Patent ID: 7430662

Claim:
A method comprising: copying an expansion basic input/output system (BIOS) from a first expansion card to a system memory to provide a shadowed expansion BIOS, wherein the first expansion card is electrically coupled to a computer system through an expansion slot, and wherein the expansion BIOS comprises instructions for initializing a first expansion device on the first expansion card; storing a backup configuration file in the system memory, wherein the backup configuration file comprises configuration information for the first expansion device; powering down the expansion slot; removing the first expansion card from the expansion slot; inserting a second expansion card into the expansion slot while the computer system is powered up, wherein the second expansion card comprises a same type of expansion card as the first expansion card, and wherein the second expansion card comprises a second expansion device; powering up the expansion slot; copying the backup configuration file from the system memory to a second configuration space on the second expansion device; and initializing the second expansion device on the second expansion card without power cycling the computer system.