Patent ID: 7325125

Claim:
A method for accessing initialization data for starting up a central processor unit in a computer system comprising: providing a non-volatile memory connected to a south-bridge chip, wherein the non-volatile memory includes a first memory space storing routines and code of a basic input/output system (BIOS) and a second memory space storing the initialization data, and wherein the initialization data is excluded from the BIOS and is used for initialization of the central processor unit; (a) starting up a north-bridge chip that is coupled between the central processor unit and the south-bridge chip; (b) sending a request from said north-bridge chip to the south-bridge chip in order to access the initialization data from the second memory space of the non-volatile memory; (c) starting up the central processor unit, wherein step (c) comprises: receiving said initialization data from the south-bridge chip by said north-bridge chip, and sending an initiating signal to the central processor unit to set initial values for initialization of the central processor unit based on the received initialization data by said north-bridge chip, wherein no random access memory is used to store said initialization data during step (c).