Specifications

3
Software/Firmware Description
58
RAS support
TheCPMusesReliability,AvailabilityandServiceability(RAS)featurestosupportenhanced
bootreliabilityandreducesystemdowntime.ThefollowingfeaturespromoteRASsupport:
•BIOSprotectionandredundancy
•Memoryerrorhandling
•PCIeerrorhandling
•Processorandintegratedmemorycontrollererrorhandling
•POSTerrorhandling
• Watchdogsupport
•BIOScrisisrecovery
ThesystemBIOSmonitorserrorsandmanagespre‐bootandbooteventstoenhancesystem
uptime.TheseBIOSactionsassistwiththemanagementactivitiesperformedbytheIPMI
subsy stemandsystemOStoaffectoverallsystemRAS.
BIOS protection and redundancy
PriortoOSboottheBIOScheckstheprimarybootimagechecksumandnotifiestheIPMCif
thereisaproblem.Ifthereisaproblemwiththeprimarybootimage,theIPMCswitchesto
thestandbyversionandresetsthesystem.
Afterbootandduringnormaloperation,theIPMCCorruptFlashWatchdogforcesaswitchto
thesecondarybootimagebytheIPMCifacorruptbootimageisdetectedthatcouldprevent
validationorcauseasystemhang.
Duringnormaloperation,theBIOSprogrammaintainsanactivewriteprotectiononthe
primarybootimagestoredinFlash.AjumperisalsoavailableattheCustomerheadertoadd
aphysicalwriteprotectionfortheBIOSimage.
Memory error handling
Memoryerrordetectionandmuchofthememoryerrorhandlingisperformedbythe
integratedmemorycontrollers(iMCs)intheCPUs,buttheBIOSsupportsonlyasubsetofthe
memoryRASfeaturesdetectedbytheiMC.
AtPOST ,thesystemBIOSusesSPDdataoneachmemorymoduletoallow
theiMCtofindits
optimaloperatingpoint,or“train”themoduleandsettheoptimaloperatingpointforthat
module.Ifamodulecannotbe“trained”orthereareanyerrorsdetectedduringthememory
trainingprocess,theerrorisreportedtotheIPMC.