OPSD BIOS ENGINEERING Intel Corporation, 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway Hillsboro, OR 97214 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DATE: July 11, 1997 FROM: Intel Customer Support-Support Engineering SUBJECT: Advanced ZP Standard BIOS Release 6.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ About This Release ================== o BIOS 1.00.06 BS0 Release 6.0 Features/Errata Fixed In This Release ===================================== Release 6.0 (1.00.06.BSO) ------------------------- * Fixed CMOS Date to support leap year into year 2000 and beyond. * Fixed Issue with System BIOS Erroneous reporting "CMOS DATE/TIME NOT SET". * NOTE: 70ns EDO SIMM support was only present in Release 5.0. It was not in any subsequent release. * Added APM 1.2 support. * When 512K base memory size is selected, Turbo/Deturbo, Cache Enable/Cache Disable, and APM will be disabled. This is due to 82430FX errata with SMM. * New CD Boot code incorporated. * Added static device node support. * Disabling either the primary or secondary IDE channel (via the Manual setting of the configuration Mode field of the Peripheral Configuration screen) will force Interrupt 14 and/or 15 to be added to the list of available interrupts when the Use Setup Utility option of the Plug and Play screen is used. * Added code to make the IRQs available on the PNP screen when not used by the peripheral devices like the serial port and parallel port. * Change to prevent incorrect operation of IRQs available/used in the PNP screen. IRQ 12 can never be the only IRQ "Available". * Move IRQ12 in the IRQ allocation list so that mouse IRQ is not given away prematurely. * Fixed issue where some PCI video cards do not work if behind the bridge. * Fixed issue where not able to execute an .EXE file from 1.44Mb floppy when booted through 720Kb floppy. * Int15h, function DAh and subfunction 01, returns (turbo/deturbo) proper status when not used. * Provided a mechanism to prevent Windows 95* from enabling a disabled node. * Fixed an issue in the size of memory above 1Mb in the static version of memory node. * Fixed issue where ECP wasn't enabled if in manual mode (static). * Fixed issue where ESCD was corrupted if PCI multi-function card was not configured. * Made changes to clear system RAM before boot. Non cleared RAM was causing Novell Netware not to boot properly. * Changes to force default ESCD, if ESCD header is O.K. but ESCD length is zero. * Fixed issue where ESCD was written without valid signature. * Added Pick definition and string definitions to add PCI IDE secondary channel. * Fixed issue where setup could disable primary or secondary IDE controller but resources were still allocated. * Updated Intel Copyright date. * Fixed issue with fields being accessed when admin password restrictions are in effect. * Fixed issue in invalid device node data appears when no mouse installed. * Fixed issue of delayed boot with some CD-ROM drives. * Fixed the issue where ESCD said moused device node is disabled but mouse is enabled * Changed post string CD-ROM drive to "ATAPI Device". * Changed support to CD boot support code. * Changed interfaces to PCI IDE enumeration code according to "PCI IDE controller specifications" rev 0.9 3/4/94 and "Programming Interface for Bus master IDE controller" rev 1.0 5/16/94. * Fixed issue with PCI ROM registers returning 1' instead of 0's for unused bits which was causing some token ring cards to fail. * Changed the location of request sense buffer to prevent the possibility of data overwriting an executable code. * Fixed issue where the ESCD would stall when being written to. * Added public label above CPUID instruction. * Paragraph aligned the protected mode PNP services entry point. * Modified erase and program routines to also work in real mode. * Added fault tolerance to ESCD block Flash writes to prevent the loss of VPD if system power is lost during ESCD writes. Modified the code to require only 2x buffer. * Provided the capability of User Flash scan prior to Video ROM scan and with option to scan before regular option ROM scan. * Fixed issue where the memory allocated to the Device Initialisation manager was not deallocated under all conditions. * PPEC IDE function is always made to be disabled. * Fixed the issue where the date/time field and the num-lock keys were taken as cursor keys instead of numeric keys when num-lock was enabled. Release 5.0 ----------- * Timings for EDO DRAM at 66MHz bus speed only are relaxed to allow use of 70 nSec instead of 60 nSec EDO SIMMs. * Changed CMOS Error Reporting sequence when in manufacturing mode. Added code to clear byte 0Eh (diagonostic byte) when in manufacturing mode and set the battery bit if battery failed. * Battery bit in RTC is not used as an indication of CMOS validity. * Added code to clear the shutdown byte in the RTC. This byte was not getting cleared during the cold boot. Release 4.0 (1.00.04.BSO) ------------------------- * Readded Turbo LED flashing when the system is in a power saving state. * Reinstated the Hard Disk Pre-Delay feature. * Added ATAPI code to allow CD-ROM boot. CD-ROM as first boot device option only. * Fixed issue where CPU Auto HALT features were incorrectly being disabled. The fix results in about 5 watts of additional power saved during CPU inactivity even when APM is disabled in setup (as long as a power driver is installed). * Added call to detect serial mouse if a PS/2 mouse is not installed in the system. Will now wake the system if a serial mouse is installed and a PS/2 mouse is not installed. * Fixed issue in which not all resources disabled if all resources cannot be enabled for a PCI device. * Fixed timing loop in keyboard controller related code that was causing issues with network remote diskless boot. * Set Input attribute in Keyboard device node. * Set IPL attribute in Floppy and IDE device nodes. * Corrected IRQ programmed for 3F8,IRQ 3; 2F8,IRQ 4; 3E8,IRQ 3; & 2E8,IRQ 4. Programming IRQ 3 & 4 reversed. 3F8,IRQ 4; 2F8,IRQ 3; 3E8,IRQ 4; & 2E8,IRQ 3 were programmed correctly. * Corrected issues and potential issues possibly causing CMOS corruption. Battery failure status was not being preserved through POST. Date and time could be set to default (01/01/90) without posting an error. Accesses to enable or disable NMI were not followed with a read or write. * Re-enabled palette snooping for those PCI BIOSs that disable it during initialization and request palette snooping be enabled via setup. * Corrected floppy function 08, Return Disk Parameters. It returned wrong parameters if the drive number was illegal. * Fixed issue in which BIOS text string could be displayed incorrectly. * Disabled Hotkey 6 in the Phoenix Keyboard Controller. It's default is enabled and set to the Break Key. This caused issues with some software. * Added an additional test on the boot record (test for 0000 at the start of the record) to avoid trying to boot from a non-system disk. * Updated the ATA/ATAPI detection code to be more robust. Handles faster CPUs, more reliably detects CD-ROM drives, and handles IDE drives which act as master and slave when no slave exists. * Fixed Int 15 Function C7h where bogus amount of memory could be returned. * Fixed password issue in which the password is entered followed by a backspace is considered valid. * Fixed possible Gate A20 enable/disable race condition. Release 3.0 ----------- * Removed Turbo LED flashing when the system is in a power saving state. * Corrected the Device node ID for the parallel port when programmed for ECP mode (was 400h now is 401h). Release 2.0 (1.00.02.BS0) ------------------------- * Fixed issues with S3 Trio 32 Video failures via reduction in Video Bios Clock rate reduction from 60Mhz to 57Mhz. Also corrected font issues. Video bios revision 1.03.08.09-57Mhz. * Fixed issue with ISA Shared Memory Setup options which was introduced between Beta 2.01 and Beta 2.02. Now back to Beta 2.01 and Release 1.0 operation. Failure was characterized by a failure of PCI video (with video error beep) when one would set the ISA Shared Memory option to start at C8000h. See DCS report 3701. * Fixed issue introduced since Release 1.0 which would cause Protected Mode applications/Operating Systems to have a General Protection Fault when modifying the Device Node configurations for onboard Parallel Port or onboard PCI IDE. * Fixed issue revolving around Bios Data Area offset 6Ch (dword - 32 bit value) aka Timer Count value. Symptom of issue fixed: "incorrect updating of Timer Count value in Bios Data Area occurs during Sleep/Power-Down when running Windows 95". Fixed by utilizing Real Time Clock AND IRQ 0 (was previously only IRQ 0) as conditions for updating Timer Count value in Bios Data Area. * Added enhancement to APM code to allow audio feedback (beeping) which indicates APM code detection of: a) Sleep/Resume/Soft Power Off button press (single beep). b) Soft Power Off via 2 second hold of Sleep/Resume/Soft Power Off button (two decending beeps). * Fixed issue where the security hotkey was being over written. * Fixed issue where the system would not resume from a lower power state when DOSPM.EXE was installed. See DCS report 3717. Release 1.0 ----------- * Removed Floppy Auto-Configuration from setup. Only manual floppy configuration now supported. * Removed Soft Power Off setup option now supported in hardware. * Fixed ESCD to free up previously used PCI/PNP slots entries so they can be used again. * Fixed user password failure with seven characters entered for password. Failure scenario involved "Unattended Start" and hot key not functioning properly. Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners. Extracted from original .DOC metadata ------------------------------------- Vijaybharathi-C:\AL\AMIBIOS\950202\PRODUCT\BR0\6B01BS0_.DOC Vijaybharathi-C:\AL\AMIBIOS\950202\PRODUCT\BR0\6B01BS0_.DOC Steve Bogden*D:\AMIBIOS\950202\PRODUCT\BR0\6B02BS0_.DOC Chip Aaron,C:\Z\AMIBIOS\950202\product\BR0\6b03bs0_.doc Chip Aaron,D:\Z\AMIBIOS\950202\product\BR0\1006bs0_.doc C:\temp\temp1\advzp\reln\relnotes.doc C:\MyDocs\relnotes.doc C:\MyDocs\relnotes.doc C:\MyDocs\relnotes.doc C:\temp\temp1\web\relnotes.doc \\HFSOFFICE31B\HF31G6 Ne02: winspool HP LaserJet 4Si/4Si MX PS \\HFSOFFICE31B\HF31G6 MS Word for Windows DOC to TXT file conversion by TamaMan. EOF