Sun Microsystems CP3260 manual Power-On Self-Test Diagnostics, POST Test Coverage

4.2Power-On Self-Test Diagnostics

Power-on self-test (POST) is a firmware program that helps determine whether a portion of the system has failed. POST verifies the core functionality of the system, including the CPU modules, motherboard, memory, and some on-board I/O devices. The software then generates messages that can be useful in determining the nature of a hardware failure. POST can run even if the system is unable to boot.

If POST detects a faulty component, it is disabled automatically, preventing faulty hardware from potentially harming any software. If the system is capable of running without the disabled component, the system boots when POST is complete. For example, if one of the processor cores is deemed faulty by POST, the core is disabled, and the system boots and runs using the remaining cores.

POST diagnostic and error message reports are displayed on a console.

4.2.1POST Test Coverage

The POST diagnostics include the following tests:

CPU Basic Test

CPU Functional Test

CPU D-Cache RAM

CPU D-Cache Tags

CPU I-Cache RAM Test

CPU I-Cache Tag RAM

CPU L2 Cache UA Array Test

CPU L2 Cache UA Array Test

CPU Interrupt Handler

CPU IMMU Memory Management Unit

CPU DMMU Memory Management Unit

FPU (Data movement and functionality)

I/O Controller register access

I/O Controller PCI configuration access

Block Memory Test

Network Interfaces (register access and basic funtionality)

Modular Arithemetic Memory parity errors Test

SPU (Security Processing Unit) Tests

Chapter 4 Firmware and Blade Server Management 4-3