Chapter 4 amibios, 1 introduction – Hypertherm SuperMicro 370SBA 533Mhz User Manual

Page 49

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Chapter 4: AMIBIOS

4-1

Chapter 4

AMIBIOS

4-1

Introduction

This chapter describes the AMIBIOS for the Intel 440LX/BX Celeron 333-400 MHz

processors. The AMI ROM BIOS is stored in the Flash EEPROM and is easily

upgraded using a floppy disk-based program.

System BIOS

The 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 Architecture) must

have a place to store system information when the computer is turned off. The

original IBM AT had 64k bytes of non-volatile memory storage in CMOS RAM. All

AT-compatible systems have at least 64k bytes of CMOS RAM, which is usually

part of the Real-Time Clock. Many systems have 128k bytes of CMOS RAM.

How Data Is Configured

AMIBIOS provides a Setup utility in ROM that is accessed by pressing <Del> at

the appropriate time during system boot. Setup configures data in CMOS RAM.

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 corner of the

screen, below the copyright message.

Chapter 4: AMIBIOS

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