Patent ID: 8554682

Claim:
A method for authenticating a gaming device, wherein the gaming device includes a plurality of components, including at least a storage device, a processor, a BIOS, an operating system, and data files, the method comprising: starting up the BIOS of the gaming device; reading, by the processor, identification numbers of one or more hardware components; searching, by the processor, each identification number in a database; determining, by the processor, that each hardware component is valid based on the existence of a matching identification number in the database; authenticating one or more data files of the gaming device, wherein each data file has a file name, wherein the authenticating comprises: opening and reading a file allocation structure in a storage device using a file allocation reader; retrieving, by the processor, each file from the storage device; retrieving, by the processor, a previously computed bit string for each file from the database; computing, by the processor, a second bit string for each of the retrieved files; comparing, by the processor, the previously computed bit string of each file with the computed second bit string for each file; and based on matching comparisons for every file, validating, by the processor, the data package, prior to starting the operating system of the gaming device.