Hardware considerations, Hardware, Considerations – IBM 6643 User Manual
Page 116
v
Operating
system
to
BIOS
to
hardware
This
is
the
recommended
way.
It’s
the
most
flexible
because
it
is
independent
of
the
hardware.
v
Applications
to
operating
system
to
BIOS
to
hardware
This
method
is
inflexible
and
is
dependent
on
the
operating
system.
v
Applications
to
BIOS
to
hardware
This
method
has
some
flexibility
but
it
is
dependent
on
the
BIOS.
v
Applications
to
hardware
This
method
is
dependent
on
the
hardware
and
is
very
inflexible.
However,
it
is
very
fast,
very
efficient,
and
it
has
no
overhead.
Hardware
considerations
Use
the
following
tools
to
help
identify
and
resolve
hardware-related
problems.
v
Power-on
self-test
(POST)
v
POST
Beep
codes
v
Test
programs
v
Error
messages
POST
does
the
following
operations.
v
Checks
some
basic
system
board
operations
v
Checks
the
memory
operation
v
Starts
the
video
operation
v
Verifies
that
the
diskette
drive
is
working
v
Verifies
that
the
hard
disk
drive
is
working
Use
the
test
programs
that
come
with
this
HMM
or
with
the
system
you
are
servicing
to
test
the
IBM
components
of
the
system
and
some
external
devices.
Also,
from
the
DOS
prompt
or
from
OS/2
Utilities,
use
the
CHKDSK
command
to
check
and
repair
hard
disk
data
allocation
errors.
Error
messages
generated
by
the
software
(the
operating
system
or
application
programs),
generally
are
text
messages.
However,
error
messages
can
be
text,
numeric,
or
both
text
and
numeric.
Any
time
there
is
an
error
message
indicating
a
problem
with
the
system,
follow
the
General
Checkout
procedures
in
this
HMM
to
resolve
the
problem.
Basically,
there
are
five
types
of
error
messages.
v
POST
error
messages
are
displayed
when
the
POST
finds
problems
with
the
hardware
or
detects
a
change
in
the
hardware
configuration.
v
POST
Beep
codes
are
sounds
emitted
from
the
speaker
if
the
POST
finds
a
problem.
One
beep
indicates
that
the
POST
completed
successfully.
Multiple
beeps
indicate
a
problem
was
found.
v
Diagnostic
error
messages
are
displayed
when
a
test
program
finds
a
problem
with
a
hardware
component.
v
Software-generated
error
messages
are
displayed
if
a
problem
or
conflict
is
found
by
an
application
program,
the
operating
system,
or
both.
For
an
explanation
of
these
messages,
refer
to
the
information
supplied
with
the
installed
software
package.
Also,
refer
to
108
Hardware
Maintenance
Manual