Method and apparatus for switching an operating system by determining whether a boot-up mode is a general mode or a switch mode

An electronic apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• a system memory, coupled to the processor, comprising an OS block and a system reservation block, wherein the OS block comprises a plurality of segments to be respectively used by a plurality of OSs, and the segments comprise at least a first segment and a second segment;
• and
• a memory unit, coupled to the processor, storing a system firmware, a first resource description table, and a second resource description table, wherein
• when the electronic apparatus is turned on, the system firmware determines whether a boot-up mode is a general mode or a switch mode, if the boot-up mode is the general mode, the system firmware generates the first resource description table in the memory unit to declare that the first segment is in a usable state and the second segment is in a reserved state, starting and loading the first OS, so that a first OS is in a working state in the first segment;
• if the boot-up mode is the switch mode, the system firmware generates the second resource description table in the memory unit when a second OS is not already loaded into the second segment to declare that the second segment is in the usable state and the first segment is in the reserved state, starting and loading the second OS, so that the second OS is in the working state in the second segment, and the first OS is in the power-saving state in the first segment,
• wherein the system firmware records a switching mark in the memory unit of the electronic apparatus to indicate that the electronic apparatus is switched from the first OS to the second OS or from the second OS to the first OS, so as to determine whether the electronic apparatus is to be switched to the first OS or the second OS by reading the switching mark.