Patent ID: 7502942

Claim:
A method for authenticating software associated with a motherboard of a computer, the motherboard having at least one protected firmware including an embedded Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) controller, and an input/output processor (IOP) for managing read and write operations to a RAID storage array, the method comprising: maintaining a binary word including a plurality of bits, the binary word is maintained at a location known to a BIOS of the computer and the at least one protected firmware is represented by at least one bit in the plurality of bits; generating a unique authentication code (UAC) based on a serial number for the motherboard; providing the UAC to the computer; determining whether the UAC is valid for the motherboard, wherein once a determination is made that the UAC is valid, one of the plurality of bits corresponding to the embedded RAID controller in the binary word is set to indicate that the RAID controller has been authenticated and the UAC need not be provided to the computer each time the computer boots; and allowing the IOP to execute program instructions for the embedded RAID controller when the UAC is valid for the motherboard, and preventing the IOP from executing the program instructions for the embedded RAID controller, thereby disabling the embedded RAID controller, when the UAC is invalid.