METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING BOOTCODE SUPPORT IN A DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM THAT USES A COMMUNICATIONS PORT THAT UTILIZES A FIRST COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL, AN EXTERNAL DEVICE THAT UTILIZES A SECOND COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL, AND A DEVICE DRIVER THAT IS LOADED IN RESPONSE TO BOOTING TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE EXTERNAL DEVICE THROUGH THE COMMUNICATIONS PORT

1. Technical Field A data processing system with bootcode support for communicating with a noncompliant external device has a motherboard, non-volatile memory connected to the motherboard, a volatile memory, processing resources, a communications port that utilizes a first communications protocol, and one or more buses interconnecting those components. Startup instructions obtained from the non-volatile memory load a device driver for the external device from the non-volatile memory into the volatile memory. However, unlike the communications port, the external device utilizes a second communications protocol. Diagnostic instructions then utilize the device driver to communicate with the external device via the communications port. In an illustrative embodiment, the communications port is a USB port, the external device is a serial terminal, the device driver is a serial terminal driver, and the diagnostic instructions utilize the serial terminal driver to communicate with the serial terminal via the USB port while no operating system is present in the volatile memory.