POST and Entering Setup

When the system is powered on, the BIOS will perform diagnostics and initialize system components, including the video system. (This is self-evident when the screen first flicks before the Video Card header is displayed). This is commonly referred as POST (Power-On Self Test). Afterwards, the computer will proceed its final boot-up stage by calling the operating system. Just before that, the user may interrupt to have access to SETUP.
To allow the user to alter the CMOS settings, the BIOS provides a little program, SETUP. Usually, setup can be entered by pressing a special key combination (DEL, ESC, CTRL-ESC, or CRTL-ALT-ESC) at boot time (Some BIOSes allow you to enter setup at any time by pressing CTRL-ALT-ESC). The AMI BIOS is mostly entered by pressing the DEL key after resetting (CTRL-ALT-DEL) or powering up the computer. You can bypass the extended CMOS settings by holding the <INS> key down during boot-up. This is really helpful, especially if you bend the CMOS settings right out of shape and the computer won't boot properly anymore. This is also a handy tip for people who play with the older AMI BIOSes with the XCMOS setup. It allows changes directly to the chip registers with very little technical explanation.

A Typical BIOS POST Sequence

Most BIOS POST sequences occur along four stages (five if you have a PCI bus):
  1. Display some basic information about the video card like its brand, video BIOS version and video memory available. Since the system's BIOS takes over the POST right after the video card BIOS, you will not have enough time to read the displayed information.
  2. Display the BIOS version and copyright notice in upper middle screen. You will see a large sequence of numbers at the bottom of the screen. This sequence is the BIOS identification line.
  3. Display memory count. You will also hear tick sounds if you have enabled it (see Memory Test Tick Sound section).
  4. If you have a PCI bus, the system will attempt an initialisation of the cards and will display the card's name.
  5. Once the POST have succeeded and the BIOS is ready to call the operating system (DOS, OS/2, NT, WIN95, etc.) you will see a basic table of the system's configurations:
In the majority of cases, the summation of base memory and extended memory does not equal the total system memory. For instance in a 4096 KB (4MB) system, you will have 640KB of base memory and 3072KB of extended memory, a total of 3712KB. The missing 384KB is reserved by the BIOS, mainly as shadow memory (see Advanced CMOS Setup).

AMI BIOS POST Errors

During the POST routines, which are performed each time the system is powered on, errors may occur. Non-fatal errors are those which, in most cases, allow the system to continue the boot up process. The error messages normally appear on the screen. Fatal errors are those which will not allow the system to continue the boot-up procedure. If a fatal error occurs, you should consult with your system manufacturer or dealer for possible repairs. These errors are usually communicated through a series of audible beeps. The numbers on the fatal error list correspond to the number of beeps for the corresponding error. All errors listed, with the exception of #8, are fatal errors. All errors found by the BIOS will be forwarded to the I/O port 80h.

Other AMI BIOS POST Codes

If you have access to a POST Card reader, (Jameco, etc.) you can watch the system perform each test by the value that's displayed. If/when the system hangs (if there's a problem) the last value displayed will give you a good idea where and what went wrong, or what's bad on the system board. Of course, having a description of those codes would be helpful, and different BIOSes have different meanings for the codes. (could someone point out FTP sites where we could have access to a complete list of error codes for different versions of AMI and Award BIOSes?).

BIOS Error Messages

This is a short list of most frequent on-screen BIOS error messages. Your system may show them in a different manner. When you see any of these, you are in trouble - Doh! (Does someone has any additions or corrections?)
If you encounter any POST error, there is a good chance that it is an HARDWARE related problem. You should at least verify if adaptor cards or other removable components (simms, drams etc...) are properly inserted before calling for help. One common attribute in human nature is to rely on others before investigating the problem yourself. Please don't be a politician (Aide-toi et le ciel t'aidera).