Patent ID: 8621118

Claim:
A processing system comprising: a central processing unit; a service processor to monitor the central processing unit and operate independently from the central processing unit; a debug connection logic that is connected between the central processing unit and the service processor; and a memory in communication with the service processor, the memory being configured to store a diagnostic module that is executable by the service processor, the diagnostic module having instructions that when executed by the service processor, cause operations to be performed, the operations comprising: detecting that the central processing unit is stalled; transmitting a non-maskable interrupt to the central processing unit; detecting that the central processing unit is still stalled for a time period after the transmittal of the non-maskable interrupt; in response to detecting that the central processing unit is still stalled for the time period, transmitting a signal to the debug connection logic requesting access to the central processing unit for information; in response to the debug connection logic enabling the service processor to access the central processing unit for information, automatically retrieving central processing unit information from the central processing unit after the detection that the central processing unit is still stalled, the central processing unit information to include at least one of items of information selectable from a list of items including a state of the central processing unit, a central processing unit event, and contents of a register of the central processing unit; and resetting the processing system after the retrieval of the central processing unit information.