AMI 286 and 386 BIOS new release release notes
Ver 03/25/89 and Ver 03/30/89
New BIOS products from AMI
* INTEL 386SX BIOS
Availability: Now
Options:-
Standard BIOS
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program +Advanced diagnostics program.
* G2 386 BIOS
Availability: Now
Options:-
Standard BIOS
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program+Advanced diagnostics program
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program+Extended SETUP program for
initializing the G2 386 EEPROM registers.
* C&T NEAT 386SX BIOS
Availability: Now
Options:-
Standard BIOS
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program+Advanced diagnostics program.
Standard BIOS+CMOS SETUP program+Extended CMOS SETUP program.
New CMOS SETUP program
The new CMOS SETUP program in AMI BIOS is available now in all the 286 and 386 BIOS products from AMI. The release 03/30/89 has the new CMOS SETUP program.
Features:
* Full screen based SETUP option editing
* User defined drive types for drive C and drive D.
This will help the user to defined his own drive type which will be
stored in the CMOS as drive type 47. You will not have to put
customized drive types in the BIOS through the AMIGEN program or
get BIOS chips from AMI for any hard drive types not present in the
BIOS.
* Bypassing Keyboard error
To configure the system for non dedicated file servers, you can set
the keyboard "Not installed" in the SETUP menu so that BIOS will not
report any "Keyboard error" and will not wait for "F1" key to be
pressed during system boot.
* Bypassing Video error
To configure the system for non dedicated file servers, you can set
video "Not installed" in the SETUP menu if you do not have a display
connected. The BIOS will not report any "Video error" and will not
wait for any "F1" key to be pressed during system boot.
* Bypassing floppy error
To configure the system without floppy controller, you can set both
the BIOS supported floppy drives (A and B) as "Not installed". In that
case BIOS will not check for the floppy controller and will not report
any error.
Note: New CMOS SETUP program has a totally different format than the CMOS SETUP program in the earlier AMI BIOS products. If you do not want the new setup program because of any reason, the old format of CMOS SETUP program will still be available to you along with the AMI BIOS Version # 03/25/89. The old CMOS SETUP program will not have the above mentioned features.
General corrections
Allowing 0 W/S operation with 1 bank of memory on a NEAT and C&T 386 board.
It is possible to run a NEAT or C&T 386 motherboard at 0 W/S with only 1 bank of memory installed, by using faster memory chips. Previous releases of AMI BIOS was forcing the system to 1 W/S if 1 bank of memory is found on the board. This release of AMI BIOS will not force the system to 1 W/S if only 1 bank of memory is found and Extended CMOS indicates 0 W/S. However if Extended CMOS options are not set, the BIOS will still use the default wait state 1.
Problem with AMIGEN program and AMI BIOS
AMIGEN program gives user the option to configure a NEAT or C&T 386 board for clock switching and LED display through keyboard controller. However, due to a bug in the corresponding BIOS routine, when this option is used the BIOS displays garbage on the screen at reset. This problem is fixed in this release of the BIOS. There is no change in AMIGEN program for this problem.
Changes in Advanced diagnostics program
Following changes have been made in the Advanced diagnostics program available as an option in the AMI BIOS.
Support for 1.44 floppy drives
The Floppy diagnostics functions in AMI BIOS will now support 1.44 floppy drives.
User defined hard drives
The user defined drive type of Hard disk diagnostics routines will now support user defined drive type for both drive C and drive D.