Extender Card with Intercepting EEPROM for Testing and Programming Un-Programmed Memory Modules on a PC Motherboard

摘要

An extender card is plugged into a memory module socket on a personal computer (PC) motherboard. The extender card has a test socket that receives a memory module under test. The extender card has an intercepting EEPROM chip that receives device-select lines from the motherboard. One of the device-select lines from the motherboard to a module EEPROM chip on the memory module is blocked by the extender card and altered so that the intercepting EEPROM chip is read by the motherboard rather than the module EEPROM chip. A memory configuration is read from the intercepting EEPROM chip. The memory module is tested by the motherboard using the configuration from the intercepting EEPROM chip on the extender card. The module EEPROM chip is then programmed with the configuration by altering the intercepted device-select address to select the module EEPROM chip and not the intercepting EEPROM chip.