Chapter 3 AMI BIOS This chapter tells how to configure the system parameters. To update the BIOS ,refer to section "BIOS Flash Utility". Important: Because the BIOS code is the most often changed part of the mainboard design, the BIOS information contained in this chapter (especially the Chipset Setup parameters) may be a little different compared to the actual BIOS that came with your mainboard. 3.
AMI BIOS The AMI BIOS is in Windows form. You can use either the keyboard or a mouse to move between the items. To select among the Setup menu groups, use to highlight the selected group or simply click on the icon of the selected Setup menu. To select among the options, you can either use the arrow keys to move the highlight bar or simply click on the icon of the desired option. After making your selection, press or double-click on the icon to open the selected menu option. 3.
AMI BIOS 3.2.1 Standard Setup The following screen appears if you select Standard from the Setup options: This Standard Setup menu allows you to setup basic information of hard disk, data/time and floppy. For hard disk parameters, choose any of following: Standard --> Pri Master Standard --> Pri Slave Standard --> Sec Master Standard --> Sec Slave These items are setting of onboard IDE primary and secondary channel, each channel supports two IDE devices which are connected as master and slave.
AMI BIOS Standard --> Pri Master --> Type When move cursor bar to Type and press , this menu appears: Hard Disk Types Type Cyl Hd Not Installed 1 306 4 2 615 4 3 615 6 4 940 8 5 940 6 WP Sec Size(MB) 128 300 300 512 512 17 17 17 17 17 10 20 31 62 47 or Hard Disk Types Type Cyl Hd WP Sec Size(MB) 43 44 45 46 User Auto CDROM 830 830 917 1224 7 10 15 15 512 65535 65535 65535 17 17 17 17 48 69 114 152 Type Not Installed 1 2 ...
AMI BIOS Standard --> Pri Master --> LBA/Large Mode LBA/Large Off On The enhanced IDE feature allows the system to use a hard disk with a capacity of more than 528MB. This is made possible through the Logical Block Address (LBA) mode translation. LBA is now a standard feature of current IDE hard disk on the market, because they are all above 528MB. Note if HDD is formatted with LBA On, it will not be able to boot with LBA Off.
AMI BIOS Standard --> Data/Time To set the date and time, highlight Date/Time and press . The following screen appears: Date/Time Date : Thu, Nov 7, 1996 + Time : 14:26:09 - Use the arrow keys to move among the items. Press or click on < +> or < -> to set the current time and date. Standard --> Floppy A Standard --> Floppy B Floppy A Not Installed 360KB 5.25" 1.2MB 5.25" 720KB 3.5" 1.44MB 3.5" 2.88MB 3.
AMI BIOS 3.2.
AMI BIOS Advanced --> Power-on Delay Power-On Delay Disabled 2 3 ... 15 This item lets you set the waiting time before system boot. Some large HDDs need more time for spindle motor to be stabilize and ready for data access. The settings are from 2 to 15 seconds. Advanced --> BootUp Sequence BootUp Sequence A:,C:,CDROM A:,CDROM,C: C:,A:,CDROM C:,CDROM,A: CDROM,A:,C: CDROM,C:,A: The bootup sequence allows you to specify the system boot search sequence.
AMI BIOS Advanced --> Typematic Rate Typematic Rate Disabled 15 20 30 This item allows you to control the speed of repeated keystrokes. The default is 30 characters/sec . Advanced --> System Keyboard System Keyboard Absent Present If there is a keyboard connected to the system, set this item to Present . Otherwise, POST will bypass the keyboard test if select Absent. Advanced --> Primary Display Primary Display Absent VGA/EGA CGA40x25 CGA80x25 Mono This function selects the type of video card in use.
AMI BIOS Advanced --> OS/2 Compatible Mode OS/2 Compatible Mode Disabled Enabled Enable this item if your system is utilizing an OS/2 operating system and has a memory size of more than 64 MB. Advanced --> Internal Cache Internal Cache Disabled Enabled This function lets you enable or disable the internal cache (The cache within CPU). Advanced --> External Cache External Cache Disabled Enabled This function lets you enable or disable the external cache (The PBSRAM cache on the mainboard).
AMI BIOS Advanced --> C000, 16K Shadow Advanced --> C400, 16K Shadow Advanced --> C800, 16K Shadow Advanced --> CC00, 16K Shadow Advanced --> D000, 16K Shadow Advanced --> D400, 16K Shadow Advanced --> D800, 16K Shadow Advanced --> DC00, 16K Shadow C000,16K Shadow Disabled Enabled Cached These items are for the shadow and cacheable option of ROM code on the expansion cards (including VGA). The shadow means to copy ROM code into faster DRAM and hence improves the execution performance of these ROM code.
AMI BIOS 3.2.3 Chipset Setup The Chipset Setup includes settings for the chipset dependent features, especially the features related to system performance. Caution: Make sure you understand the meaning of each setting before you try to change anything. The settings in this section improve system performance but may cause system unstable if the setting are not correct for your system configuration.
AMI BIOS Chipset --> Memory Hole Memory Hole Disabled 512K-640K 15M-16M This option lets you reserve system memory area for special ISA cards. Chipset accesses code/data of these area from the ISA bus directly, normally it is for memory mapped I/O card.
AMI BIOS Warning: The default memory timing setting is 60ns to get the optimal performance. Because the specification limitation of chipset, 70ns SIMM can only be used with CPU external clock 60MHz or below. To use 70ns SIMM with 66MHz CPU external clock may result in unstable system behavior. Chipset --> DRAM Refresh Rate DRAM Refresh Rate 50 Mhz 60 Mhz 66 Mhz This option lets you specify the clock frequency at which the chipset refreshes the DRAM to avoid data lost.
AMI BIOS Chipset --> DRAM Read Burst Timing DRAM Read Burst Timing x444 x333 The Read Burst means to read four continuous memory cycles on four predefined addresses from the DRAM. The default value of 60ns FPM (Fast Page Mode) DRAM is x333 which means the 2nd,3rd and 4th memory cycles are 3 CPU clocks. For EDO DRAM, the chipset will automatically reduce one clock, that is, x444 becomes x333 and x333 becomes x222.
AMI BIOS Chipset --> Speculative Leadoff Speculative Leadoff Disabled Enabled Enable this item reduce one clock of DRAM read leadoff timing by presenting the DRAM read request before the controller chip decodes the final memory target (i.e., cache, DRAM or PCI). For example, the DRAM read timing of 60ns EDO is 6-2-2-2, Enable this option improve DRAM read timing to 5-2-2-2.
AMI BIOS Tip: Because 36 bit SIMM has 4 bit more for parity, the ECC mode can be supported by two traditional parity SIMMs, it is no need to have special ECC SIMM. Chipset --> PCI 2.1 Compliant PCI 2.1 Comliant Disabled Enabled This item lets you control the Passive Release or Delayed Transaction function of the PIIX3 chipset (Intel PCI to ISA bridge). Enable it complies with the PCI revision 2.1. Try to enable or disable it, if you have ISA card compatibility problem.
AMI BIOS 3.2.4 Power Management Setup To take advantage of the power-management feature, select from the Setup menu.
AMI BIOS Full Power On HDD Timer Timout HDD Activies CPU: full speed Monitor: on HDD : on Standby Timer Timout Activies HDD Power Down HDD: off Suspend Switch Standby CPU: slow speed Monitor: on/off HDD: on/off Suspend Timer Timout Activies Suspend CPU: stop Monitor: on/off HDD: on/off Power Mgmt --> Power Management/APM Power Management/APM Disabled Enabled Instant-On This item is the global control to enable or disable the advanced power-management function.
AMI BIOS Power Mgmt --> Green Monitor Power Down State Green Monitor Power Down State Standby Suspend Off This function lets you select at which state to power down your monitor. BIOS blanks the screen and power down the monitor by special signal (VSYNC, HSYNC) on the monitor connector. You need DPMS (Display Power Management Standard) monitor to support power down function.
AMI BIOS Power Mgmt --> StandbyTimeout (Minutes) Standby Timeout (Minute) Disabled 1 ..... 15 This item lets you set the time of your system to go into Standby power down state when there is no system activities. In Standby state, CPU clock is slowdown according to the ratio set in "Slow Clock Ratio" below. Any event detected returns the system to full power. The system activity(or event) is detected through monitoring of IRQ signals.
AMI BIOS Power Mgmt --> IRQ3 (COM2) Power Mgmt --> IRQ4 (COM1) Power Mgmt --> IRQ5 (Network/Sound or Others) Power Mgmt --> IRQ7 (Printer or Others) Power Mgmt --> IRQ8 (RTC) Power Mgmt --> IRQ9 (Video or Others) Power Mgmt --> IRQ10 (SCSI or Others) Power Mgmt --> IRQ11 (SCSI or Others) Power Mgmt --> IRQ12 (PS/2 Mouse or Others) Power Mgmt --> IRQ13 (Floating Point of CPU) Power Mgmt --> IRQ14 (IDE1) Power Mgmt --> IRQ15 (IDE2) IRQ3 Ignore Monitor WakeUp Both The system activities are monitored through t
AMI BIOS 3.2.5 PCI/PnP Setup The PCI/PnP Setup allows you to specify the setting for your PCI devices. The items below appear if you select PCI/PnP from the Setup menu. Note: You can press to enter the BIOS Setup screen. This procedure resets PnP configuration information and reconfigure PnP resource again, it allows you to solve an IRQ/DMA/Memory resources conflict.
AMI BIOS PCI/PnP --> Plug and Play Aware O/S Plug and Play Aware O/S No Yes Normally the PnP resource is allocated by BIOS during POST (Power-On Self Test). If you are using PnP operating system (such as Windows 95), you may set this item to Yes, which informs BIOS to configure only the resources needed for boot (VGA/IDE or SCSI). The rest of system resources will be allocated by PnP operating system.
AMI BIOS PCI Slot Location 1 Location 2 Location 3 Location 3 (pin A6) (pin B7) (pin A7) (pin B8) Slot 1 INTA INTB INTC INTD Slot 2 INTB INTC INTD INTA Slot 3 INTC INTD INTA INTB Slot 4 INTD INTA INTB INTC Slot 5 (if any) INTD INTA INTB INTC PCI/PnP --> PCI Slot1 IRQ Priority PCI/PnP --> PCI Slot2 IRQ Priority PCI/PnP --> PCI Slot3 IRQ Priority PCI/PnP --> PCI Slot4 IRQ Priority PCI Slot1 IRQ Priority Auto None 3 4 5 7 9 10 11 12 These items let you specify the preferred I
AMI BIOS PCI/PnP --> DMA Channel 0 PCI/PnP --> DMA Channel 1 PCI/PnP --> DMA Channel 3 PCI/PnP --> DMA Channel 5 PCI/PnP --> DMA Channel 6 PCI/PnP --> DMA Channel 7 DMA Channel 0 PnP ISA If your ISA card is not PnP compatible and needs special DMA channel to support its function, specify the DMA channel as ISA, which informs PnP BIOS to reserve this DMA channel for the this legacy ISA card. The default is PnP. PCI card has no DMA channel.
AMI BIOS PCI/PnP --> Reserved Memory Base for ISA Reserved Memory Base for ISA C0000 C4000 C8000 CC000 D0000 D4000 D8000 DC000 This item is in conjunction with "Reserved Memory Size for ISA" to specify memory space of the non-PnP compatible ISA card. This item sets the memory base (start address), the memory size is specified above.
AMI BIOS 3.2.6 Peripheral Setup Select Peripheral appears. from the Setup menu and the following screen Peripheral Setup OnBoard FDC OnBoard Serial Port1 OnBoard Serial Port2 Serial Port2 Mode OnBoard Parallel Parallel Port IRQ Parallel Port Mode OnBoard IDE : : : : : : : : Auto Auto Auto Normal Auto 7 SPP Both Peripheral --> OnBoard FDC OnBoard FDC Auto Disabled Enabled This item enables or disables the onboard floppy drive controller.
AMI BIOS • Normal - Sets serial port 2 to operate in normal mode. This is the default setting. • HPSIR - Select this setting if you have installed Infrared module on the IrDA connector (refer to section 2.3 "Connectors"). This setting allows infrared serial communication at a maximum baud rate of 115K baud. • ASKIR - Select this setting if you have installed Infrared module on the IrDA connector (refer to section 2.3 "Connectors").
AMI BIOS Peripheral --> OnBoard IDE OnBoard IDE Disabled Primary Secondary Both 3.3 This item enables or disables the onboard IDE controller. Select Primary to enable primary channel and disable secondary channel. Select Secondary to disable primary and enable secondary channel. Select Both to enable both of them. Security Setup The Security window contains the password and anti-virus features. Supervisor Password The use of password prevents unauthorized use of your computer.
AMI BIOS Follow these steps to set up a password using the keyboard or mouse: 1. Type/click in a six-character password using letters, numbers, or a combination of both. When you type the characters, they appear as asterisks on the password screen boxes. 2. Press or click on . 3. Retype the password when a password confirmation box appears asking you to retype the password. User Password To set a User password, select User from the Security window.
AMI BIOS 3.4 Utility Setup The Utility window lets you change WinBIOS Setup colors and language setting. Color Set Color Set LCD Army Pastel Sky The Color Set allows you to select your desired background color for AMI WinBIOS. Language Language English 3.5 The system language currently supported is only English. Therefore, this option is non-configurable and is for display only. Default Setup The Default window allows you to select two sets of AMI BIOS default setting (Optimal and Turbo).
AMI BIOS Original Actually, Original is not a set of default setting, it is a little like "Undo", choose Original if you change some setting and you don't want to save them. Optimal Select Optimal to load the optimal default value. Optimal is relatively saver than Turbo, It is the setting for general optimal performance.
AMI BIOS 3.7 Onboard NCR SCSI BIOS The NCR 53C810 SCSI BIOS resides in the same flash memory chip as the system BIOS. The onboard NCR SCSI BIOS is used to support NCR 53C810 SCSI control card without the need of BIOS code on the SCSI card. The NCR SCSI BIOS directly support DOS, Windows 3.1 and OS/2, but you may get better performance by using drivers come from the NCR SCSI card vendor or from operating system (such WIndows 95). For detail, refer to the installation manual of your NCR 53C810 SCSI card.
