CAUTION:
Please note that the Standard PCI connector is a 3.3V signaling only connector, and is
keyed for that. Do not insert a 5V PCI expansion board upside down, that can cause permanent damage
both to the net4501 and the expansion board.
3
BIOS
3.1 Overview
The net4501 comes with the Soekris Engineering netBIOS. The BIOS is designed especially for setup and
operation using the serial port as the console. The BIOS is located in Flash memory, and can be upgraded
over the serial port. Critical system setup parameters are also saved in the Flash memory, so the system will
not lose any setup information due to CMOS battery backup power loss.
3.2 Serial
Console
The net4501 dops not have any video or keyboard interface, and uses the COM1 serial port for the primary
console interface instead. The serial port default baud rate is 19200, but it can be changed by the monitor
“set” command. The netBIOS also has an emulation of int10 video system calls and int16 keyboard system
calls, making it possible to run old real mode programs that expect video and keyboard services. This is
mostly useful for running MS-DOS, and is limited to software using the BIOS calls only. The serial port
connector is a standard PC type 9 pins D-SUB, so a serial crossover cable should be used when connecting
to an other PC.
3.3 System
Startup
When the net4501 is powered up or rebooted, the netBIOS will first display diagnostic checkpoint codes on
the serial console. When it has located and checked the first 64 Kbytes of main memory, it will display a
sign on message and then continue with additional testing and configuration. After that, it will start a short
countdown before it will try to boot an operating system. During the countdown time, by pressing Ctrl-P,
the normal boot process can be interrupted and control transferred to the comBIOS’s monitor program. The
monitor is a command line driven program for setup and light diagnostic and debugging. Typing “?” or
“help” at the command prompt will show a short list of commands available.
Note that after changing system parametes using the “set” command, it will be necessary to restart the
system before the new parameters will be used, by using the “reboot” command.
3.4 Monitor
Commands
boot [drive]
Load operating system from a boot device, using int19 system call. Drive can either be a valid int13 drive
entered as a hexadecimal number, or a special number. For example “80” will be first fixed disk drive,
normally the CompactFlash on the net4501, and that is also the default if no parameter is entered. Currently
defined special number is “F0”, which will try to boot over the network, using the PXE boot ROM.
reboot
Will reboot the BIOS, normally used after changing system parameters.
download
Start downloading a binary image over the serial ports, using the XMODEM protocol. After entering the
command, start sending at the terminal program at the other end. Will time out after 30 seconds if it does
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