Bios corruption detection system and method

A system of detecting a corrupt basic input/output system (“BIOS”) stored in a flash memory device of a computer, the system comprising:

• means for determining if at least one of a first and last byte of BIOS are erased;
• means, responsive to the computer being booted, for determining whether a the first byte of the BIOS is programmed;
• means, responsive to a determination that the first byte of the BIOS is programmed, for determining whether the last byte of the BIOS is programmed;
• and
• means, responsive to a determination that the last byte of the BIOS is programmed, for concluding that the BIOS is not corrupt and proceeding with normal POST procedures, whereby BIOS image corruption detection is accomplished without requiring a cyclic redundancy check and a boot block reprogramming.

A computer program product for detecting a corrupt basic input/output system (“BIOS”) stored in a flash memory device of a computer, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer program processable by a computer for causing the computer to:
• determine whether one of a first and last byte of BIOS are erased;
• determine whether a first byte of the BIOS is programmed responsive to anytime the computer is booted;
• determine whether a last byte of the BIOS is programmed responsive to a determination that the first byte of the BIOS is programmed;
• and
• conclude that the BIOS is not corrupt and proceed with normal POST procedures responsive to a determination that the last byte of the BIOS is programmed;
• and
• apparatus from which the computer program is accessible by the computer system, whereby BIOS code image corruption detection is accomplished without requiring a cyclic redundancy check and a boot block reprogramming.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a flash memory device electrically connected to the processor;
• basic input/output system (“BIOS”) code stored in the flash memory device;
• means for determining if at least one of a first and last byte of BIOS are erased;
• wherein, responsive to the computer system being booted, a determination is made whether a first byte of the BIOS is programmed;
• wherein, responsive to a determination that the first byte of the BIOS is programmed, a determination is made whether a last byte of the BIOS is programmed;
• and
• wherein, responsive to a determination that the last byte of the BIOS is programmed, a conclusion is drawn that the BIOS is not corrupt and normal POST procedures initiated, whereby BIOS image corruption detection is accomplished without requiring a cyclic redundancy check and a boot block reprogramming.