to store a recovery table comprising:

a path specifying a file location of each boot firmware component stored within the computer readable storage device; and

a Universal Resource Locator (URL) link to download a copy of the one or more boot firmware components from the remotely located system.

7. The information handling system as recited in claim 6 , wherein the boot service is configured to check the path stored within the recovery table to locate the one or more boot firmware components stored within the computer readable storage device.

8. The information handling system as recited in claim 7 , wherein if the boot service determines at least one boot firmware component is missing from the computer readable storage device, the URL link stored within the recovery table is used to download a copy of the at least one boot firmware component from the remotely located system.

9. The information handling system as recited in claim 8 , wherein the URL link stored within the recovery table is used by an additional boot service of the boot firmware to retrieve a copy of the at least one boot firmware component from the remotely located system and store the received copy of the at least one boot firmware component within the computer readable storage device before the OS is loaded into the system memory.

10. The information handling system as recited in claim 8 , wherein the URL link stored within the recovery table is used by a runtime service of the ACPI firmware to retrieve a copy of the at least one boot firmware component from the remotely located system and store the received copy of the at least one boot firmware component within the computer readable storage device after the OS is loaded into the system memory.

11. A computer-implemented method performed by a processing device of an information handling system (IHS) to proactively restore missing firmware components to a computer readable storage device of the IHS, the method comprising:

executing a first set of program instructions, before an operating system (OS) is loaded into a system memory of the IHS, to locate one or more firmware components previously stored within the computer readable storage device, wherein if the first set of program instructions determines that at least one of the one or more firmware components is missing from the computer readable storage device, the method further comprises:

executing a second set of program instructions to retrieve a copy of the at least one firmware component from a remotely located system; and

executing a third set of program instructions to store the retrieved copy of the at least one firmware component within the computer readable storage device.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein if the one or more firmware components are located within the computer readable storage device, the method further comprises loading the OS into the system memory to boot the OS.

13. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein the second set of program instructions and the third set of program instructions are executed by the processing device before the OS is loaded into the system memory, if the first set of program instructions determines that the at least one firmware component is missing from the computer readable storage device.

14. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein the second set of program instructions and the third set of program instructions are executed by the processing device after the OS is loaded into the system memory, if the first set of program instructions determines that the at least one firmware component is missing from the computer readable storage device.

15. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein if the first set of program instructions determines that the at least one firmware component is missing from the computer readable storage device, the method further comprises:

executing a fourth set of program instructions to display a warning message informing a user of the IHS that the at least one firmware component is missing and requesting user consent to retrieve the copy of the at least one firmware component from the remotely located system.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 , wherein the second set of program instructions are executed to retrieve the copy of the at least one firmware component from the remotely located system only if user consent is received.

17. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein a computer readable non-volatile memory of the IHS is configured to store a recovery table comprising:

a path specifying a file location of each firmware component stored within the computer readable storage device; and

a Universal Resource Locator (URL) link to download a copy of the one or more firmware components from the remotely located system.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the first set of program instructions are executed by the processing device to check the path stored within the recovery table to determine if the one or more firmware components are stored within the computer readable storage device or missing from the computer readable storage device.

19. The method as recited in claim 18 , wherein if the first set of program instructions determines that the at least one firmware component is missing from the computer readable storage device, the second set of program instructions use the URL link stored within the recovery table to download a copy of the at least one firmware component from the remotely located system.