TW498200B - Method for using light emitting diodes (LEDs) on notebook computer system to indicate status of power on self test - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for using light emitting diodes (LEDs) on notebook computer system to indicate status of power on self test (POST). An address detection enable is set to power-on the detection of the POST and the enable signal is transmitted to a control unit integrated circuit (I/C). Then, an input/output (I/O) address detection pin is selected to detect I/O address signal when the I/O address signal is also transmitted to the control unit I/C. Any one of the LEDs may be selected to indicate high or low nibble. Based on the indication, interpretation of the detection signal can be determined. Finally, the control unit I/C is applied to decode the I/O address signal and the remaining LEDs are used to indicate the detection signal.

Description

498200 V. Description of the invention (1) [Field of the invention The method of the present invention, especially my test status [Background of the invention In order to be able to function, it is used, are there different hosts and prints that are complete and display memory? And the type, and the host have the opportunity to test and computer whether the open system is executed before the system is performing loading. Usually bootstrap 1 currently pen is a note type and a way to use notes. ] I test (P ◦ wer normal operation, when the device is not installed when the device is self-tested to do a self-test size, memory card type interrupts the controller and conflicts, the print head can also be connected Etc. The machine self-tests pass a certain action, so it is a hardware self-loading operating system

The computer's power-on self-test status on the square computer system indicates the power-on I

On Self is often designed to be able to test, this is the content of the function that is not tested is intact, the hard magnetic timer is a warning, move, paper

Test; POST) is a basic self-test when the computer system considers whether all the components are intact and can be turned on. At the same time, common equipment is a computer. The main test of the computer host is intact, whether the keyboard function is intact, whether the disk drive and floppy disk drive are intact. If the interface card setting message or cannot be turned on; It usually means that the computer system hardware BI 0S process is to load a hardware self-test procedure in the software (operating system); after the computer tests the action, the steps performed by the operating system and executed are called b ο 〇t or the method of the notebook computer to detect the self-test status at startup, none

Page 4 498200 V. Description of the invention (2) The use of industry standard architecture bus (Industry Standard Architecture BUS; ISA BUS), or the use of peripheral component interactive connection bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect BUS; PCI BUS), need to be Weld a special connector, and use a homemade port 80 (or port 84) debugging card to read the error detection code (Err0rc). Because the connectors used between modules are not limited Similarly, it is impossible to design a general-purpose debugging card. Moreover, it is limited by the height of the connector itself, and sometimes it will interfere with other peripheral card devices, such as fflem〇ry cards, due to the position of the display. Therefore, it takes more cost to design a debugging card. Therefore, a method that can display the status of the self-test at power-on and can eliminate the need for additional soldering connectors' has become a topic of concern. [Summary and Purpose of the Invention] The present invention uses five existing LEDs of a notebook computer system, namely Power, Floppy Msk Drive (FDD), Scroll Lock, Caps Lock (Caps L-〇ck) and digital lock (N · Lock), through a control unit integrated circuit (including Keyboard Control Cry (Keyboard Control) (KBC) and Super i / 〇c〇ntr〇Uer) Control to display the detection method of the power-on self-test status. The main purpose of the present invention is to achieve boot-up self-test & debugging without the need for additional soldering, special connection crying, and port 80 or Port 84 cards, and provide a port through a control unit integrated circuit 80 disk port 84 address selection control, and provides users to set the switching frequency of nibbles (N i bb 1 e) to facilitate error detection display. The state is described in conjunction with the drawings, such as the details and technology of the present invention.

[Detailed description of the invention] Machine from =: =: = Shangliu display open, :: = circuit η ◦, the control unit integrated circuit 100 is integrated with keys to make keyboard C0ntroller (KBC) and Super 1 / 〇

Controller, the control unit integrated circuit 100 also includes an address decoder called 忖 80〇Port 84.

The control unit integrated circuit 100 further provides a first Gpi 0 pin 11 for address selection control of port 80 and port 84; and a second GP I 0 pin 1 2 0 for setting selection Debug mode or normal mode. And the notebook computer system has five LEDs, namely Power LED 130, Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) LED 140, Scroll Lock LED 150, Caps Lock The LED 160 and Num Lock LED 170 are designed in accordance with the present invention to provide effective error detection display. Among them, the pin position of the first GP I 0 pin 11 0 is defined according to the present invention.

In a preferred implementation, HIGH means I / O port 84H address, and LOW means I / O port 80H address, depending on the device to be tested, in order to select a suitable I / 〇 address. The above-mentioned pin definition of the second GP I 0 pin 1 2 0 refers to the preferred implementation of the present invention, which means that HIGH is used to indicate the general mode (the status LED is normally displayed), and LOW is used to detect the error mode (the status LED is displayed with the error code ).

Page 6 498200

Because there are only five controllable status LEDs, one byte (Byte) needs to be sent twice, and one of the LEDs displays * high n = or LOW Nibble. In the preferred implementation of the present invention, Take power supply) LED 130 as an example, bright (0N) means HIGH IbbleU bit), (OFF) means LOW NibbleU bit) 'one byte (8 bit) = HIGH Nlbble + LOW Nibble' and, more Set the frequency of the trigger, (T〇ggle) HIGH Nibble and LOW Nibble (displayed every few ^), so that the entire byte can be displayed. ...

The test flow chart of the method provided by the present invention is shown in FIG. 2. First, it is detected whether the second G PI 0 pin is in a debug mode (step 2 0); if the second GPI0 pin 120 is set to general Mode, the LED on the notebook computer system is the LED for normal display status (step 2 1 〇); if the second Q ρ I 〇 pin 1 2 0 is set to the debug mode ', then read the first G P I 〇 pin to determine the I / O address to be detected (step 2 2 0); after the signal is detected, the debt error code is displayed through the LED 'and one of the LEDs is used to issue a High or Low Nibble (step 2 3 0); The method provided by the present invention further provides the user to set the frequency of triggering (T0ggle) HIGH Nibble and LOW Nibble (step 240), that is, the setting is displayed every few seconds.

In the actual operation of the present invention, the main board can reserve a resistance pad on the control pin. When the detection is to be performed, the detection can be performed by only welding the resistance. FIG. 3 is a practical test of the method mentioned in the present invention. Flow chart, first set an address detection enable function to start detecting the startup self-test, and send the enable signal to a control unit integrated circuit (step 3 QQ), then

Page 7 498200 V. Description of the invention (5) The I / 0 address detection pin is used to detect the I / 0 address signal and send the I / O address signal to the control. Unit integrated circuit (step 3110), and provide setting any one of the LEDs to display High Nibble and Low N i bb 1 e (step 3 2 0), to determine the basis of the detection signal, and finally Through the control unit integrated circuit, the I / 0 address signal is decoded, and the remaining LED is used to display the detection signal (step 3 3 0). Although the present invention is disclosed in the foregoing preferred embodiment as above, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make some modifications and retouching without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of protection of the invention shall be determined by the scope of the attached patent application.

Page 8 498200 Schematic description [Schematic description] Z ® is used to display the self-connected line pin diagram of the method mentioned in this matter; I, the domain status

And the figure is the actual test flow of the method proposed in the present invention. [Symbol description] 00 Control unit integrated circuit No. -GPI ○ pin 2 GP 1〇 pin power LED HDD drive LED scroll lock LED uppercase Lock LED Lou Zi Lock LED Detect whether the second GP I 0 pin is an LED whose debug mode is the normal display state. The picture shows the process of 'select test operation' in the method of the present invention 110 120 130 140 15〇16 〇170 Step 2 0 0 Step 2 1 〇Step 220 Step 2 3 0 Read the first GPI 0 pin to determine the I / 0 address to be tested.-Display the error detection code through the LED and use one of the LEDs to display the call. Tap or! ^ Nlbble Sets the frequency of triggering HIGH Nibble and LOW Nibble, sets the address detection enable, starts the detection of the power-on test, and sends the enable signal to a control unit integrated circuit. Step 2 4 0 step 300 step 3 1 〇Use an I / 〇 address detection pin to detect the I / 〇 bit

Page 9 498200 Schematic description of the address signal ’and send the I / 0 address signal to the control unit integrated circuit Step 3 2 0 Set any one of the LEDs to display High

Nibble and Low Nibble Step 3 3 0 Through the control unit integrated circuit, decode the I / 0 address signal and use the remaining LEDs to display the detection signal

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Claims (1)

498200 VI. Scope of patent application 1. A method for displaying the power-on self-test status by using an LED on a notebook computer system. The method includes at least the following steps: Set a bit detection enable to start detecting the power-on self-test. And send the enable signal to a control unit integrated circuit; through an I / 0 address detection pin, it is used to detect the I / 0 address signal, and the I / 0 address signal Send to the control unit integrated circuit; set any one of the LEDs to display H igh N ibb 1 e and L0w N i bb 1 e to determine the basis of the detection signal; and The body circuit decodes the I / 0 address signal and uses the remaining LEDs to display the detection signal. 2. The method for displaying the power-on self-test status by using the LED on the notebook computer system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the address detection enable is set by a second GP 10 pin. 3. The method for displaying the power-on self-test status by using an LED on a notebook computer system as described in item 2 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the second GP I 0 pin further includes a general mode and a debug mode. 4. The method for displaying the power-on self-test status using LEDs on a notebook computer system as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the control unit integrated circuit further includes a keyboard controller and a Super I / O Controller. 5. The method for displaying the power-on self-test status by using an LED on a notebook computer system as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the I / 0 address detection pin is a first G P I 0 pin. 6. The method for displaying the power-on self-test status using an LED on a notebook computer system as described in item 5 of the scope of patent application, wherein the first GP I 0 pin Page 11 498200 6. Scope of patent application It also provides address selection control of ρ 〇 r t 8 0 and ρ 〇 r t 8 4. 7. The method of using the LED on the notebook computer system to display the power-on self-test status as described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, which further includes setting the frequency selection for triggering HIGH Nibble and LOW Nibble. 8. The method of using a LED on a notebook computer system to display the power-on self-test status as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the LED is a power LED, a floppy disk drive LED, a scroll lock LED, a caps lock LED And digital lock LED. Page 12