Patent ID: 7711859

Claim:
In a computing system, a method for adding at least one PCI device to the computing system during at least one POST operation performed by the computing system, the method comprising: detecting a plurality of new PCI devices, and if at least one of the plurality of new PCI devices has an optional ROM (OP ROM), collecting identification information and location information on all configuration utilities in the OP ROM of the at least one of the plurality of new PCI devices and detecting whether the OP ROM contains information that may be used to add the identification information to a first and a second version of a combination configuration utility menu; initializing a plurality of new PCI devices; detecting a triggering event comprising completion of initializing the plurality of new PCI devices; determining whether the OP ROM of any of the plurality of new PCI devices conform to a firmware specification specific to a firmware of the computing system; for each of the plurality of new PCI devices, upon determining that the OP ROM of any of the plurality of new PCI devices conforms to the firmware specification, building a combination configuration utility menu from the identification information and location information collected from all of the plurality of new PCI devices, wherein the combination configuration utility menu includes representations of the configuration utilities for each of the plurality of new PCI devices that meets the firmware specification of the firmware of the computing system; in response to receiving a first user input, presenting to the user a first version of the combination configuration utility menu, wherein the first version of the combination configuration utility menu includes a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) SETUP entry and respective setup entries for the plurality of new PCI devices, wherein the BIOS SETUP entry is responsive to a user selection to initiate a setup routine provided by a BIOS to configure at least a first one of the plurality of new PCI devices, and wherein the respective setup entries are responsive to a user selection to initiate the configuration utilities provided with the plurality of new PCI devices; in response to receiving at least a second user input, wherein the second user input comprises a pre-defined hot key, presenting at least a second version of the combination configuration utility menu, wherein the second version of the combination configuration utility menu includes the respective setup entries for the plurality of new PCI devices and not the BIOS SETUP entry; and configuring at least the first one of the plurality of new PCI devices using the setup routine provided by the BIOS when the user selects the BIOS SETUP entry, and configuring at least the first one of the plurality of new PCI devices using the configuration utility provided with the first one of the plurality of new PCI devices, when the user selects the setup entry corresponding to the first one of the plurality of new PCI devices from the combination configuration utility menu.