System information

2-26
AlphaServer 800 Service Guide
7. The console program is loaded into memory from the FEPROM on the system
board. A checksum test is executed for the console image. If the checksum test
fails, an error beep code (1-1-4) is generated, the power-up tests are terminated,
and the fail-safe loader is activated.
If the checksum test passes, a single audible beep is issued, control is passed to
the console code, and the console firmware diagnostics are run.
2.10.2 Console Firmware Diagnostics
Console firmware tests are executed once control is passed to the console code in
memory. The console firmware is loaded from the FEPROM on the system
motherboard during power-up. They check the system in the following order:
1. Perform a complete check of system memory.
Steps 2 to 5 may be completed in parallel.
2. Start the I/O drivers for mass storage devices and tapes. A complete check of the
machine is made. After the I/O drivers are started, the console program
continuously polls the bus for devices (approximately every 20 or 30 seconds).
3. Check that EISA configuration information is present in NVRAM for each EISA
module detected and that no information is present for modules that have been
removed.
4. Run exercisers on the drives seen by the system.
NOTE: This step does not ensure that all disks in the system will be tested or that
any device drivers will be completely tested. Spin-up time varies for
different drives, so not all disks may be online. To ensure complete testing
of disk devices, use the test command (Section 3.2.1)
5. Enter console mode or boot the operating system. This action is determined by
the auto_action environment variable.
If the os_type environment variable is set to NT, the AlphaBIOS console is
loaded into memory and control is passed to the AlphaBIOS console.