HP X Class 500/550MHz, Reference Manual

Page: 110 / 149

110 Chapter 5
Tests and Error Messages
MaxiLife Test Sequence and Error Messages
MaxiLife Test Sequence and Error Messages
When the Personal Workstation is turned on (pressing the ON/OFF button), the system
initiates the normal start-up sequence which is composed of the following steps:
• Basic pre-boot diagnostics.
• BIOS launch.
• POST phase.
• Operating System boot phase.
Note that the messages in this section make reference to the “HP Kayak Workstation.” For
an explanation of this, see the section “Special Notice for Users” in the Preface of this
document.
If any errors are detected during the start-up sequence, MaxiLife will not necessarily
‘freeze’ the system. However, some critical hardware errors are fatal to the system and will
prevent the system from starting (for example, ‘Power’, and ‘Board PLL’ are serious
malfunctions that will prevent the CPU to work correctly).
Errors that are not so critical (for example, ‘CPU Socket’ for missing terminator, or ‘NO
RAM’) will be detected both during pre-boot diagnostics and POST where the BIOS boot
process will abort after beeping. The MaxiLife LCD status panel will display the error.
Some errors, such as the ‘RAM type’ error, are only detected during POST sequence, and
will entail the same abort process.
Finally, while the Personal Workstation is working, fan and temperature controls can be
reported (for example, a fan error will be reported if a fan cable is not connected). This type
of error disappears dynamically when the problem has been fixed (for example, the fan
cable has been reconnected).
The different diagnostics are described below.
Basic Pre-boot Diagnostics
The first diagnostic (called basic pre-boot diagnostics) is run to check the presence of the
processor(s) or terminators, VRMs, power supply, CPU Board PLL and DIMMs.
The pre-boot diagnostic tests are run in order of priority with respect to their importance
to computer functions. Refer to the table “Basic Pre-boot Diagnostics” in this chapter for
test sequence, failure message and action to take to solve any problems.