User guide

5: Freeway Boot and Operation
DC 900-1333Q 143
5.1.1 Freeway Power-up
The Freeway CPU board has a built-in BIOS similar to most PC systems. The Freeway
BIOS settings are pre-configured at the Protogate factory. If you have a VGA monitor
and keyboard connected to the Freeway at power-up, you can access the BIOS by typing
the DEL key right after power-up. Protogate does not recommend changing any of the
Freeway BIOS settings unless you have a special requirement (such as enabling the USB
ports).
5.1.2 Boot Device Order
The boot device order is set in the Freeway BIOS as CD/DVD drive first, internal disk
drive second. Older Freeways with floppy disk drives may also have the floppy drive in
the boot order either before or after the CD/DVD drive.
The CD/DVD drive must contain a “bootable” CD or DVD disk in order for the Free-
way to boot from that device. Otherwise, the Freeway will skip the CD/DVD drive and
boot from the internal hard drive.
The Freeway software installation CDROM is a bootable disk and will cause the Freeway
to boot the FreewayOS entirely from the CDROM rather than the internal hard drive.
The FW_BOOT disk (available from Protogate) is also a bootable disk that will cause
the Freeway to boot up to a DOS prompt. Non-bootable disks (such as the protocol
software installation CDROMs) will not stop the Freeway boot process.
5.1.3 Initial BSD Boot
The FreewayOS is based on the FreeBSD UNIX operating system. When the BSD OS is
booted, the Freeway logs several messages on the console relating to the progress load-
ing the OS. Some of these messages may look like errors for missing devices. These error
messages are normal for this part of the boot process and you should simply ignore
them. The OS is designed to work on many different systems, and as such it adjusts itself
by probing to see which devices are actually present on the system.