Specifications

Operating System Boot, Sleep, and Wake QSSC-S4R Technical Product Specification
214
05h
Name Varies Null-terminated Unicode string. The string is UTF-16 encoding
format as specified in Unicode 1.2 standard.
Varies Device path Path Length EFI Device path of a particular device
19.1.3.5 Obtaining the Boot Order Table
The BIOS checks the BOT for updates (see Section 19.1.3.6) during POST, prepares a new BOT describing the
current boot order, and then stores the BOT in OEM parameter 125. The first <blocksize> bytes of the BOT, beginning
with the header, are in block 1. Bit 0 of the “Update flag” is set by the BIOS.
Therefore, once the BIOS has booted, the OEM parameter 125 contains the BOT used for the last system boot. The
BIOS always writes a complete BOT with a header, a full set of order tables, and the names/paths of all detected
devices (see Section 19.1.3.1).
Pre-OS application or remote server management tools can obtain the last-set Boot Order Table by reading OEM
parameter 125. The information remains available until the BMC is reset or AC power is removed.
19.1.3.6 Modifying the Boot Order Table
During POST, the BIOS reads the BOT from the BMC and checks bit 1 of the “Update flag” to see if the BOT has been
changed by pre-OS or remote server management.
If bit 1 is set, the BIOS examines the updated Boot Order Table to see if it is either a valid Boot Order Only table (see
Section 5.1.3.6.1) or a valid Boot And Device Orders table.
5.1.3.6.1 Modifying Boot Order Only
If a pre-OS application or remote server management tool only needs to change the system Boot Order (CD versus
Floppy versus HDD and so on), then a much-abbreviated BOT may be written. The entire Device Name(s) section may
be omitted, along with all of the device order tables as shown in the following table.
Table 144. Minimal Boot Order Table Structure
Boot -
Order-
Only BOT
Section Description
Header Bit 1 of Update flag set to indicate change.
For more information, see Section 19.1.3.2.
Order Tables Includes only the System Boot Order (type 00) and
terminator.
For more information, see Section 19.1.3.3.
All device types listed in the order must be present in the system for the order to be valid and accepted by the BIOS.
Example: The BIOS BOT has CD first, HDD second, and Network third; BMC update BOT has Network first and CD
second. The BIOS applies the updated BOT, resulting in boot order containing Network first, CD second, and HDD
third. The BIOS generates a new BOT from the boot order, and writes the complete BOT to the BMC.
19.2 Operating System Support
19.2.1 Microsoft Windows* Compatibility
Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corporation co-author design guides for system designers who use Intel® processors
and Microsoft* operating systems. The Hardware Design Guide for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Version 3.0 is
intended for systems that are designed to work with Microsoft Windows* Server class operating systems. The
specification further classifies the systems and includes sets of requirements based on the intended usage for that
system. For example, a server system that is used in small home / office environments has different requirements than
the one used for enterprise applications.
This product supports the enterprise requirements defined in the Hardware Design Guide for Microsoft Windows 2000
Server, Version 3.0 enterprise requirements.
Intel® Boxboro-EX Chipset servers support Microsoft* OEM Activation 1.0 and 2.0.
19.2.2 Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)
The primary role of the ACPI BIOS is to supply the ACPI tables. POST creates the ACPI tables and stores them in
extended memory (above 1 MB). The location of these tables is conveyed to the ACPI-aware OS through a series of
tables stored throughout memory. The format and location of these tables is documented in the publicly available ACPI
specifications (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Specification, Revision 1.0b, 2.0 and 3.0b).