the boot process of a content / service receiver is dynamically monitored to provide error and / or status information in a step - by - step and / or in a single - snapshot manner . this can be accomplished by , for example , utilizing an application thread running within , and / or , outside the context of the boot code . status information from , for example , software drivers and / or any other software / hardware / middleware components , is acquired by the application thread utilizing any mechanism , for example , event - driven and / or polling , and then relayed to an external entity , which can be locally and / or remotely located . the external entity can be reached by any means of standard and / or proprietary medium and protocols available , if necessary . the relayed information can then be used , for example , for displaying to a user via a graphical user interface , and / or can be recorded and the like .