VERTEILTE MULTIPROZESSOR-INITIALISIERUNG UND SELBSTPRÜFUNGSSYSTEM

摘要

A system for controlling initialization and self test operations in a multiprocessor system facilitates the use of central processing units based around differing microprocessor types. More specifically, the present invention involves storing configuration information, initialization self-test code, and boot code specific to each processor, memory module, or I/O circuit board in non-executable form in a non-volatile memory, on the respective circuit board, and storing the executable portion of the boot code needed by the initial boot processor in a centrally accessible non-volatile memory. Moreover, the present invention provides a system to automatically transfer default system initialization operations from a default processor to a first alternative processor if the default processor fails, and to automatically transfer initialization operations to a second alternative processor if the first alternative processor fails, and so forth depending upon how many alternative processors are installed in the multiprocessor system.