Supero SUPER P6DGH, User Manual

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Chapter 4: AMI BIOS
4-1
Chapter 4
AMIBIOS
4-1 Introduction
This chapter describes the AMIBIOS for the Intel 440GX Pentium II
Xeon 450/400 MHz processors. The AMIBIOS is stored in the Flash
EEPROM and can be easily upgraded using a DOS program.
System BIOS
BIOS is the Basic Input Output System used in all IBM
®
PC, XT™,
AT
®
, and PS/2
®
compatible computers. WinBIOS is a high-quality
example of a system BIOS.
Configuration Data
AT-compatible systems, also called ISA (Industry Standard Architec-
ture), must have a place to store system information when the com-
puter is turned off. The original IBM AT had 64 bytes of nonvolatile
memory storage in CMOS RAM. All AT-compatible systems have at
least 64 bytes of CMOS RAM, which is usually part of the Real-Time
Clock. Many systems have 128 bytes of CMOS memory.
How Data Is Configured
AMIBIOS provides a setup utility in BIOS that is accessed by press-
ing <Del> at the appropriate time during system boot. Setup is
used to configure the data in CMOS memory.
POST Memory Test
Normally, the only visible POST routine is the memory test. The
screen that appears when the system is powered on is shown on
the next page.
An AMIBIOS Identification string is displayed at the left bottom cor-
ner of the screen, below the copyright message.