Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting, enabling and disabling deadlock errors, and recording deadlock information in the error logs of a data processing system even after a power-on reset. One embodiment of the invention involves a method for indicating a deadlock error in a data processing system capable of having a deadlock error. The method includes indicating that an error is a deadlock error, providing an input signal to set a deadlock error enable circuit having an output signal indicating that the deadlock error will cause a deadlock reset signal to be asserted, logically ORing deadlock error signals to produce a deadlock output; and logically ANDing the deadlock output and the output signal of the deadlock error enable circuit to produce the deadlock reset signal. A second embodiment of the invention involves a data processing system or an error log system, capable of having a deadlock error selected from several deadlock errors.

Abstract: An apparatus and method using a set of registers for indicating multiple error levels in a data processing system, recording information for each error level, and providing an order register to allow software or a user to determine the sequence order in which errors occurred. One embodiment of the invention involves a method for indicating errors in a data processing system with multiple error levels, indicating that an error corresponds to an error level, representing the error with a set of memory cells, and recording the order in which the error has occurred. A second embodiment of the invention involves a data processing system, including a primary error log to record an error, and at least one error logging register that can record information about the error.