Pre-boot self-healing and adaptive fault isolation

1. An Information Handling System (IHS), comprising:

a processor; and

a Basic I/O System (BIOS) coupled to the processor, the BIOS having program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the IHS to:

initiate the booting of devices within the IHS following a predetermined boot order, wherein the predetermined boot order includes a first device followed by a second device;

determine that the first device has been marked for bypass;

bypass the booting of the first device; and

boot the second device;

associate a strike count with the devices, the strike count for each device representing a number of previous boot failures associated with that device; and

provide the strike count to an Operating System (OS).

2. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the first device includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) device, a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or a Network Interface Card (NIC).

3. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the first device has been marked for bypass by the BIOS due to a previous attempt to boot the first device resulting in a failure.

4. The IHS of claim 3 , wherein the previous attempt to boot the first device includes performing a failed firmware initialization operation for the first device.

5. The IHS of claim 3 , wherein the previous attempt to boot the first device includes performing a failed device configuration operation for the first device.

6. The IHS of claim 3 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution by the processor, further cause the IHS to:

store a configuration setting for a first device that results in a successful boot;

flag the first device in response to the configuration setting being modified; and

in response to the first device failing to boot after the modification, restore the original configuration setting without input from any user.

7. The IHS of claim 6 , wherein the flagging of the device occurs in response to the configuration setting being modified by a user within an Operating System (OS) environment.

8. The IHS of claim 3 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution by the processor, further cause the IHS to:

tag the first device as a malfunctioning device in response to a successful boot of subsequent devices;

identify a Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) associated with the first device; and

provide an indication of the FRU to a support service.

9. The IHS of claim 3 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution by the processor, further cause the IHS to:

store a first boot order of the devices that results in a successful boot; and

in response to the predetermined boot order resulting in a no-boot condition, restore the first boot order without input from any user.

10. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the OS includes a primary Operating System.

11. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the OS includes a service Operating System.

12. A method, comprising:

determining, by a Basic I/O System (BIOS) without any input from any user, that a given device in a boot order of an Information Handling System (IHS) has been marked for bypass as result of a previous, failed boot attempt;

bypassing the given device in a current boot attempt;

in response to the current boot attempt being successful, tagging the given device as a potentially malfunctioning device;

associating a strike count with the given device, the strike count representing a number of boot failures caused by the given device; and

providing the strike count to an Operating System (OS).

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein bypassing the given device includes autonomously modifying the boot order by the BIOS without any input from any user.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining that an original configuration of the given device was changed between the previous, failed boot attempt, and an earlier successful boot attempt; and

returning a current configuration of the given device to the original configuration.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising identifying a Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) associated with the given device and providing an indication of the FRU to a support service.

16. A Basic I/O System (BIOS) having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by an Information Handling System (IHS), cause the IHS to:

determine that a device in a boot order of the IHS has been marked for bypass as result of a previous, failed boot attempt;

bypass the device in a boot attempt;

in response to the boot attempt being successful, strike the given device as a potentially malfunctioning device;

associate a strike count with the device, the strike count representing a number of strikes received by the device; and

provide the strike count to an Operating System (OS).

17. The BIOS of claim 16 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution by the IHS, further cause the IHS to:

determine that an original configuration of the device was changed between an earlier successful boot attempt and the failed boot attempt;

return the given device to its original configuration; and

initiate another boot attempt.

18. The BIOS of claim 16 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution by the IHS, further cause the IHS to:

determine that an original boot order was changed between an earlier successful boot attempt and the failed boot attempt;

return the boot order to the original boot order; and

initiate another boot attempt.