Method and system for booting a multiprocessor computer

A method for initializing a computer system, comprising the steps of:

• providing power to a plurality of processors, a chipset and an initialization control circuit;
• determining a bootstrap processor using the chipset;
• programming a volatile memory of the initialization control circuit with data representing the bootstrap processor;
• reading the bootstrap processor from the volatile memory of the initialization control circuit;
• asserting a value on at least one bus request line connected to the processors, the value or values asserted corresponding to the bootstrap processor;
• providing a first signal to the plurality of processors;
• sampling the bus request lines in each processor in response to receiving the first signal;
• and
• booting the system under the control of the bootstrap processor.

A method for programming an initialization control circuit, comprising the steps of:

• providing power to a plurality of processors and an initialization control circuit;
• determining an initial bootstrap processor by the hardware wiring of the processors to a bus;
• detecting the presence of the remaining processors;
• initializing the remaining processors;
• building a multi processor table containing information including the family and model of the processors;
• selecting a processor with the most limited features based on the information contained in the multi processor table;
• and
• transferring data identifying the selected processor to a memory of an initialization control circuit.