System information

1-4
AlphaServer 800 Service Guide
Table 1-2 Problems Getting to Console Mode
Symptom Action
Power-up screen is not
displayed.
Interpret the error beep codes at power-up (Section 2.1)
for a failure detected during self-tests.
Check that the keyboard and monitor are properly
connected and turned on.
If the power-up screen is not displayed, yet the system
enters console mode when you press the Return key,
check that the console environment variable is set
correctly.
If you are using a VGA monitor as the console
terminal, the console variable should be set to
graphics. If you are using a serial console terminal, the
console environment variable should be set to serial.
If you are using the standard onboard VGA controller,
the VGA enable (J27) jumper on the motherboard must
be enabled. Refer to Appendix A.
If a VGA controller other than the standard on-board
VGA controller is being used, refer to Section 6.7 for
more information.
If console is set to serial, the power-up screen is routed
to the COM1 serial communication port (Section 6.7)
and cannot be viewed from the VGA monitor.