Phoenix Award BIOS

The BIOS setup program performs four distinct tasks:

1. - Tests the computer's main components by running its POST (Power-On-Self-Test) program to make sure that they are all functioning properly.

2. - Configures the main components that are part of the motherboard or that are attached to it so that the operating system knows what to do with them. The configuration role was essential to the operation of a computer, but it is decreasing all the time as the operating system continues to take over more and more of this role.

3. - Boots the operating system from the primary hard disk drive or from a bootable floppy disk or a CD/DVD disc at start-up.

Note that the floppy disk drive or CD/DVD drive has to be set as the first boot device in the BIOS in order to make the system boot from a floppy disk or CD/DVD. The settings for this vary from one make of BIOS to another, but you should be able to locate the appropriate setting by going through the BIOS menu. Information on how to enter the BIOS is provided further down this page. For example, in a Phoenix Award BIOS, in the Advanced BIOS Features section, you might see settings for First Boot Device, Second Boot Device, Third Boot Device, etc. You will be able to set a floppy disk drive, CD/DVD, or hard disk drive, etc., as the first boot device. Some BIOSes allow you to set a USB flash drive or external hard disk drive as the first boot device. You should change the boot-order option back to the boot hard disk drive to resume normal use of the computer. The image below shows how the settings appear in a particular BIOS.



4. - Provides access to some of the computer's components and features, such as the keyboard even when the operating system is up and running. The BIOS is programmed to run a small routine that handles the keyboard at the behest of the operating system. In this way, the BIOS code provides a uniform interface to the system in order that variable hardware can function without having to make the necessary changes to the operating system when the type of hardware changes. Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista only make a small number of such calls to the BIOS, but the Linux operating system makes no such calls while it is running, because it deals directly with the standard hardware it is likely to encounter, and it uses device-driver software to deal with any non-standard or special hardware it encounters. Moreover, work is under way to create a version of Linux that boots without a BIOS.

5. - The BIOS can be updated to remove bugs or support additional hardware by reflashing it. The major motherboard manufacturers update the BIOS for their motherboards regularly. An good example in which installing an update is necessary is when a Socket 939 motherboard that runs AMD's Athlon 64 processors has a BIOS that supports only the single-core version of those processors. If the user wants to use a dual-core Socket 939 model, which the motherboard supports, a BIOS update is required.

Visit Page 2 of this article for more information on reflashing the BIOS to update it.

If you need the latest BIOS update for your desktop or laptop computer but can't find one on the computer's manufacturer's or its motherboard manufacturer's website, BIOS Updates, "The official BIOS and update support center for Phoenix-Award and AMI BIOS" is a good place to start. It also looks for and can download updates for the other software and hardware on the computer. The downside is that despite the free scan, it costs $29.95 to join. -

http://biosagentplus.com/

Features can be added by programming them into the BIOS code. For instance, many laptop/notebook computers have special function keys that are not found on standard desktop computer keyboards, which have nothing to do with the operating system and control the screen's brightness, contrast, the volume of the sound, etc.



The PnP/PCI Configurations page of an Award BIOS is shown above. (PnP stands for Plug and Play.) The PnP/PCI Configurations, and other pages in the BIOS, are reached from the main menu page, examples of which are shown further down this page. The settings are either enabled, often with parameters, or disabled. The browse menu appears on the bottom of the page. The keyboard has to be used because the mouse driver hasn't been loaded when the user enters the BIOS setup program, because neither DOS, (which starts up first in Windows 95/98/Me, but is absent in Windows XP) or Windows has loaded.

The Item Help section of each page provides information on the setting that is selected.

You shouldn't attempt to change the BIOS settings unless you know what you're doing, because the wrong settings can prevent the system from booting. But if that happens after you've changed settings, you can always enter the BIOS at start-up and change the settings back to what they were, or set one of the default options that have names such as, Load Fail-Safe Defaults and Load Optimised Defaults, both of which should remove any settings the user has enabled or disabled, and enable the system to boot.

Any customised settings in the BIOS are retained when the PC is switched off because a CMOS battery keeps the CMOS chip that contains the data powered up. The image below shows a Sony CR2032 CMOS battery installed in a socket on an ATX motherboard.



BIOS tip: Saving or backing up the BIOS settings
If you have spent a lot of time to customise the BIOS settings for your PC or you want to experiment to find out what the best settings are, you can use a digital camera to take photos of every page in the BIOS so that you can refer to them if you want to revert to a particular range of settings. You have to do that to record what is on the pages because the print screen (operated via the Prt Sc key) option doesn't function until the operating system is loaded, so you can't transfer a captured image to a Windows program.

When printers were primitive and had to have their own processing unit in order to work, it was possible to use the Prt Sc key to make the printer print what was on the PC's screen. If you are using a non-USB printer - one that uses the old (legacy) Centronics or LPT1 parallel port interface) - that option could work. However, with USB printers, which most users now have, you cannot do that.

If your PC has a floppy disk drive, which most new PCs no longer have, the following article provides information on how to back up the BIOS settings to a floppy disk.

BIOS Backup - http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/41

You can find other such articles by entering the search tern bios backup in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) to find many articles on how to do it.

You can save a file containing your BIOS backup on a recordable CD/DVD. You need to the disc bootable and and know how to make your computer boot from a CD/DVD in order to be able to make use of the backup. Enter create a bootable cd in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) to find many articles on how to do it. Here is one I found: http://www.bootdisk.com/nero.htm.

The BIOS has to be set so that the first boot device is the CD/DVD drive in order for the system to be able to boot from a CD/DVD disc. Just open the BIOS and look for the boot order settings.


A CR2032 CMOS battery is not designed to be rechargeable; that is, to be able to go from being fully charged to being fully discharged and then recharged repeatedly. However, it does receive a trickle charge when the computer is switched on. This extends the life of the battery considerably if the computer is used regularly. Such a battery can last up to five years or more. However, it discharges completely in a few weeks if the computer isn't used, because it keeps the CMOS BIOS chip powered up. The motheboards are shipped from China with the CMOS jumper it its disconnected position to prevent the battery from discharging.

Most motherboard vendors and PC manufacturer's set the jumper in its enabled position when the motherboard or PC containing the motherboard is sold. However, motherboards can be sold with the jumper in its disabled position, which renders the PC that uses a motherboard in that state unable to retain customised settings. A dead or disabled CMOS battery usually produces an invalid-settings or settings-lost message at startup, not a blank screen. The user would then have to enter the BIOS and enable and save its default or failsafe or optimal setting every time the PC starts up.

With ATX motherboards, the power supply provides power to the CMOS chip if the PC iitself is switched off but is attached to the mains supply, which is switched on. A user who unplugs the PC from the mains or switches the power off at the mains supply, will shorten the life of the CMOS battery.

This Q&A on this site deals with the problem that its title describes: Why is my computer running slow after I replaced a flat BIOS battery on the motherboard?

The startup screen for a system running an American Megatrends (AMI) BIOS and an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor is shown below.

Note that if you see the logo of the motherboard's manufacturer or the developer of the BIOS instead of such a startup screen, you should be able to disable the logo in the BIOS itself. The standard startup screen of the kind shown below will then display. Click here! to go to more information on Page 2 of this article on disabling a logo startup screen. Some BIOS setup programs allow the logo to be temporarily disabled so that you can see the startup information by, for example, pressing the Tab or Esc key during startup.

The figure in Checking NVRAM... 1048576KB OK is 1GB of RAM that was found to be present and checked during the POST (Power-On-Self-Test) set of hardware tests that all computers initiate on starting up.



DRAM Clock = 400MHz: The system's DRAM clock is shown as 400MHz, so DDR400 (PC3200) RAM) is installed.

DEL: Setup: Pressing the DEL key enters the BIOS setup program.

The different brand-name computer manufacturers and BIOS setup program developers use different key combinations to enter the BIOS. Visit this page if you need to know what the entry methods used by all of the main brands of PC and the major BIOS developers are:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Pressing the F11 key brings up the Boot Menu, and pressing the F10 key runs the BIOS recovery utility, which you would use if the computer won't boot past the start-up screen, and you can't enter the BIOS because it has become corrupt.

Note that if you see the term CMOS in relation to the BIOS, or even mistakenly used as a term for the BIOS, this stands for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor. This is the material that the BIOS chip is made of, it is not the chip itself - or any of its contents.

For instance, error messages that the BIOS throws up typically use the term CMOS instead of BIOS. Here is an example - "CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded." This means that the BIOS settings have become corrupt, and the default BIOS settings have been loaded instead of the user's customised BIOS settings.

The bright sparks that program BIOSes probably instinctively want to confuse things as much as possible in order to make what they do as mysterious and as inaccessible as possible.

The BIOS setup program is the first component to start up when you switch a computer on. When the BIOS program runs, it uses a mathematical technique called the "checksum" to make sure the code it contains is sound. If the code fails to pass the checksum test, the BIOS reverts to using its built-in default settings. The default settings can often get the system going again, but the system date and time may be incorrect. Nothing serious because those settings can be set manually from within the BIOS setup program itself. But if the default settings are loaded, any customisation of the settings will be lost and will have to be reset.

Note that whatever fault caused the BIOS to become corrupt will probably still be present, so if you have saved the BIOS settings with a utility that can do so and you restore them, the fault will probably cause the checksum error to recur and wipe them out again.

A bad system crash or electrical spike can corrupt the BIOS file, but this is rare. The most common cause of this kind of error is a dead or dying BIOS battery.

A CMOS-based BIOS chip is a low-power device, but it still has to be supplied with power in order to retain its settings when the computer is switched off. Incidentally, the battery also powers the system clock, which is usually part of the BIOS chip circuitry. When the BIOS battery - usually installed on the motherboard - loses enough of its charge - usually when it is somewhere between three and five years old - the BIOS will not be able to retain its settings, or the code will become corrupt and unusable, and a checksum error will be reported.

Therefore, the first diagnostic step to take to deal with a checksum error is to replace the battery. Most computers use a standard, coin-shaped BIOS battery mounted on the motherboard. You can find a replacement at any good computer shop. Just remove the old one carefully by inserting the flat head of small screwdriver in where the battery makes contact with its socket's metal connector. Take the old battery with you, and show it to the salesman so that you are assured of being given the correct replacement.

If a new battery doesn't solve the problem, the BIOS chip may need to be reflashed, reprogrammed, or replaced. The process of reflashing a BIOS chip is provided in this article. But the BIOS chip can be completely reprogramed with special EPROM-programming software that can be purchased an used, or used on your behalf by a professional. A service available from sites such as FlashBIOS.org and BadFlash.com, which also provide replacement chips.

A replacement chip will probably cost almost as much or more than a new motherboard, so I personally would replace the motherboard if the BIOS chip cannot be restored to working order.

Also try entering the search phrase "BIOS checksum error" (including the quotation marks) - or any other BIOS term - in the Google search box at the top of this page. You'll probably be presented with a large number of accessible links.

BIOS NEWS
Phoenix Hyperspace and the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
May 17, 2008. - Phoenix, the major BIOS developer, had added a feature to its BIOSes for laptop PCs called HyperSpace that allows access to applications, the web, etc., without having to boot into the operating system (usually Windows, Linux, and OS X).

Phoenix HyperSpace - http://www.phoenix.com/en/Products/...

Phoenix HyperSpace: Quick-Boot Your Laptop -

"Phoenix Technologies' new HyperSpace is an instant-on environment for laptops, letting users launch a browser or other apps with booting into the OS." -

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2211507,00.asp

HyperSpace is stealing a march on the operating system. However, there is a replacement for the BIOS being developed. It is called the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) -

"UEFI is a community effort by many companies in the personal-computer industry to modernize the booting process. UEFI capable systems are already shipping, and many more are in preparation. During the transition to UEFI, most platform firmware will continue to support legacy (BIOS) booting as well, to accommodate legacy-only operating systems." - http://www.uefi.org/

Experts say that Rootkits will soon be installed in the flash memory of the BIOS
January 29, 2006. - Security experts are warning that Rootkits - hidden software that Windows cannot detect that can be used to implement digital rights management technology or be used to hide viruses and Trojan backdoor server software - will soon be hidden in the flash memory of the BIOS chip. The BIOS chip on a computer's motherboard stores the system configuration information that is required to boot the system, therefore reinstalling the operating system cannot remove a Rootkit installed in its flash memory.

For Windows 9x versions of Windows, a BIOS file update is usually flashed into the chip by making use of a floppy disk that contains the flash utility, the new BIOS file, and the three MS DOS system files that make the disk bootable. However, MS DOS is not available in the Windows XP versions of Windows, so most of the motherboard manufacturers have created software that is downloaded from their websites. To update the BIOS now involves running the downloaded software that obtains the update and sets the system to install it the next time the system is started. The idea is to make the process as user-friendly as possible, which in turn means that most BIOS programs no longer prevent writing to the BIOS flash memory by default, which in turn means that such systems are vulnerable to being infected by a Rootkit that installs itself in the flash memory of the BIOS.

Greg Hoglund, a Rootkit expert and CEO of the reverse engineering company HBGary, had this to say on the subject: "It is going to be about one month before malware comes out to take advantage of this. This is so easy to do. You have widely available tools, free compilers for the ACPI language [used to program BIOS files], and high-level languages to write the code in."

Even if a computer's BIOS or a jumper on the motherboard itself is set to disable writing to the flash memory, an insider could flash a computer's BIOS chip with such a Rootkit before leaving a company in order to be able to gain access to the corporate network at a later date.

How to fix a fast Windows clock problem
If the clock in Windows is fast, try resetting the BIOS to its default settings, because Windows takes its time from the BIOS clock. Doing that often fixes the problem. A fast clock can be a nuisance if you use a PC with a TV tuner card and schedule it to record TV programmes. The BIOS has programming in it that manages the clock's operation.


The BIOS component in a computer stores the hardware configurations that are needed to configure the system at start-up so that its hardware (and thus its software) can run. Many modern BIOSes are also capable of monitoring motherboard activities such as the processor's temperature, the processor's fan speed, and the voltages. The configuration information, in read-only form on a ROM chip, is kept alive by a battery when the system is switched off.

If the battery is removed, the user's customised settings will be deleted as soon as the CMOS chip loses its source of power, which could take several minutes, and the computer will start up with the default or failsafe settings. The user will have to re-enable any settings you prefer to the default ones.

The BIOS also supports software, such as a particular operating system. For instance, a BIOS update may be required before a computer with a BIOS created to run on Windows 98 can be run on Windows XP.

The long-life battery, which lasts at least five years, is usually a round one inserted into a holder on the motherboard, or an external battery unit that is plugged into the motherboard.

The BIOS setup program is accessed by pressing the key or keys shown (usually at the bottom of the screen) just after the memory count at start-up.

The Delete key ("Press DEL to enter SETUP"), used by Award and AMI BIOSes, is the most commonly used one.

See the image below of a start-up screen indicating at the top of the window that the system is configured by an Award BIOS. The BIOS has not recognised the system's AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (Main Processor), because it was released after the BIOS was created. The BIOS will have to be updated by reflashing it with a BIOS file programmed to recognise the new processor.

There is much more information about reflashing a BIOS further down the page.

The Memory Testing feature shows a running count to the amount of RAM used and detected by the BIOS as functional. In this case, it is 512MB (524,288KB). The four headings starting with Primary Master show which of the motherboard's IDE drive channels (used for hard disks or CD/DVD disk drives) have been enabled. The string of numbers and letters shown under Press DEL to enter SETUP can be used to identify the BIOS chip.



The Press DEL to enter SETUP in the bottom left-hand corner means that you have to press the Delete key to open the BIOS program, and the ALT-F2 to enter AWDFLASH means that you can run the program that reflashes a BIOS update file into the BIOS chip by pressing the ALT and the F2 keys. The BIOS update will have been obtained from the motherboard's website. This means that you can use this utility instead of a special (DOS) boot floppy disk to flash the BIOS.

Below is the much clearer start-up screen showing that the Pentium 4 2800MHz (2.8GHz) processor installed in the system has been recognised by the Award Medallion BIOS. As you can see, the BIOS belongs to an Asus P4T533 - C motherboard (Revision 1007), and has a Maxtor 6L040JZ hard disk drive, and an Asus 52x CD-ROM drive (CD-S520/A ), recognised by the BIOS as being installed as the Primary Master and Primary Slave devices on the Primary IDE channel. There are no drives installed on the Secondary IDE Channel, the Secondary Master setting of which has been disabled, and so displays the word "Skip". The Memory test shows a count of 262,144KB (256MB) of RAM is installed, and has been recognised by the BIOS.

With this BIOS, you still use the Delete key to open it, and the ALT-F2 keys are pressed to run the built-in EZ flash utility, which is used to reflash the BIOS chip with a new BIOS file. This means that you can use this utility instead of a special boot floppy disk to flash the BIOS. The instructions on how to use it will be provided with the BIOS update file, on the motherboard's website, or in the motherboard's user manual.



Below is what appears on the screen at start-up for a computer running an AMI BIOS issued in 1998.



And below is the BIOS settings' menu that comes to the screen if the Del key is pressed before Windows, or an alternative operating system such as Linux, starts up. Once the operating system has started loading, you cannot access the BIOS, because it can only make changes to itself when nothing else is loaded. You have to reboot to enter the BIOS when the operating system is running.



Using this particular AMI BIOS, if you suspected that the BIOS settings were responsible for any problems, you would enable the Auto Configuration with Fail Safe Settings option, or even the Auto Configuration with Optimal Settings option.

As long as the start-up screen appears, you can always re-enter the BIOS to change the settings if they don't work or cause problems.

Award BIOSes have similar settings, but pre-year-2000 versions may use terms such as Load Setup Defaults, or Load BIOS Defaults instead of Load Fail-Safe Defaults and Load Optimised Defaults respectively.

Below is the settings' menu of an Award BIOS from the year 2005, which uses similar headings to the AMI BIOS shown above, and which is also entered by pressing the Del key.



As I said at the top of this page, you have to navigate using the keyboard, because the driver for the mouse has not been loaded by the operating system. The basic navigation instructions appear at the bottom of the main menu page, and more detailed instructions appear on all of the main pages listed on the main menu page.

For this particular BIOS the important navigation options are: