Chapter 4: Theory of operation
49
The BIOS initialization software copies the ROM contents into DRAM (a process
called
shadowing
) at addresses E0000h
–
FFFFFh. The VGA BIOS is copied into
C0000h
–
C7FFFh of DRAM. After copying into these areas, the BIOS write-protects
them. Subsequent writes to these areas complete successfully but do not alter the
data in DRAM.
There are two parameter blocks, each 8KB in size, used for BIOS code.
440GX host bridge
The Intel 440GX is a 492-pin BGA. It dissipates a maximum of 3W with AGP
disabled. The 440GX contains support for a CPU-to-PCI bridge, a DRAM/SDRAM
memory controller, and the central arbitration functions for the PCI bus. The
440GX supports concurrent CPU, AGP, and PCI transactions to main memory.
440GX PCI bus
The Intel 440GX supports CPU-to-PCI cycles. The 440GX and the PCI CLK run at
33 MHz. When acting as a PCI target, the 440GX does not respond to the cycles
listed in the left column of
Table 4-1
. When acting as a bus master on behalf of the
Physical address
Device offset
FFFFFFFFh
FFFFC000h
16 KB
BIOS Recovery Code
FFFFFh
FC000h
FFFFBFFFh
FFFFA000h
8 KB Parameter Block 2
ESCD
FBFFFh
FA000h
FFFF9FFFh
FFFF8000h
8 KB Parameter Block 1
F9FFFh
F8000h
FFFF7FFFh
FFFE0000h
FFFDFFFFh
FFFC0000h
96 KB Main Block 8
System BIOS, PCI BIOS,
Plug n Play BIOS
Manufacturing BIOS
128 KB Main Block 7
F7FFFh
E0000h
DFFFFh
C0000h
FFFBFFFFh
FFFA0000h
128 KB Main Block 6
User Extensions (128KB)
BFFFFh
A0000h
FFF9FFFFh
FFF80000h
128 KB Main Block 5
CSR/CMOS data
9FFFFh
80000h
Figure 4-2. Flash boot device memory
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