JPS6220579B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (1) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an execution control method for a test program of an information processing device, and in particular, the present invention relates to an execution control method for a test program of an information processing device. The present invention relates to a test program execution control method that allows equipment to be tested using a test program.

(2) Technology background When manufacturing information processing equipment and shipping it from the factory,
To ensure quality, the equipment is operated using a test program to eliminate defects. This test program is also used as a maintenance program by the destination of the device, that is, by the user, to confirm the normality of the device.

However, when even a partial modification is made to the device, that is, when the device version is changed, the device version and the test program version do not match, and an error is detected when the test program is executed. In many cases, it is difficult to distinguish between errors caused by device failures and errors caused by version differences. Further, it is rare that the same version of a certain information processing device is shipped to all users at the same time, and in most cases, the number of device boards differs for each user.

(3) Prior art and problems Conventionally, in order to prevent errors caused by differences in device versions from being output to the medium in which the test program is stored, partial changes to the test program have been made individually using a process such as patching. Either this was done on the user's side, or a test program was created for each hardware version, and the hardware was tested using the test program corresponding to each hardware version.

However, in these conventional methods, the former method requires patching the program stored on the medium every time there is a hardware modification, and patching allows only partial modification. This method has the disadvantage of not being able to completely adapt to hardware modifications and requiring a lot of effort on the part of the user. In addition, in the latter method, test programs must be created and saved for each hardware version, resulting in an extremely large number of test program types and the inconvenience of complicating the management of each test program. It was hot.

(4) Purpose of the Invention In view of the problems with the conventional type described above, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a test program execution control method that executes a predetermined program and collects error information when the information processing device under test is normal. Based on the idea of storing the existing test program, it is possible to execute the test program and test the hardware even if the existing test program is used without being aware of the version number of the hardware.

(5) Structure of the Invention According to the present invention, an error information collection mode and an error information comparison mode are provided as test program execution modes in a test program execution control method used for testing and maintenance of an information processing device. The information processing device stores in advance error information when the test program is executed in the error information collection mode, and stores error information when the test program is executed in the error information comparison mode and the error information when the test program is executed in the error information collection mode. Compare the error information with the error information you have previously memorized.
This is achieved by providing a test program execution control method characterized in that it is determined whether or not the information processing device under test is normal based on whether or not they match.

(6) Embodiments of the invention Examples of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of an apparatus for implementing a scheme according to an embodiment of the invention. In the same figure,
1 is an information processing device under test, 2 is a main storage device, 3 is a service processor, 4 is an auxiliary storage device such as a floppy disk device, 5 is a line printer, 6 is a display device, and 7 is an operation console.
The service processor 3 also includes an error code setting register 8, a mode setting register 9, a comparator 10, a display control section 11, a gate 12, and an error data memory 13.

The operation of the above information processing system will be explained with reference to FIG. In the present invention, testing of an information processing device is performed in two modes: an error information collection mode and an error information comparison mode. That is, in the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, for example, information indicating that the error information collection mode is set in the mode setting register 9 is set in response to a command from the operation console 7, and information is set in the error information collection mode from the auxiliary storage device 4 via the error information processor 3. The test program is loaded into the main storage device 2. Thereby, the information processing device under test 1 executes the test program. When an error occurs as a result of executing the test program, an error code indicating the type of error is set in the error code setting register 8. When the service processor 3 learns that an error has occurred due to the error code being set in the register 8, it determines the contents of the mode register 9, and if it is in the error information collection mode, the contents of the error code setting register 8. etc. are stored as error information in the auxiliary storage device 4 in correspondence with the test program. In the error collection mode, the gate 12 is opened by a gate signal from the error code setting register 9, and the contents of the error code setting register 8 are sent to the auxiliary storage device 4, and the display control unit 11
The error information is input to the line printer 5 or display device 6 and displayed. In this way, the collection of error information is completed by testing all the test items of the predetermined test program. Note that the error information collection mode is performed after confirming by another means that the information processing device under test is in a state where only errors due to differences in hardware versions occur.

Next, during maintenance of the information processing device under test 1, information indicating that the error information comparison mode is set is set in the mode setting register 9 by a command from the operation console 7, and the information is transferred from the auxiliary memory 4 to the main memory. A test program and error information corresponding to the test program are read into 2 and error data memory 13, respectively. In this state, the information processing device under test 1 executes the test program and sets an error code in the error code register 8 if any error occurs. In the service processor 3, a comparison unit 10 is activated by a control signal from a mode setting register 9, and when an error code is set in the error code register 8, the error code is compared to the error stored in the error data memory 13. compared to the code. As a result of this comparison, if the two error codes match, it is not determined as an error, but if they do not match, it is determined as an error and error information is displayed via the display control unit 11.

(7) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform hardware testing without modifying an existing test program and without being aware of the hardware version. Since it is no longer necessary to create a test program every time the version number changes, the number of man-hours required to create a test program can be significantly reduced, and confusion caused by providing multiple types of test programs to users can be prevented.

Further, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to output errors due to differences in hardware versions, but to investigate for each individual error whether the error that has occurred is due to a hardware failure or the like or an error due to a difference in versions. Therefore, hardware diagnosis can be performed quickly and accurately.

Furthermore, even if hardware is frequently modified, it is necessary to correct the test program by clearing the error information stored in the auxiliary storage and running the test program again from error information collection mode. There is no need to frequently revise the operation manual, etc.

That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to quickly and accurately test hardware using an existing test program without being concerned about the version number of the hardware.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing an example of an information processing device for implementing the method of the present invention, and
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1... Information processing device under test, 2... Main storage device, 3
...Service processor, 4...Auxiliary storage device, 5...Line printer, 6...Display device, 7...Operation console, 8...Error code setting register, 9...Mode setting register, 10...Comparison section, 11...Display control section , 12...gate, 13...error data memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a test program execution control method used for testing and maintenance of information processing equipment, an error information collection mode and an error information comparison mode are provided as test program execution modes, and the information processing equipment executes the test program in the error information collection mode. The error information when the test program is executed in the error information comparison mode is memorized in advance, and the error information when executed in the error information collection mode is compared with the error information stored when the test program is executed in the error information collection mode. 1. A method for controlling execution of a test program, characterized in that it is determined whether or not an information processing device under test is normal based on whether or not the information processing device under test is normal.