JPH01131933A - System for diagnosing electronic computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily find a defective part with high accuracy by setting diagnostic firmware by separating hardware to several parts logically when abnormality is generated in the hardware, deciding sense information by a various kinds of diagnostic routines, and estimating and displaying a faulty part according to the display information. CONSTITUTION:The diagnostic firmware 3 is set in a diagnostic mode which diagnoses the hardware by separating to the several parts logically, and a sense at every operating system is designated by deciding the firmware. And the sense information is decided by the various kinds of diagnostic routines of the diagnostic firmware 3, and it is displayed on a display part 7. The diagnostic routine to be executed is decided by estimating the faulty part according to the display information. The hardware is diagnosed at every section by the diagnostic routine, and a diagnostic result is displayed on the display part 7. In such a way, it is possible to designate a diagnostic range at every section or processing system of the hardware by a user, and to display the detail information of defect easily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to firmware for diagnosing the hardware of an electronic computer, and in particular, its diagnostic method [Prior art] FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a conventional hardware diagnosis. In, ■ is the hardware to be diagnosed, 2
is memory that contains processing programs and firmware,
3 is diagnostic firmware for diagnosing hardware 1; 4 is diagnostic firmware that diagnoses hardware 1;
5 is the main firmware that realizes the original function, 5 is the user interface where the user specifies the operation and displays the result, 6 is the switch setting section that specifies the operation in the user interface 5, and 7 is the user interface 5 that displays the operation result. This is a display section for displaying information.

Next, the operation will be explained. Before the hardware executes its original functional operation, the diagnostic firmware 3 on the memory 2 diagnoses the hardware 1 to be diagnosed in order to guarantee the operation of the hardware.

When the diagnosis is completed normally, control is transferred to the main firmware 4, and the original functional operation is realized. - On the other hand, when the diagnosis ends abnormally, a code for classifying the abnormality is displayed on the display section 7 of the user interface 5. At this point, in order to find out what is the cause of this abnormality, the user connects a synchro scope or the like to the hardware to be diagnosed, operates the switch setting part 6 of the user interface 5, and runs the diagnostic program. Load the diagnostic firmware 3 and run it repeatedly to find the problem.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] ゛With conventional diagnostic methods, if the range of hardware that operates during diagnosis is large, it is difficult to connect a synchro scope or the like to investigate the phenomenon. Met. In addition, even if the operating range is reduced, if it is not a fixed fault that causes normal or abnormal operation, detailed information at the time the fault occurs cannot be displayed, so it is not possible to predict the fault or the location of the fault. It is difficult to limit the number of problems, and it is necessary to investigate each phenomenon one by one while waiting for a problem to occur, which is a time-consuming problem.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and allows the user to specify the diagnosis range for each hardware category or processing system, and also allows the user to easily display detailed information on defects. The purpose is to obtain a diagnostic method.

[Means for solving problems]

In this invention, in a diagnostic method that self-diagnoses the hardware of a computer using diagnostic firmware, if there is an abnormality in the hardware (step S4), the diagnostic mode is set to a diagnostic mode in which the hardware is logically separated into several parts and diagnosed. Setting the firmware (step S1), determining that the diagnostic mode is set (step S2),
Sense is specified for each operating system (step S7). Then, the sense information is determined by various diagnostic routines of the diagnostic firmware and displayed on the display section (step 5II) (step S9). Based on this displayed information, the location of the hardware failure is estimated and the diagnostic routine to be executed is determined (
Step S, 2). These diagnostic routines diagnose the hardware for each category (step S13.5I4).
, display this diagnosis result on the display unit (step S3.
).

[Effect]

When an abnormal code is detected by executing the overall diagnostic routine, a separate diagnostic mode is set by setting a switch. Next, the sense information for each operating system is specified by referring to the abnormality code, and the sense information to be displayed is determined based on the information of the diagnostic routine and displayed on the display section. Based on this display information, an appropriate individual diagnosis routine is determined, and the hardware is diagnosed for each section to accurately and quickly find the failure location.

This allows detailed information on the location of the problem to be obtained and immediate countermeasures to be taken.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1st
The figure shows the configuration of hardware diagnosis to which this invention is applied. In the figure, ■ is the hardware to be diagnosed, 2 is the memory that carries the processing program and firmware, and 3 is the hardware 1 to be diagnosed. 4 is the main firmware that realizes the original function; 5 is the user interface where the user specifies operations and displays the results; 6 is the switch setting unit that specifies operations in the user interface 5; 7 is the user interface This is a display section that displays operation results on the face 5.

Further, in FIG. 1, 3a is a control unit that reads the settings of the switch setting unit 6 and controls the diagnosis mode, 3b is a group of diagnostic routines created to individually diagnose a limited range of the hardware 1, and 8 is a sense information area for setting various detailed information, types of logical operations, etc. when executing a diagnostic routine.

The diagnostic routine group 3b is a routine that generates, for example, a test signal for each section of hardware or each processing system block, and diagnoses the part in charge in detail.

The switch setting section 6 is comprised of a group of switches for specifying separate individual diagnostic modes and sense specifications, and is used to manually respond to user requests.

Next, the operation will be explained based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. First, in step S1, the switch setting section 6
It is up to the user to decide whether to put the system into personalized diagnostic mode. In normal operation, it is determined in step S2 that the mode is not diagnostic mode, so the process proceeds to step S3.
Diagnostic firmware 3 is fully operational. Step S
4, when the diagnosis is successfully completed, the process advances to step S5, where control is transferred to the main firmware 4, which executes the functional operation that is the original purpose processing.

On the other hand, if the diagnostic operation in step S4 ends abnormally, an abnormality classification code is displayed on the display section 7 in step S6. Then, the process returns to step S, and since there is an abnormality, the user uses the switch setting section 6 to disconnect the device and enter the individual limited diagnosis mode. In step S2, since it is the separate diagnosis mode, the process proceeds to step S7, and at this point, the switch setting section 6 performs sense designation. This is to specify various different logical processing operations, and allows the same hardware to perform different types of operations.

Proceeding to the sense flowchart of FIG. 3, the control unit 3a detects a sense instruction, and in step S8, the sense information area 8 to be displayed is determined based on the information of the diagnostic routine group 3b. Then, in step S, the contents are displayed one byte at a time on the display section 7 from the storage location. Based on the determination in step 510, this operation is repeated until there is no more information to display.

In step S, the display unit 7 indicates that there is no information to be displayed.
and abnormal termination +1 based on the displayed sense information.
Learn about 9 phenomena. By analyzing this, it is estimated which part of the diagnostic target hardware l has an abnormality. Thereafter, the user connects a synchro scope or the like to the estimated location and selects one or more diagnostic routines from the diagnostic routine group 3b that are best for investigating the problem at the estimated location.

Control is then passed to the diagnostic routine shown in the flowchart of FIG.

In step S1□, the user specifies the selected diagnostic routine or plurality of diagnostic routines using the switch setting section 6. Next, in step SI3, the control section 3a detects this and starts the designated diagnostic routine. As a result, the diagnosis of step T is executed, and step T
In step 2, the completed result is displayed on the display section 7. Here, the user actually observes the operating waveform by executing the diagnostic routine, investigates the problem, and localizes the location of the failure. A test program will be executed for each separated individual hardware partition. If the diagnosis has not been completed in step 514, the process returns to step S13 and the next diagnostic routine is executed. If all are completed, the process advances to step 515, where all the series of diagnostic results are displayed, and the user decides the next operating mode. Then, in step SI6, the diagnostic firmware 3 waits for the next switch setting.

In this way, even if the same hardware operates normally in a certain way, it may exhibit unstable operation due to different processing systems and different sense types of logical operations. It is possible to approach.

In the above embodiment, the user interface 5 is shown as being directly connected to the hardware, but it may also be connected via a line or the like. Although the diagnostic firmware 3 and the main firmware 4 are placed on the same memory and are operated by the same processor, they may be operated by separate processors depending on the purpose.

Furthermore, although the diagnostic firmware 3 and the main firmware 4 are made to exist at the same time, the main firmware 4 may be loaded automatically or according to a user's designation after the execution of the diagnostic firmware 3 is normally completed. Further, the sense information area may be stored in memory.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, in a diagnostic method for self-diagnosing the hardware of a computer using diagnostic firmware, if there is an abnormality in the hardware, the hardware is logically divided into several parts and diagnosed. The diagnostic firmware is set to a diagnostic mode, and upon determining that the diagnostic mode is set, a sense is specified for each operating system. Then, sense information is determined by various diagnostic routines of the diagnostic firmware and displayed on the display section. According to this display information, the location of the hardware failure is estimated and a diagnostic routine to be executed is determined. These diagnostic routines diagnose the hardware for each category and display the diagnosis results on the display, so that - processing operations are normal;
Even in the case of an unstable abnormality that would be resolved by other processing operations, the location of the failure can be easily estimated accurately. In addition, since failure points can be diagnosed by classifying the hardware in a network manner, finding the failure point can be done easily and with high precision.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of the diagnostic method of the present invention, Figs. 2 to 4 are flowcharts for explaining the present invention in detail, Fig. 2 is the flow of the diagnostic firmware, and Fig. 3 is the operation flow when setting the sense. , FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operational flow of the diagnostic routine, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the conventional diagnostic method. 1...Hardware, 2...Memory,
3...Diagnostic firmware-, 3a...
・Control unit, 3b...Diagnosis routine, 4
...Main firmware, 5...User interface, 6...Switch unit, 7...
. . . Display section, 8 . . . Sense information area. Agent Masuo Ookimi (and 2 others)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a diagnostic method for self-diagnosing the hardware of a computer using diagnostic firmware, the diagnostic firmware is set to a diagnostic mode in which if there is an abnormality in the hardware, the hardware is logically separated into several parts and diagnosed;
It is determined that the diagnostic mode is set, the sense for each operating system is specified, and the sense information is determined and displayed on the display section by various diagnostic routines of the diagnostic firmware. Then, according to this display information, the hardware A diagnostic routine to be executed is determined by estimating the location of a failure in the hardware, and then the hardware is diagnosed for each category using these diagnostic routines, and the diagnostic results are displayed on the display unit. Diagnostic method for electronic computers.