Default BIOS Power-On Self-Test (POST) Events

At system startup, the BIOS performs a power-on self-test that checks the hardware on your server to ensure that all components are present and functioning properly. The following table identifies the events that can occur during BIOS POST, and specifies whether these event can prevent the host from powering on.

Event	Cause	Boot continues on host?
User password violation	Attempt to enter password fails three times.	No
Setup password violation	Attempt to enter password fails three times.	No
Correctable ECC	Correctable ECC (error correction code) error detected.	Yes
Uncorrectable ECC	Uncorrectable ECC error detected.	Yes
No system memory	No physical memory detected in the system.	No
No usable system memory	All installed memory has experienced an unrecoverable failure.	No
Boot media failure	No removable boot media is found.	Yes
CMOS set to optimal defaults	Load optimal defaults.	Yes
CMOS time and data error	RTC is invalid.	Yes
IOH errors reported	IOH errors.	Yes
CMOS battery low	CMOS battery is low.	Yes
System restart	System boot initiated.	Yes
Initiated by hard reset	Boot process started by hard reset.	Yes
Memory initialization	Memory sizing is occurring. System firmware progress.	Does not apply
Motherboard initialization	Primary CPU initialization.	Does not apply
Secondary processor initialization	Secondary CPU initialization. System firmware progress.	Does not apply
Initiated by warm reset	Boot process started by warm reset.	Does not apply
Embedded controller management	Management controller initialization.	Does not apply
PCI resource initialization	BIOS initializes PCI resources.	Does not apply
Video initialization	BIOS initializes video.	Does not apply
USB resource configuration	BIOS configures USB resources.	Does not apply
Option ROM initialization	BIOS initializes Option ROMs. System firmware progress.	Does not apply
Not enough option ROM space allocated for device	BIOS cannot copy an option ROMs content to the memory. This is likely due to a large number of EMs (express modules) attached to the system.	Maybe booting over an EM not possible.
User initiated system set up	End user initiated access to BIOS setup utility. System firmware progress.	Does not apply
User initiated boot to OS	System boot initiated. System firmware progress.	Does not apply
No bootable media	Nothing to boot from.	No
PXE server not found	Boot error - PXE server not found.	No
ACPI power state	Soft-off power on (S0) or off (S5).	Does not apply
Not enough IO address space allocated for device	Cannot allocate resources to an on-board device (PEM, REM, FEM), and slot is disabled.	Yes

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