NEC MH4500 manual Monitoring POST, POST Keys and Errors, 5-6Solving Problems

4.Power up the video monitor. Set its brightness and contrast controls to at least two-thirds of their maximum ranges (refer to the documentation supplied with your video display monitor).

5.If the operating system normally loads from the hard disk drive, make sure there is no diskette in drive A. Otherwise, place a diskette containing the operating system files in drive A.

6.Turn on the system. If the power indicator LED does not light, refer to “Power Light Does Not Light” later in this chapter.

Monitoring POST

Each time you turn on the system, the Power-On Self-Test (POST) runs automatically and checks the system board, processor(s), memory, keyboard, and most installed peripheral devices.

During the memory test, POST displays the amount of memory it is able to access and test. Depending on the amount of memory, it may take several minutes to complete the memory test.

Press F2 to enter Setup. If you do not press F2, the above message remains for a few seconds and the boot process continues.

If POST finds an error, it displays an error message and, in case there is a problem with the display, puts out a series of long and short beeps. Write down any beep code emitted. This information is useful to your service representative and should be reported to your service representative.

Refer to “BIOS User’s Information” at the end of this chapter for a list of items to check for each error code and for an explanation of the error beep codes.

The BIOS indicates errors by writing an error code to the PS/2-standard logging area in the Extended BIOS Data Area, and by displaying a message on the screen, which is sometimes preceded by the POST Error Code. The error code is also logged to the Event Logging area.

The following table lists keys active during POST and provides a description of errors that may occur.

	POST Keys and Errors
Action/Message	Description
If POST Beeps Before Video	Initialization failed before video initialized. Most beep code
Appears	errors are fatal; initialization cannot continue. Refer to “BIOS
	User’s Information” at the end of this chapter.
If Monitor Displays Error	Note error; press F1 to continue boot or F2 to enter Setup.
	Refer to “BIOS User’s Information” at the end of this chapter.
To Enter Setup	Setup changes specific options, then writes to CMOS,
	NVRAM. Press F2 during initialization to run Setup. If you do
	not press F2, the boot process continues.
Enter BOOT Diskette	If prompted, insert the boot diskette.

5-6 Solving Problems