System PROM integrity checker

Abstract

A method and apparatus for ensuring the integrity of a system PROM. In one embodiment, a computer system includes a system PROM mounted upon a system board, which may also include a processor. The system PROM may include a static storage area reserved for storing system information that is not to be overwritten during normal system operations. Responsive to booting the computer system, the contents stored in the static portion of the system PROM may be duplicated and stored in a storage unit. During computer system operations, the duplicated contents stored in the storage unit may be compared with the contents of the static portion of the system PROM. If the duplicate contents are different from the contents stored in the static portion of the system PROM, a system alert may be performed in order to notify an operator or technician that the system PROM is corrupted.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.