TW201624294A - Computer system and method for detecting internal computer status - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention disclosure provides a computer system and a method for detecting an internal computer status, which detect whether the computer system has fault causes according to a basic input/output system (BIOS) stored in a read-only memory (ROM). When the computer system has the fault causes, a plurality of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins configured in a chipset of the computer system are taken as fault output pins to transmit a power-on self-test (POST) code indicating the fault causes to a light emitting diode (LED) module, so that the POST code indicating the fault causes can be displayed on a plurality of LEDs of the LED module in the form of a seven-segment display. Accordingly, the computer system does not configure an additional debug card. When the computer system executes the self-detection of turning on the computer system, user can easily understand the fault causes through the LED module to eliminate the error information of turning on the computer system.

Description

Computer system and method capable of detecting internal state of computer

The present invention provides a computer system and method for detecting an internal state of a computer, and more particularly to a computer system and method for detecting an internal state of a computer by using a light emitting diode module connected to a general purpose input/output (GPIO) pin.

In the computer boot program, it is a read-only memory on the motherboard, which stores a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). The above BIOS contains a lot of basic programs for computer input and output, and is responsible for initial setting and testing of software and hardware when the computer system is turned on to ensure that the software and hardware in the computer system can work normally. After confirming that the software and hardware in the computer system are all working normally, the central processing unit of the computer system will start to read the boot operating system data stored in the hard disk to load the control of each software and hardware in the computer system. And operation. However, if there is a problem such as a hardware setting abnormality or a software operation error in the above startup program, the computer system may not be successfully started, and even a crash may occur. At this time, the user will use the debug card set outside the computer system or set on the motherboard to perform the boot detection of the computer, so as to assist the user to find out the problem smoothly and eliminate the boot error.

However, this method requires not only the addition of a debug card but also the installation of the debug card in the computer system. If there are multiple computer systems that need to be debugged by the boot process, you must repeatedly insert and remove the debug card in each computer system, or Setting a debug card on the motherboard of a computer system to debug the boot program is not only time-consuming but also costly, which is inconvenient.

In view of this, the main object of the present invention is to provide a computer system and method for detecting the internal state of a computer, which does not need to additionally set a debugging card, but can provide a user to debug the program when the computer system is powered on. And know the problem, and then eliminate the boot error.

The invention provides a computer system capable of detecting the internal state of a computer, and a basic input/output system (BIOS) detects whether the computer system has a fault cause when the computer system is started. The computer system includes a read-only memory, a chipset and a light-emitting diode module. The read-only memory stores a basic input/output system; and the chipset is electrically connected to the read-only memory. The chipset has a plurality of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, and a plurality of fault output pins are set among the plurality of general-purpose input and output pins. The LED module is electrically connected to the plurality of fault output pins. Wherein, when the chipset detects the fault of the computer system through the basic input/output system, the chipset generates a corresponding boot self-test in each of the Power-On Self-Test (POST) stages via the basic input/output system. The code is connected to a plurality of general-purpose input and output pins, and the booting module is used to display the boot self-detection code by using the LED module connected with the plurality of general-purpose input and output pins.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the light emitting diode module may have a plurality of light emitting diodes, and the plurality of light emitting diodes may be arranged in a form of a seven-segment display to display the boot self-detection code.

The invention provides a method for detecting the internal state of a computer, which is suitable for a computer system. The computer system includes a read-only memory that stores a basic input/output system, a chip set having a plurality of general-purpose input and output pins, and a The LED module is electrically connected to the read-only memory and the LED module. The above method for detecting the internal state of the computer includes: (A) setting a plurality of fault output pins among the plurality of general-purpose input and output pins when starting the computer system; (B) detecting whether the computer system has a through the basic input/output system The cause of the failure; (C) if yes, generating a boot self-detection code according to the above-mentioned fault cause; and (D) transmitting the boot self-detection code to the light-emitting diode module through the plurality of fault output pin positions.

In summary, the computer system and method for detecting the internal state of a computer provided by the embodiment of the present invention detect the fault of the computer system according to the BIOS stored in the read-only memory. And when the computer system has a fault reason, the POST code representing the cause of the fault is transmitted to the LED module through the plurality of GPIO pins on the chipset as the fault output pin, so that the POST code representing the cause of the fault can be displayed. Among the multiple light-emitting diodes. In addition, the above-mentioned light-emitting diode can display the above-mentioned boot self-detection code in the form of a seven-segment display to improve the interpretability of the boot self-detection code. Accordingly, the computer system does not need to additionally set a debug card, and can provide a user to debug the program when the computer system is powered on. The user can easily know the problem through the LED module to eliminate the startup error, thereby improving the convenience of use.

The detailed description of the present invention and the accompanying drawings are to be understood by the claims The scope is subject to any restrictions.

100‧‧‧ computer system

110‧‧‧chipset

112‧‧‧GPIO pin

120‧‧‧Read-only memory

130‧‧‧Lighting diode module

S210, S220, S230, S240‧‧‧ steps

S310, S320, S330, S340‧‧‧ steps

1 is a schematic diagram of a computer system capable of detecting an internal state of a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flow chart of a method for detecting an internal state of a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flow chart of a method for detecting an internal state of a computer according to another embodiment of the present invention; Cheng Tu.

In the following, the invention will be described in detail by way of illustration of various exemplary embodiments of the invention. However, the inventive concept may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the illustrative embodiments set forth herein. In addition, the same reference numerals may be used in the drawings to represent similar elements.

First, please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a schematic diagram of a computer system capable of detecting the internal state of a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The computer system 100 is disposed on a motherboard (not shown). The motherboard can be applied to electronic devices such as desktop computers, laptop computers, servers, digital assistants, and mobile phones. The computer system 100 includes a chipset 110, a read-only memory 120 and a light-emitting diode module 130 for transmitting a basic input/output system (BIOS) when the computer system 100 is booted. To detect whether the computer system 100 has a cause of failure. It should be noted that the computer system 100 described in this embodiment also includes other components, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a power supply module, or other components such as an input/output interface, and only the present embodiment is shown in this embodiment. The relevant part of the invention. In this embodiment, the computer system is preferably a computer system of an x86 architecture, and the computer system may also be an ARM architecture or a computer system of other architectures, which is not limited by the present invention.

The read-only memory 120 stores a basic input/output system. The chipset 110 is connected to the read-only memory 120 and has a plurality of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins. In this embodiment, the read-only memory 120 is a flash memory. The wafer set 110 consists of a south bridge and a north bridge or a south bridge wafer to control the various components on the entire motherboard. In addition, the BIOS contains a number of basic control codes for the input and output interfaces of the computer system 100 (such as a display or a keyboard), and is responsible for After the computer system 100 is started (that is, after the electronic device is powered on), a Power-On Self-Test (POST) operation is performed to detect whether the computer system 100 has a malfunction. It should be noted here that the BIOS is a necessary and well-known firmware on a general computer system. Therefore, the function and architecture thereof will not be described in detail below, and only the parts related to the present invention will be described herein.

Therefore, when the computer system 100 is booted, the chipset 110 will set a plurality of fault output pins in the GPIO pin 112 through the BIOS as an output failure cause. For example, GPIO pin 112 in chipset 110 has 128 pins. When the computer system 100 is booted, the chipset 110 will set the 1-16th GPIO pin 112 as the fault output pin as the cause of the output failure.

The LED module 130 is electrically connected to the plurality of fault output pins. When the BIOS detects that the computer system 100 has the cause of the failure, the chipset 110 generates a corresponding POST code via the basic input/output system and passes the POST code through the fault output pin (such as the 1-16th GPIO in the above example). The pin is transmitted to the LED module 130. Furthermore, the read-only memory 120 further stores a plurality of error messages, such as BIOS sound codes, 埠80h-POST code information, POST code information, and general POST sequence information. Among the plurality of error messages, a fault cause is defined, so that the chipset 110 generates a POST code according to an error message stored in the read-only memory 120.

Then, the chipset 110 further parses the POST codes of each stage through the BIOS, and transmits the POST codes to the plurality of LEDs in the LED module 130 through the above-mentioned defined fault output pins in the form of a seven-segment display. The diode, thereby displaying the POST code representing the cause of the malfunction, is in the light emitting diode module 130. In this embodiment, the plurality of light emitting diodes in the LED module 130 are arranged in the form of a seven-segment display. Therefore, the user can easily know the cause of the error represented by the POST code.

The computer system 100 of the x86 architecture is used to illustrate that the POST code consists of two 16-bit code. In order to display in the LED module 130, there are two 16 The POST code of the carry code, the chipset 110 will set 16 GPIO pins 112 as fault output pins (for example, 1-16th GPIO pins 112) when the computer system 100 is started, and 16 fault output pins correspond to Two 16-bit code. That is, 8 fault output pins correspond to the first 16-bit code, and the other 8 fault output pins correspond to the second 16-bit code, so that the LEDs are electrically connected to the 16 GPIO pins (ie, The 16 LEDs can be arranged in the form of a seven-segment display, and the POST codes of the two 16-digit codes are displayed accordingly, so that the user can easily know the cause of the error represented by the POST code.

From the above embodiments, the present invention can be summarized as a method for detecting the internal state of a computer, which is applicable to the computer system 100 described in the above embodiment. Please refer to FIG. 2 and refer to FIG. 1 at the same time. 2 is a flow chart showing a method of detecting an internal state of a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, when the computer system 100 is booted, the chipset 110 sets a plurality of fault output pins among the GPIO pins 112 for use as an output failure cause (step S210).

Next, the chipset 110 will detect whether the computer system 100 has a cause of failure through the BIOS stored in the read-only memory 120 (step S220). If the BIOS does not detect the cause of the failure of the computer system 100, it indicates that the software and hardware in the computer system are operating normally. The chip set 110 will not output any data to the corresponding light-emitting diodes in the LED module 130 through the fault output pin in the GPIO pin 112 (step S240). Then, the central processing unit (not shown in the figure) of the computer system 100 starts to read the boot operating system data stored in the hard disk (not shown in the drawing) to load the various software and hardware in the computer system 100. Control and operation.

On the other hand, if the BIOS detects the cause of the failure of the computer system 100, it indicates that there is a problem such as a hardware setting abnormality or a software operation error in the startup program, so that the computer system 100 cannot be successfully started. The chipset 110 will generate a POST code through the BIOS, and transmit the POST code to the corresponding LED in the LED module 130 through the fault output pin in the GPIO pin 112 for the user to The POST code is used to exclude the boot error (step S230).

Further, the chipset 110 will generate a POST code based on the read-only memory error message. The chipset 110 further parses the POST code through the BIOS, and transmits the POST code to the plurality of LEDs in the LED module 130 through the defined fault output pin in the form of a seven-segment display. The POST code representing the cause of the malfunction is displayed in the LED module 130. The plurality of light-emitting diodes in the LED module 130 are arranged in the form of a seven-segment display. Therefore, the user can easily know the cause of the error represented by the POST code.

In addition, in the architecture of the computer system 100, the debugging of the booting program can also be performed by using the debugging card, so that the user can select one of the ways to detect the internal state of the computer in the computer system 100 according to the actual situation, and the specific implementation manner is as follows: . Please refer to FIG. 3 and also to FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a method for detecting the internal state of a computer according to another embodiment of the present invention. First, when the computer system 100 is started, the chipset 110 sets a plurality of fault output pins in the GPIO pin 112, and sets a peripheral computer interface (Personal Computer Interface, PCI) interface to enable (enable). The faulty output pin in the GPIO pin 112 is connected to the PCI interface (step S310).

Next, the computer system 100 will further determine whether the external debug card is used to detect whether the computer system 100 has a cause of failure (step S320). In this step, the BIOS firmware interface can be used to transmit the external control signal to the computer system 100, so that the computer system 100 can determine whether the computer system 100 has a fault cause by the external debug signal according to the external control signal. In other ways, the computer system 100 can be instructed to select one of them to detect the internal state of the computer in the computer system 100, which is not limited by the present invention.

If the computer system 100 determines that the external debugging card is used to detect whether the computer system 100 has a fault cause, the judgment mode will be set as the external external debugging card is set outside the computer system 100 or set on the motherboard to start the computer. The detection is performed for the user to troubleshoot the power-on error (step S330).

On the other hand, if the computer system 100 determines that the computer system 100 is not detecting the cause of the failure by the external debugging card, the determination mode will determine whether the computer system 100 has a fault cause (step S340). The implementation manner of the chipset 110 detecting whether the computer system 100 has a fault is detailed in the method flowchart of FIG. 2, and therefore will not be described herein.

In summary, the computer system and method for detecting the internal state of a computer provided by the embodiment of the present invention detects whether the computer system has a fault cause according to a BIOS stored in the read-only memory. And when the computer system has a fault reason, the POST code representing the cause of the fault is transmitted to the LED module through the plurality of GPIO pins on the chipset as the fault output pin, so that the POST code representing the cause of the fault can be displayed. Among the multiple light-emitting diodes. In addition, the above-mentioned light-emitting diode can display the boot self-detection code in the form of a seven-segment display to improve the interpretability of the boot self-detection code. Accordingly, the computer system does not need to additionally set a debugging card, and can provide a user to debug the program when the computer system is turned on, and easily know the problem through the LED module to eliminate the startup error, and then It can improve the convenience of use.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

100‧‧‧ computer system

110‧‧‧chipset

112‧‧‧GPIO pin

120‧‧‧Read-only memory

130‧‧‧Lighting diode module

Claims (10)

A computer system capable of detecting an internal state of a computer. When the computer system is activated, a basic input/output system detects whether the computer system has a cause of failure. The computer system includes: a read-only memory, and the basic input/output system is stored; a chip set electrically connected to the read-only memory, the chip set having a plurality of general-purpose input and output pins, wherein the plurality of common output pins are provided with a plurality of fault output pins; and a light-emitting diode module And electrically connecting the fault output pins; wherein the chipset generates a boot self-detection code according to the fault cause, and transmits the boot self-detection code to the light-emitting diode module through the fault output pins. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the light emitting diode module has a plurality of light emitting diodes, and the light emitting diodes are arranged in the form of a seven-segment display, thereby displaying the booting self Detection code. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the number of the fault output pins is 16, and the number of the light-emitting diodes is 16 and is arranged in the form of the seven-segment display. A seven-segment display, and the light-emitting diodes are electrically connected to the fault output pins, respectively. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the read-only memory further stores a plurality of error messages, and the cause of the fault is defined in the error messages. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is an x86 architecture computer system. A method for detecting an internal state of a computer, which is applicable to a computer system including a read-only memory storing a basic input/output system, a chip set having a plurality of general-purpose input and output pins, and a light-emitting diode The module is electrically connected to the read-only memory and the LED module, and the method for detecting an internal state of the computer includes: When the computer system is started, a plurality of fault output pins are set among the general-purpose input and output pins; and the basic input/output system detects whether the computer system has a fault cause; if so, a boot self is generated according to the fault cause Detecting the code; and transmitting the power-on self-detection code to the light-emitting diode module through the fault output pins. The method of claim 6, wherein the LED module has a plurality of LEDs, and the LEDs are arranged in a seven-segment display. To display the boot self-test code. The method for detecting the internal state of the computer according to Item 7 of the claim, wherein the boot self-detection code is composed of two 16-bit code, and the number of the fault output pins is 16, and the light-emitting diodes are The number of the body is 16 and is arranged in the form of the seven-segment display into two seven-segment displays, and the light-emitting diodes are electrically connected to the fault output pins, respectively, to display the boot self-detection code. The method of detecting the internal state of the computer according to Item 8 of the claim, wherein the read-only memory further stores a plurality of error messages, wherein the error message defines the cause of the fault, and detects whether the computer system is After there is a cause of the failure, the boot self-detection code is generated according to the error messages. A method for detecting an internal state of a computer as described in claim 6 wherein the computer system is an x86-based computer system.