A method, system, and apparatus for recovering form an instruction fetch error is provided. In one embodiment, a data processing system maintains a primary copy and an alternate copy of a set of instructions for a software component. The instructions for performing the processes of the software component are fetched from the primary copy for execution by a processor. A pair of pointers is maintained in each copy identifying the beginning of each copy. Responsive to a determination that an instruction fetch error has been received, a corresponding current instruction in the alternate copy is determined and the software component is restarted by fetching and executing instructions from the alternate copy starting with the corresponding current instruction. The corresponding current instruction is determined by subtracting the beginning address of the copy with the error from the address of the current instruction, then adding the beginning address of the alternate copy.