IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,340,990
Granted Patent B2
US 11,340,990 · App. 16/780,464 · Granted May 24, 2022

System and method to run basic input/output system code from a non-volatile memory express device boot partition

Inventors: Isaac S. Hsu (Taipei, TW); Lip Vui Simon Kan (Hillbrooks, SG); Adolfo S. Montero (Pflugerville, TX)
Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
G06F11/1417G06F9/4406G06F9/4408G06F11/0772G06F11/1469G06F13/4282
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,340,990
App. No.
16/780,464
Granted
May 24, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

An information handling system may include an embedded controller, a serial peripheral interface (SPI) read-only memory (ROM) device to store a first basic input/output system (BIOS) firmware for the information handling system, and a non-volatile memory device includes a boot partition to store a second BIOS firmware. The embedded controller detects a failure during a boot process, switches a first SPI of a chipset from the SPI ROM to the embedded controller and executes the second BIOS firmware from the non-volatile memory device via a sideband access of the non-volatile memory device.

Claims (31)

1. An information handling system, comprising:

an embedded controller;

a serial peripheral interface (SPI) read-only memory (ROM) device to store a first basic input/output system (BIOS) firmware for the information handling system; and

a non-volatile memory device including a boot partition to store a second BIOS firmware, wherein the embedded controller detects a failure during a boot process, switches a first SPI of a chipset from the SPI ROM to the embedded controller and executes the second BIOS firmware from the non-volatile memory device via a sideband access of the non-volatile memory device.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the second BIOS firmware is a copy of the first BIOS firmware.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the embedded controller executes the second BIOS firmware from the boot partition of the non-volatile memory device.

4. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory device is a non-volatile memory-express (NVMe) solid state drive.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the sideband access is provided by a system management bus.

6. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the second BIOS firmware is used to recover the first BIOS firmware.

7. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the failure is an invalid first BIOS firmware.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the failure is an SPI ROM hardware failure.

9. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the sideband access of the non-volatile memory device is via a second SPI.

10. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the embedded controller is connected to the chipset via an enhanced SPI and the non-volatile memory device via a second SPI.

11. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the embedded controller is connected to the chipset via an enhanced SPI and the non-volatile memory device via a system management bus.

12. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the boot partition of the non-volatile memory device emulates a virtual SPI ROM device.

13. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the second BIOS firmware is encrypted.

14. An information handling system, comprising:

an embedded controller;

a serial peripheral interface (SPI) read-only memory (ROM) device to store a first basic input/output system (BIOS) code for the information handling system; and

a non-volatile memory device including a boot partition to store a second BIOS firmware, wherein the embedded controller detects a failure during a boot process, switches an SPI of a chipset from the SPI ROM to the embedded controller and recovers the first BIOS firmware based on the second BIOS firmware from the non-volatile memory device via an out-of-band network access.

15. The information handling system of claim 14 , wherein the out-of-band network access of the non-volatile memory device is a second SPI.

16. The information handling system of claim 14 , wherein the embedded controller is connected to the chipset via an enhanced SPI and the non-volatile memory device via a second SPI.

17. The information handling system of claim 14 , wherein the boot partition of the non-volatile memory device emulates a virtual SPI ROM device.

18. A method comprising:

storing a first basic input/output system (BIOS) firmware in a serial peripheral interface (SPI) read-only memory (ROM) device of an information handling system;

storing a second BIOS firmware in a boot partition of a non-volatile memory-express device, wherein the boot partition of the non-volatile memory-express device can be accessed via an out-of-band network access;

detecting a hardware failure during a boot process of the information handling system;

switching an SPI of a chipset of the information handling system from the SPI ROM to an embedded controller; and

recovering the first BIOS firmware in the SPI ROM based on the second BIOS firmware via the out-of-band network access.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the embedded controller is connected to the chipset via an enhanced SPI and the non-volatile memory-express device via a second SPI.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the boot partition of the non-volatile memory-express device emulates a virtual SPI ROM device.

Assignments (13)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (052851/0917) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 060436/0509 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (052852/0022) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 060436/0582 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053311/0169) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 060438/0742 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053546/0001) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 071642/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (052851/0081) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 060436/0441 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST AT REEL 052771 FRAME 0906 Recorded Nov 2, 2021
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 058001/0298 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 053311/0169 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 052851/0081 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 052851/0917 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 052852/0022 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded May 28, 2020
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
Reel/Frame 052771/0906 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 22, 2020
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 053546/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 3, 2020
From: HSU, ISAAC S.; KAN, LIP VUI SIMON; MONTERO, ADOLFO S.
To: DELL PRODUCTS, LP
Reel/Frame 051704/0097 →