Network enhanced BIOS enabling remote management of a computer without a functioning operating system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In addition to the object listed above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for communicating with a computer coupled to a network without the necessity of utilizing the computer's operating system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and system for communicating with a computer coupled to a network prior to the bootstrapping of the computer's operating system.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide the necessary additional software on the computer and software which may be executed on a second computer remote from the first computer fitted with the network enhanced BIOS, and which second computer need not itself be fitted with such network enhanced BIOS such as to enable the transfer of commands and information between the two computers.
The present invention is directed to a method and system of communicating with a computer through a network prior to booting the computer's operating system or after operating system failure.
A networking application program interface (API) is implemented in a network enhanced BIOS fitted to a first computer.
This computer is preferably supplied with a NIC card and NIC device driver file.
External references in the NIC device driver which would normally be resolved to services provided by elements of the operating system are instead resolved to reference services provided by the API of the network enhanced BIOS.
A second computer coupled to the first computer through the network may transfer commands, status and data prior to the loading of the operating system or after operating system failure.
The first computer may be further provided with a means for alerting the second computer in the event of a POST failure or operating system crash.