CN101211268A - System and method for starting mainboard by loading starting program through different interfaces - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for starting up a mainboard by loading a starting program through different interfaces.A detection circuit is arranged on the mainboard, when the detection circuit detects that a starting device is electrically connected to the mainboard when the mainboard is started, a processing circuit on the mainboard is controlled to switch a first interface which is preset for receiving the starting program to a second interface which is electrically connected with the starting device, and then the starting program transmitted by the starting device is received through the second interface, so that the mainboard can automatically switch the interfaces to receive the starting program for starting.

Description

System capable of loading startup programs through different interfaces to start mainboard and method thereof

technical field

A system and method for starting a mainboard, particularly a system and a method that can automatically detect different interfaces to load a startup program to start a mainboard.

Background technique

The basic input/output system (BIOS) is a piece of program code, which is usually stored in the electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) or flash memory (Flash) of the motherboard. When the motherboard is about to start, the central processing unit (CPU) will It is loaded into the basic I/O system and executed so that the various peripheral devices can work.

If the basic I/O system is damaged, the motherboard cannot be loaded with a complete basic I/I system to start. For this reason, some manufacturers have developed a technology to automatically update the basic I/I system, so that when the basic I/I system is damaged, Can be automatically repaired by the motherboard. The current common method is to store the backup BIOS in the same motherboard, when the commonly used BIOS is damaged, load the backup BIOS, and then use the backup BIOS to The system covers the commonly used basic I/O system to achieve the effect of automatic repair, but this requires additional storage space and increases the cost. Therefore, some manufacturers store the backup basic I/O system in an external storage medium. When the main board’s basic I/O system is damaged, the external device that stores the backup basic Connect to make the mainboard load the backup basic input/input system to start the mainboard, such as Taiwan Patent No. 087117360. There are also manufacturers who will use the method of Taiwan Patent No. 093128050 to use the memory to temporarily store the backup basic input/output system stored in the external storage medium, and update the basic I/O system, so that the motherboard can load the updated basic I/O system for booting.

However, as the processing speed of the central processing unit becomes faster and faster, the data transmission speed of the peripheral devices on the motherboard needs to be higher and higher, so new interfaces are constantly being used to connect the central processing unit and peripheral devices, so that the data The speed of transmission can keep up with the processing speed of the central processing unit as much as possible, but such a situation will cause problems for the above two backup methods, because the external device used for backup and the basic input/output system on the storage motherboard The memory uses the same interface to transmit the basic input/output system to the central processing unit and execute it, so the above-mentioned backup method using an external device is used. When the interfaces used are different, the mainboard will fail to start because it cannot automatically change to a different interface to load the basic I/O system, so currently a switch or jumper is set on the mainboard to allow The user switches the interface used to load the basic I/O system, which is inconvenient for most users who are not familiar with computers.

Therefore, how to provide a function of automatically loading startup programs in different interfaces has become a problem that users and manufacturers wish to solve.

Contents of the invention

In view of the above problems, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a system and method that can load boot programs through different interfaces to start the main board, and automatically switch the interface for receiving the boot program by detecting whether the boot device is electrically connected to the main board. The extra settings can load the startup programs of different interfaces, so as to solve the problems mentioned in the prior art.

To achieve the above object, the present invention can be composed of system and method. The system disclosed in the present invention includes: a main board and a boot device, wherein the main board includes a memory, a connector, a detection circuit and a processing circuit; the boot device includes a storage medium. The method disclosed in the present invention includes the following steps: the mainboard presets to start by receiving the first startup program stored in the memory through the first interface; when the mainboard is started, it is judged whether the mainboard is electrically connected to the starting device; When electrically connected to the motherboard, the second interface is used to receive the second startup program stored in the startup device for startup; when the startup device is not electrically connected to the motherboard, the first interface is used to receive the first startup program stored in the memory program to start.

The present invention will be described in further detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments and accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1A is a system block diagram of the present invention that can load startup programs through different interfaces to start the motherboard.

FIG. 1B is another system block diagram of the present invention that can load boot programs through different interfaces to boot the motherboard.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for loading a startup program through different interfaces to start a mainboard according to the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an interface selection correspondence table related to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a detection method of a detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The system operation of the present invention will be described below with FIG. 1A , which is a system block diagram of the present invention that can load startup programs through different interfaces to start the motherboard. As shown in the figure, the system of the present invention includes a motherboard 100 and a boot device 101 , the motherboard 100 includes a memory 110 , a connector 120 , a detection circuit 130 and a processing circuit 140 , and the boot device 101 includes a storage medium 190 . Wherein, the memory 110 is used to store the first startup program required when the motherboard 100 is started, and transmit the first startup program to the processing circuit 140; the connector 120 is used to provide a connection mechanism for the motherboard 100 to electrically connect the startup device 101; the detection circuit 130 is used to detect whether the starting device 101 is electrically connected to the connector 120 when the mainboard 100 is started. If the starting device 101 is not electrically connected to the connector 120, then transmit the first control signal to the processing circuit 140. 101 is electrically connected, then the second control signal is sent to the processing circuit 140; the processing circuit 140 includes a first interface and a second interface, the first interface uses the first bus 150 to electrically connect with the memory 110, and the second interface uses the second bus 160 It is electrically connected to the connector 120, and it is preset to use the first interface to receive the first startup program stored in the memory 110, and to receive the first control signal and the second control signal transmitted from the detection circuit 130. When the first When the control signal is used, the first preset interface is used to receive the first start-up program. When the second control signal is received, the default value of the start-up program is switched to receive the first start-up program sent by the start-up device 101 by the second interface. 2. Boot program, and load the received first boot program or second boot program, and then enable the mainboard 100 to boot through the first boot program or the second boot program; the storage medium 190 is used to store the second boot program.

Next, an embodiment is used to illustrate the working system and method of the present invention, and at the same time refer to FIG. 2 , which is a flow chart of a method for loading a startup program through different interfaces to start a motherboard according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the first interface and the second interface take Serial Peripheral Interface (Serial Peripheral Interface; SPI) and Firmware Hub/Low Pin Count (Firmware Hub/Low Pin Count; FWH/LPC) interface as examples respectively, but this The first interface and the second interface that the invention relates to are not limited to this, and other interfaces used by peripheral equipment such as peripheral equipment connection (Peripheral Component Interconnect; PCI) interface and the like can be used in the present invention, because the second interface In this embodiment, it is a firmware hub/low pin count interface, and the connector 120 is a corresponding socket. The first start-up program and the second start-up program in this embodiment take the basic input/output system as an example, and the memory 110 takes a flash memory (Flash) as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and other memory that can store program codes It can also be the memory involved in the present invention, such as Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory; EEPROM) and the like. In addition, the processing circuit 140 is a main circuit for starting the motherboard, and in this embodiment, it is a processing circuit including a south bridge chipset (chipset) and a central processing unit.

Execute the first startup program, that is, in the motherboard 100 of the present invention, when leaving the factory, the detection circuit 130 will be preset to use the serial peripheral interface to receive the first startup program stored in the flash memory 110 (step 210), that is, when the motherboard When the power switch on the 100 is pressed by the user to start, the detection circuit 130 will judge whether the starting device 101 is electrically connected to the connector 110 (slot) on the main board 100 through a connecting wire (step 220), if the main board is currently started The first boot program is not damaged, then the user does not need to use the second boot program in the boot device 101 to start the motherboard, so the boot device 101 will not be electrically connected to the motherboard 100, that is to say, the detection circuit 130 will judge the boot device. 101 is not electrically connected to the motherboard 100, so the detection circuit 130 will send a preset selection signal "01" to the south bridge chipset in the processing circuit 140, as shown in the interface selection correspondence table 300 of Figure 3, the south bridge chipset After receiving the selection signal of "01", use the serial peripheral interface to receive the first boot program (step 230) that the flash memory 110 transmits to the first bus 150, and when receiving the first boot program, transmit the first boot program program to the processing circuit 140, and the processing circuit 140 will load and execute the program code of the first boot program to start the motherboard 100 after receiving the first startup program (step 250), thereby completing the normal startup process of the motherboard 100.

If the motherboard 100 cannot be started normally after loading and executing the first startup program in the processing circuit 140, the user can use a connecting wire to connect the startup device 101 to the slot 120 on the motherboard 100, so that the startup device 101 is electrically connected. to the mainboard 100, and press the power switch to restart the mainboard 101.

When the motherboard 100 is restarted, the detection circuit 130 will determine that the boot device 101 is electrically connected to the motherboard 100 (step 220), so the selection signal of "11" will be sent to the south bridge chipset in the processing circuit 140, as shown in Figure 3 , after the detection circuit 130 transmits the selection signal of "11" to the south bridge chipset, the south bridge chipset will use the firmware hub/low pin count interface to receive the second boot program sent by the boot device 101 to the second bus 160 That is to say, the processing circuit 140 switches the interface for receiving the startup program from the preset serial peripheral interface to the firmware hub/low pin count interface (step 240), and then the central processing unit executes the second startup program to start the motherboard 100 . In this way, the present invention can solve the problem that the startup programs of different interfaces involved in the prior art cannot be loaded automatically.

Next, the method for the detection circuit 130 to determine whether the starting device 101 is electrically connected to the motherboard 100 is described. As shown in FIG. This voltage is the first control signal; when the starting device 101 is connected to the connector 120, the first pin 101a and the second pin 101b of the starting device 101 will be electrically connected to the third pin 130a and the fourth pin 130b of the detection circuit 130 respectively. connection, if the first pin 101a is connected to the second pin 101b, and because the fourth pin 130b is grounded, the first pin 101a, the second pin 101b, the third pin 130a and the fourth pin 130b are all grounded, so the power supply 131 The output voltage will pass through the third pin 130a, the second pin 101b, the first pin 101a and the fourth pin 130b in sequence, so the voltage transmitted to the processing circuit 140 is zero, which is the second control signal. The method for detecting whether the starting device is electrically connected to the main board involved in the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned method, and other methods for detecting whether the starting device is electrically connected to the main board can be used in the invention.

In addition, the above-mentioned starting device 101 may not store the second starting program, but is only used to provide the detection circuit 130 to detect whether to control the processing circuit 140 to receive the second starting program, that is, as shown in FIG. The storage medium 190 above can be set on the storage device 102 instead, and is electrically connected to the boot device 101 via the storage device 102, so that the boot device 101 can read the second boot program from the storage device 102 and transmit it to the mainboard 100. Enable the mainboard 100 to use the second startup program to boot.

Claims (10)

1. A kind of method that can load start-up program to start mainboard by different interfaces, be applied on the mainboard with memory, it is characterized in that, said method comprises the following steps: (1) The above-mentioned motherboard is pre-set to receive the first startup program stored in the above-mentioned memory through the first interface to start; and (2) When the above-mentioned main board is started, it is judged whether the above-mentioned main board is electrically connected to the starting device, and when it is confirmed that the above-mentioned starting device is electrically connected to the above-mentioned main board, the second interface is used to receive the second starting program stored in the above-mentioned starting device for starting ; and when it is confirmed that the booting device is not electrically connected to the motherboard, using the first interface to receive the first booting program stored in the memory to boot. 2. The method for loading startup programs through different interfaces to start the motherboard according to claim 1, wherein the first interface is a serial peripheral interface. 3. The method for loading boot programs through different interfaces to start the mainboard according to claim 1, wherein the second interface is a firmware hub/low pin count interface. 4. A system that can load startup programs through different interfaces to start the mainboard, characterized in that the above-mentioned system includes: (1) an activation device for transmitting a second activation procedure; and (2) Main board, it comprises: connector, it is used for electrically connecting above-mentioned starting device; Memory, it is used for storing the first starting program; Detection circuit, it is used for judging whether above-mentioned main board is connected with above-mentioned starting device electrical connection when main board starts; Connecting, when it is judged that the main board is not electrically connected to the starting device, transmitting a first control signal, and when it is judged that the main board is electrically connected with the starting device, transmitting a second control signal; and a processing circuit, which is used to receive the first control signal A control signal and the above-mentioned second control signal. When receiving the first control signal, the above-mentioned first startup program is received through the preset first interface. When receiving the second control signal, the above-mentioned processing circuit will switch to use the second The interface is used to receive the second startup program, so that the motherboard can be started according to the first startup program or the second startup program received by the processing circuit. 5. The system capable of loading startup programs through different interfaces to start the motherboard as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second startup program is stored in the startup device. 6. The system according to claim 4 that can load startup programs through different interfaces to start the mainboard, wherein the above-mentioned system also includes a storage medium, the storage medium is used to store the second startup program, and is connected with the startup device electrical connection, so that the above-mentioned boot device can read the above-mentioned second boot program and transmit it to the above-mentioned motherboard. 7. The system capable of loading startup programs through different interfaces to start the motherboard as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first interface is a serial peripheral interface. 8. The system capable of loading startup programs through different interfaces to boot the motherboard as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second interface is a firmware hub/low pin count interface. 9. The system capable of loading startup programs through different interfaces to start the mainboard as claimed in claim 4, wherein the memory is a flash memory. 10. The system capable of loading startup programs through different interfaces to start the mainboard according to claim 4, wherein the above-mentioned memory is an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory.

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