Patent ID: 8650431

Claim:
A method of changing hardware in a data processing system, comprising: detecting, by the data processing system, repairable errors on a selected portion of hardware in the data processing system, wherein the data processing system is a multi-processor system including a plurality of processor hardware units, wherein the selected portion is one of the plurality of processor hardware units; determining, by the data processing system, whether a threshold has been reached; responsive to determining that the threshold has been reached, generating, by the data processing system, a determination that a hardware change to be performed on the selected portion of hardware in the data processing system is required while the data processing system is executing a process on the selected portion; responsive to the determination that the hardware change to the selected portion is required, moving, by the data processing system, the process executing on the selected portion to an alternate portion of the hardware, wherein the alternate portion is a different one of the plurality of processor hardware units; applying, by the data processing system, the hardware change to the selected portion while the process is executing on the alternate portion, wherein the hardware change is selected from the group consisting of changes to enable spare entries in a cache of the one of the plurality of processor hardware units, changes to update latch values of the one of the plurality of processor hardware units to steer data paths to spare bits on a hardware interface of the one of the plurality of processor hardware units to repair interface fails of the hardware interface, and combinations thereof, wherein applying the hardware change to the selected portion comprises: responsive to detecting the repairable errors in the data processing system building, by the data processing system, a restore image including repair settings required to repair the detected reparable errors; and applying, by the data processing system, the restore image to the selected portion to repair the repairable errors; and returning, by the data processing system, the selected portion for use by the data processing system after applying the hardware change to the selected portion.