I'm not having much success in finding an 8031 POST (power on self test) online. I'd be especially interested in tests from a microprocessor manufacturer. For example, are there published tests to verify that the 128 bytes of indirect memory are reliable? Are there simple tests for the SFRs? Thanks for your comments. Robert Berkey
Back in the late 70's and early 80's it was a requirement for any kind of Military hardware that used micro's to perform a complete self test, not just of the RAM and EPROM but of the processor as well. Chip vendors supplied the micro test as part of a requested doc package for military users. The Intel 8080 version performed a test on all machine codes - if it passed you exited only one way, otherwise you wound up in various end points. I think as time went on, chip processes became so much better that this kind of test fell by the wayside ( I don't know if this is still a requirement by the military). For the 8051 and its variants it might not be worth it except for cases where life and limb is at stake (medical equipment and the like). There have been some concerns expressed about the latest technology parts, because the material thickness and volume are so small that stray alpha particles are becoming dangerous again. You might want to visit http://www.embedded.com for a recent article on this subject.