Cabletron Systems CSMIM2-16 Installation Manual page 41

During a boot, the console may display four possible status symbols: "."
indicates received data blocks, "?" indicates unanswered requests, "*"
indicates transmission errors, and "! ~XXXX~" is a status word from the
Ethernet chip on the CSMIM2 indicating a gross problem with the
Ethernet connection (if this symbol appears in your boot command
display, contact technical support).
The status word "! ~XXXX~", where XXXX are four hexadecimal digits,
decodes as follows:
8000 = Command complete
4000 = Chip is busy
2000 = Command completed without error
1000 = Command aborted by an abort command
800 = Late collision detected
400 = Carrier lost
200 = CTS lost
100 = DMA underrun
80 = Transmission deferred because link was busy
40 = Collision detected during interframe spacing
(SQE/Heartbeat detected)
20 = Excessive collisions
10 = Reserved
The lowest nibble (bits 3 to 0) are a count of collisions during this
transmission. For example:
~8802~ = Complete, Late collision, 2 collisions
~8841~ = Complete, Late Collision, SQE detected, 1 collision
CSMIM2 Installation Guide
Commands
3-7