Patent ID: 7996711

Claim:
A method of protecting against errors in a boot memory, the method comprising initiating booting of a processor by executing primary boot code from a primary boot memory, and based on the execution of the primary boot code: accessing a data structure comprising a plurality of redundant portions of boot information stored on a secondary boot memory; performing an error check on a plurality of said portions to determine whether those portions contain errors and, based on the error checks, to identify a valid portion; and booting the processor using said valid portion of boot information; wherein: the plurality of redundant portions comprises a plurality of redundant bad-area maps stored at predetermined memory locations within the secondary boot memory, each map identifying bad areas within the secondary boot memory; the performing of said error checks comprises performing an error check on a plurality of said maps to determine whether those maps contain errors and to identify a valid map; and the booting of the processor using the valid boot information comprises using the valid map to acquire a valid boot image booting using the valid boot image.