3.1POST Overview

POST is useful in determining if a portion of the system unit has failed and should be replaced. POST detects approximately 95 percent of system unit faults and is located in the system board OpenBoot™ PROM (OBP). The setting of two NVRAM variables, the diag-switch?and the diag-levelflag, determine if POST is executed. TABLE 3-1lists the diag-switch?and diag-levelflag settings for disabling POST (off), enabling POST maximum (max), or enabling POST minimum (min).

TABLE 3-1Diag-Level Switch Settings

 

 

POST

Serial Port A

Serial Port A

Diag-Switch?

 

Diag-Level Setting

Initialization

I/O

Error Output

Setting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off

No

N/A

N/A

N/A

 

Max

Yes (power-on)

Enabled

Enabled

True

 

Min

Yes (power-on)

Disabled

Enabled

True

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.2Pre-POST Preparation

Pre-POST preparation includes:

■Setting up a tip connection to another workstation or terminal to view POST progress and error messages. See Section 3.2.1, “Setting Up a Tip Connection” on page 3-3.

■Verifying baud rates between a workstation and a monitor or a workstation and a terminal. See Section 3.2.2, “Verifying the Baud Rate” on page 3-4.

If a terminal or a monitor is not connected to serial port A (default port) of a workstation or server to be tested, the keyboard LEDs are used to determine error conditions. See Section 3.7, “System and Keyboard LEDs” on page 3-22

3-2Sun Ultra 60 Service Manual • August 2001

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Sun Microsystems 60 service manual Post Overview, Pre-POST Preparation, 1Diag-Level Switch Settings