>>> [...] a bios option to view Ecc Error Messages.
>> Unfortunately that's [too late].
> that is correct, but if this information can displayed by the bios it
> must be written somewhere, and therefore it must be possible to get
> access through the OS.

Unfortunately the last "therefore" is not true.  (Mind you, it probably
*is* possible to get access through the OS.  I'm just saying that it's
not a "must be".)  For example, it could be written to memory that is
inaccessible to the CPU unless a hardware bit is set that also prevents
instruction fetching from main memory.

Whether an x86 MB maker would have done it that way is another
question.  I can't see any reason to, though given some of the
brain-damage I've seen, I wouldn't put it past them.

Cf. the SPARC.  arch/sparc/include/bsd_openprom.h has a comment saying
"The hardware has a mode in which all memory references go to the
PROM".  (I've stripped a lot of context.  Search for "has a mode" to
find the full comment.)

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