Appendix A
BIOS revision
Frequently Asked Question
Note: FAQ may be updated without notice. If you
cannot find the information that you need in this
appendix, visit our WWW home page, (address:
http://www.aopen.com.tw) and check the FAQ
area and other new information.
Q: How can I identify the mainboard BIOS version?
A: The AOpen mainboard BIOS version appears on the upper-left corner of the
POST (Power-On Self Test) screen. Normally, it starts with R and is found in
between the model name and the date. For example:
AP53/AX53 R3.80 Oct.22.1996
Q: How can I identify the model name & revision of the mainboard from
PCB?
A: The AOpen mainboard revision appears as REV:X.X on the PCB, usually it is
under beneath of AOpen Logo & mainboard model name. For example,
“AX6L REV:1.2” shall appear on the PCB as follows:
AX6L
REV:1.2
A-1
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is MMX?
A: MMX is the new single-line multiple-instruction technology of the new Intel
Pentium PP/MT (P55C) and Pentium II (Klamath) CPU. The AMD K6 and
Cyrix M2 will support MMX, too. The MMX instructions are specifically useful
for multimedia applications (such as 3D video, 3D sound, video conference).
The performance can be improved if applications use these instructions. All
AOpen MBs have at least dual power onboard to support MMX. It is not
necessary to have special chipset for MMX CPU.
Q: What is the performance improvement of Pentium II (Klamath)?
A: Following is the comparison table of the new generation CPU.
DRAM: 64MB EDO or SDRAM
HDD : Quantum Fireball 1280AT
VGA : Matrox Millennium VGA, 4MB, 1024x768 24bit, 85Hz.
OS : Windows 95 4.00.950
CPU MB Chipset Winstone97
Business
PP/MT-200 AP5T/AX5T Intel 430TX 48.3 21.9
PP/MT-233 AP5T/AX5T Intel 430TX 50.5 23.6
Pentium II 200 AX6F Intel 440FX 45.3 24.1
Pentium II 233 AX6F Intel 440FX 48.4 26.5
Pentium II 266 AX6F Intel 440FX 50.8 28.2
Pentium II 266 AX6L Intel 440LX 54.5 30.8
You can see that Klamath-233 is no better than PP/MT-233 on Business
Winstone97, but it has large improvement on High-End Winstone97. It is
probably because Klamath has very good floating point performance and is
suitable for graphic operation.
Q: What is USB (Universal Serial Bus)?
A: USB is a new 4-pin serial peripheral bus that is capable of cascading
low/medium speed peripherals (less than 10Mbit/s) such as keyboard, mouse,
joystick, scanner, printer and modem/ISDN. With USB, the traditional
complex cables from back panel of your PC can be eliminated.
You need the USB driver to support USB device(s). AOpen MBs are all USB
ready, you may get latest BIOS from AOpen web site
(http://www.aopen.com.tw). Our latest BIOS includes the keyboard driver
(called Legacy mode), that simulates USB keyboard to act as AT or PS/2
keyboard and makes it possible to use USB keyboard if you don't have driver
in your OS. For other USB devices, you may get the drivers from your device
A-2
Winstone97
High-End
Frequently Asked Questions
vendor or from OS (such as Win95). Be sure to turn off "USB Legacy
Support" in BIOS "Chipset Setup" if you have another driver in your OS.
Q: What is FCC DoC (Declaration of Conformity)?
A: The DoC is new certification standard of FCC regulations. This new standard
allows DIY component (such as mainboard) to apply DoC label separately
without a shielding of housing. The rule to test mainboard for DoC is to
remove housing and test it with regulation 47 CFR 15.31. The DoC test of
mainboard is more difficult than traditional FCC test. If the mainboard passes
DoC test, that means it has very low EMI radiation and you can use any kind
of housing (even paper housing). Following is an example of DoC label.
AP5T
Test To Comply
With FCC Standards
FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE
Q: What is Bus Master IDE (DMA mode)?
A: The traditional PIO (Programmable I/O) IDE requires the CPU to involve in all
the activities of the IDE access including waiting for the mechanical events.
To reduce the workload of the CPU, the bus master IDE device transfers data
from/to memory without interrupting CPU, and releases CPU to operate
concurrently while data is transferring between memory and IDE device. You
need the bus master IDE driver and the bus master IDE HDD to support bus
master IDE mode. Note that it is different with master/slave mode of the IDE
device connection. For more details, refer to section 2.3 "Connectors".
Q: What is the Ultra DMA/33?
A: This is the new specification to improve IDE HDD data transfer rate. Unlike
traditional PIO mode, which only uses the rising edge of IDE command signal
to transfer data, the DMA/33 uses both rising edge and falling edge. Hence,
the data transfer rate is double of the PIO mode 4 or DMA mode 2. (16.6MB/s
x2 = 33MB/s).
The following table lists the transfer rate of IDE PIO and DMA modes. The
IDE bus is 16-bit, which means every transfer is two bytes.
A-3
Frequently Asked Questions
Mode Clock per
33MHz
PCI
PIO mode 0 30ns 20 600ns (1/600ns) x 2byte = 3.3MB/s
PIO mode 1 30ns 13 383ns (1/383ns) x 2byte = 5.2MB/s
PIO mode 2 30ns 8 240ns (1/240ns) x 2byte = 8.3MB/s
PIO mode 3 30ns 6 180ns (1/180ns) x 2byte = 11.1MB/s
PIO mode 4 30ns 4 120ns (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s
DMA mode 0 30ns 16 480ns (1/480ns) x 2byte = 4.16MB/s
DMA mode 1 30ns 5 150ns (1/150ns) x 2byte = 13.3MB/s
DMA mode 2 30ns 4 120ns (1/120ns) x 2byte = 16.6MB/s
DMA/33
Q: What is ACPI (Advanced Configuration & Power Interface) and OnNow?
A: The ACPI is new power management specification of 1997 (PC97). It intends
to save more power by taking full control of power management to operating
system and not through BIOS. Because of this, the chipset or super I/O chip
needs to provide standard register interface to OS (such as Win97) and
provides the ability for OS to shutdown and resume power of different part of
chip. The idea is a bit similar to the PnP register interface.
ACPI defines momentary soft power switch to control the power state
transition. Most likely, it uses the ATX form factor with momentary soft power
switch. The most attractive part of ACPI for desktop user is probably the
"OnNow" feature, an idea from notebook. This feature allows you to
immediately resume to your original work without the long time waiting from
bootup, entering Win95 and running Winword. Intel 430TX PCIset, 440LX
AGPset and 440BX AGPset can support ACPI.
30ns 4 120ns (1/120ns) x 2byte x2 = 33MB/s
Clock
count
Cycle
time
Data Transfer rate
Q: What is ATX Soft Power On/Off and Momentary Switch?
A: The Soft Power On of the ATX specification means to provide a standby
current for special circuit to wait for wakeup event when main power is off. For
example, Infrared wakeup, modem wakeup, or voice wakeup. Currently, the
most simple usage is to provide standby current for power switch circuit so
that power switch can turn on/off the main power through soft power control
pin. The ATX power specification does not mention anything about the power
switch type. You can use toggle or momentary switch, note that ACPI
specification requires momentary switch for power state control. All the
AOpen ATX MBs support momentary switch and modem wakeup (Modem
Ring-On).
A-4
Frequently Asked Questions
Soft Power Off means to turn off system through software, Windows 95
Shutdown function can be used to verify if your mainboard supports soft power
off. AOpen AX5T/AX5TC/AX6F/AX6L/AX6LC/AX6BAX6BC/AX6B Plus
support soft power off.
Q: What is RTC Wake Up Timer (Alarm)?
A: RTC (Real Time Clock) is a device like electronic watch, and keep the
date/time of the computer system running. The Wake Up Timer is more like
an alarm, which wakes up and powers on your system at a pre-defined time
for specific application. It can be set to wake up everyday or on specific date
within a month. The date/time accurate is second. To set the date/time, go
into BIOS setup, Power Management RTC Wake Up Timer, select Enable.
RTC is a standard device of all the mainboard, but Wake Up Timer is not a
standard design, AOpen AX5T/AX5TC/AX6F/AX6L/AX6LC/AX6B/AX6BC/
AX6B Plus support RTC Wake Up Timer.
Q: What is Lan Wake Up?
A: Lan Wake Up is a technology that enables you to remotely manage the PCs in
your network even if they have been turned off. When the client has been
powered off, the remote network management software could send a wake-up
frame ( or Magic packet) to the client if needed. The Lan Wake Up enabled
adapter in the client will receive that frame can check it to determine whether
the frame contains the correct MAC address. If so, the client turns on the
system by Wake-up call, just as the user turns on the system manually with
the ON/OFF button. The network management software will continue to
perform the tasks that have been programmed to do.
Q: What is the AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port)?
A: AGP is a PCI-like bus interface targeted for high-performance 3D graphic.
AGP supports only memory read/write operation and single-master singleslave one-to-one only. The AGP uses both rising and falling edge of the
66MHz clock and produces 66MHz x 4byte x 2 = 528MB/s data transfer rate.
Q: What is the AGP bus clock on Intel 440BX chipset?
A: AGP used to perform as the same bus clock as the Intel 440LX chipset were.
If we provide 75Mzh of bus clock to 440LX chipset, AGP will also perform with
75Mhz of clock. The Intel 440BX chipset which supports 100Mhz of bus clock
behaves to meet the specification so that AGP bus clock is always kept by
66Mhz of clock no matter how 440BX chipset bus clock may be set. In this
manner, it will ensure the compatibility & stability of the AGP within defined
specification.
A-5
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why is there a resource conflict between my AGP VGA card & PCI-to-PCI
bridge (or AGP bridge) within Device Manger under Windows'95?
A: It is normal for AGP cards to conflict with the PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
(or AGP bridge). Since Windows'95 does not inherently support AGP
technology, it reports this conflict incorrectly. This conflict will not adversely
affect the performance of your system. Attempting to resolve it will result in
improper operation of the PC. This issue is expected to be fixed by Microsoft
when Windows 98 released.
Q: Does Pentium, Pentium Pro or Pentium II support Deturbo mode?
A: The Deturbo mode was originally designed to slow down CPU speed for old
applications (especially old games). It uses programming loop to wait or delay
special event. This programming method is considered very bad since the
delay of loop highly depends on the CPU speed and the application fails at
high-speed CPU. Almost all new applications (including games) use RTC or
interrupt to wait event. There is no need for Deturbo mode now. The Turbo
switch is now used as Suspend switch. However, some MBs still support
Turbo/Deturbo function via keyboard. You can set the system to Deturbo by
pressing <Ctrl> <Alt> <->. To back to Turbo mode, press <Ctrl> <Alt> <+>.
Note that the Deturbo mode has been removed in new MBs since these
require more code space in Flash ROM.
Q: Power Management Icon does not appear in the Windows 95 Control Panel
even though the APM under BIOS Setup is enabled.
A: This problem occurs if you did not enable the APM function before you install
Windows 95. If you have already installed Windows 95, re-install it after the
BIOS APM function is enabled.
Q: Why does the system fail to go into suspend mode under Win95?
A: This problem may be caused by your CDROM settings. The CDROM Auto
Insert Notification of Win95 is dafault enabled, the system will continue to
monitor your CDROM, auto-execute application when a CD diskette is loaded,
and prevents the system from entering into suspend mode. To resolve this,
go into Control Panel è System è Device Manager è CDROM è Setting,
and disable the "Auto Insert Notification" function.
A-6
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which version of the Windows '95 that I am using?
A: You may determine the version of Windows '95 by following steps.
1. Double click "System" in "Control Panel".
2. Click "General".
3. Look for "System" heading & refer to following,
4.00.950 Windows 95
4.00.950A Windows 95 + Service Pack or OEM Service Release 1
4.00.950B OEM Service Release 2 or OEM Service Release 2.1
4.00.950C OEM Service Release 2.5
If you are running OSR 2.1, you may tell it from by checking "USB
Supplement to OSR2" in the list of installed program of Add/Remove
program tool under Control Panel, and checking for version 4.03.1212 of the
Ntkern.vxd file in the Windows\System\Vmm32 folder.
Q: How can I eliminate the "?" marks presented under Device Manager after
installing Win'95 on TX or LX or BX based system?
A: Even though your system will work fine with this "?" marks, we received many
requests about how to eliminate it. AOpen software team spends few weeks to
develop an utility AOchip.exe for the convenience of Win95 users. It is very
user friendly and can be used on any TX, LX or BX chipset based
motherboard, not limited to AOpen products. You are welcome to distribute it,
if you like it, simply say thanks to our software team. Note that you need USB
driver for USB devices to work properly which is expected to be implemented
on Windows'98.
Q: What is LDCM (LAN Desktop Client Manager)?
A: This is a software of Intel. The major goal is to provide an easy way for
corporate network administrator to monitor the status of all the clients
(workstation). You need at least DMI BIOS for LDCM. AOpen BIOS is also
DMI ready but unfortunately, Intel LDCM needs Intel network card and ATI
VGA to work properly. It is obviously not suitable for home user to pay LDCM
extra cost.
A-7
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How to install Windows 95 USB driver?
A: If you are Win'95 OSR 2.0 user (.950B, shows "PCI Universal Serial Devices"),
you may obtain USBSUPP.EXE from Microsoft or your OEM system provider
for installing Microsoft USB supplement which will create "USB Supplement to
OSR2" in the list of Add/Remove program tool under Control Panel. After
above installation, please run AOchip.exe provided by AOpen to create USB
Controller under Device Manager.
If you are Win'95 OSR 2.1 or 2.5 user, only AOchip.exe installation is
necessary.
If you are Win'95 retail user (.950 or .950A), there is no direct upgrade path
available from Microsoft at this moment. It is expected to be implemented
under Windows'98.
Q: What is jumper-less mainboard?
A: Pentium II VID signal and SMbus clock generator provide CPU voltage auto-
detection and allows user to set CPU frequency through CMOS setup, no
jumper or switch is needed. The correct CPU information is saved into
EEPROM, with these technologies, the disadvantages of Pentium base
jumper-less design are eliminated. There will be no worry of wrong CPU
voltage detection and no need to re-open the housing if CMOS battery loss.
The only jumper left is to clear CMOS, which is a safety hook if you forget the
password. AOpen AX6L/AX6LC/AX6B/AX6B/AX6B Plus does implement
jumper-less design.
Q: What is battery-less mainboard?
A: AX6L/AX6LC/AX6B/AX6BC/AX6B Plus implements EEPROM and special
circuit (patent applied) that allows you to save your current CPU and CMOS
Setup configurations without the need of battery. The RTC (real time clock)
can also keep running as long as power cord is plugged. If you lose your
CMOS data by accident, you can just reload the CMOS configurations from
EEPROM and the system will recover as usual.
Q: What is the benefit of using Resetable Fuse?
A: The traditional pico-fuse needs to be replaced once it is burned due to any
abnormal surge current. It has to be replaced by qualified repairing engineer
which is cost & time consuming. With the updated technology, AOpen
motherboard starts to introduce new "Resetable" fuse, which is "PolySwitch",
to protect your keyboard & USB circuit. When there is surge current, this
PolySwitch will reach high impedance within few m/seconds so that the circuit
becomes opened. PolySwitch will be recovered to its original stage after surge
current disappeared & the system is being cooled down for a while.
A-8
Frequently Asked Questions
It is highly recommended to adopt "Resetable" fuse in order to fully support
"Hot-Plug" feature on USB.
Q: What is Multi-language BIOS?
A: For giving AOpen 's worldwide users the best support, AOpen software team
made every effort to overcome all difficulties and successfully develop a
method to provide multi-language BIOS.
You may download and reflash a specified BIOS version from AOpen 's web
site (For example, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc.). After entering BIOS
Setup, you can switch to another language by pressing "F9". Then pressing
"F9" again will let you return to English screen.
This breakthrough will help you set BIOS items without the language barrier.
Q: What is Hardware Monitoring?
A: There are four high-valued “Hardware Monitoring” features being
implemented on AOpen ATX mainboard.
1. Over Current Protection: Providing over current protection for CPU
Vcore. In conjunction with the over current protection provided by ATX
power supply on 3.3V/5V/12V, it gives the full line over current protection.
2. System Voltage Monitoring: As you turn your system on, this smart
design will continue to monitor your system working voltage. If any of the
system voltage is over the component's standard, there will be warning
alarm from PC speaker when AOHW100 or ADM installed.
3. Thermal Protection: The higher speed of CPU, the more heat
dissipation ability is needed to be taken into consideration. If user does
not use a correct fan for the CPU cooling, it is highly possible the CPU
will be overheating and cause system unstable. AOpen mainboard
monitors CPU & System temperatures by using two thermal sensors.
4. Fan Monitoring: There are two three-pin fan connectors, one is for CPU
and the other one can be connected to the housing fan. The system will
report the rotational speed of the fan and alarm fan malfunction though
utility software such as AOHW100 or ADM.
A-9
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is AOHW100 (Hardware Monitoring Utility)?
A: This is the Hardware Monitoring Utility software (AOHW100) developed by
AOpen which monitors the status of system voltage, thermal, & fan. Instead of
using ADM or LDCM which supports network administration, AOHW100 is
especially designed for personal user. You may install it on your AOpen
mainboard based system which comes with Hardware Monitoring features.
Q: What is ADM (Advanced Desktop Manager)?
A: This is a desktop client and server management software developed by
AOpen. It is similar as Intel LDCM with some improvement. ADM is not only
for corporate network management, it can also be used as system status
monitoring utility, for example, CPU fan, thermal and system voltage
monitoring.
Features ADM 2.1 LDCM 3.0
VGA card
Network card
Support DMI BIOS 2.0
Support Win95
Support Win NT
Real-Time CPU/Memory
Utilization Monitoring
Multi-Machine
Monitoring on One Screen
Remote Management
Protocol
Standard SNMP Trap
Remote File Transfer
No limitation Only ATI
No limitation Only Intel
Yes Yes
Yes Yes
Yes Yes
Yes No
Yes No
Standard SNMP
protocol
Yes (so that can work
with standard software
such as HP Open View)
No Yes
Intel proprietary RAP
protocol
No
A-10
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why do AOpen MBs use many Electrolytic Capacitors instead of
Tantalum Capacitor?
A: The quality of Electrolytic capacitor has huge difference depends on model
and vendor. Normally, Tantalum capacitor is better than Electrolytic capacitor,
but good quality and high price Electrolytic capacitor is even better than
Tantalum capacitor. Originally, AOpen motherboards use 100uF Tantalum
capacitor nears CPU to reduce voltage ripple, but the technology improvement
has introduced an 1000uF very low ESR (Equivalent Serial Resistor) of
Electrolytic capacitor with only 0.15 ohm comparing with 0.7 ohm of Tantalum
capacitor. The lower the ESR and higher the capacitance value, the smaller
the CPU voltage ripple.
Following are the specifications of capacitors that AOpen is currently using:
Tantalum: SPRAGUE 100uF,
Part number 595D107X06R3C2T,
Max ESR is 0.7 at 25 degree 100KHz.
Electrolytic: SANYO 1000uF,
Part number 16MV1000CG,
Max ESR is 0.15 at 20 degree 100khz.
Also, more capacitors are not exactly equal to better CPU voltage, it depends
on where you put your capacitor (the layout). The most accurate way is to use
storage scope to measure the CPU voltage directly, but of course, it is difficult
for end user to do so. AOpen design team follows Intel, AMD and Cyrix's
design specification strictly, it is approved by Intel, AMD and Cyrix.
Q: What is PC 100 SDRAM?
A: Although 440BX chipset supports 100MHz bus clock, however, it's apparent
that traditional FPM and EDO DRAMs won't be able to work properly under
this system clock frequency. In order to fully support 100MHz or even above
bus clock system, Intel provided PC SDRAM Specifications to facilitate the
development of SDRAM products. This is also known as PC 100 SDRAM
specification. For getting the best performance and stability under 100MHz or
above external clock, we strongly recommand you use the Synchronous
DRAMs which meet the PC 100 requirement. The PC 100 SDRAM that
AOpen QA Team had tested are listed below.
Size Vendor Model Single/Double Chip Count
16M Micron MT48LC2M8A1-08 x1 8
16M TI TMX626812BDGE-10A x1 8
16M Hyundai HY57V168010CTC-10 x1 8
A-11
Frequently Asked Questions
Size Vendor Model Single/Double Chip Count
32M Micron MT48LC2M8A1-08 x2 16
32M Hyndai HY57V168010CTC-10 x1 16
32M NEC D4516821AG5-A10-7JF x1 16
32M SEC KM48S2020CT-GH x1 16
128M Simens HYS72V16220GU x2 18
Q: What is the difference between 440LX and 440BX chipset?
A: Following table lists the difference between 440LX and 440BX.
Features 440LX 440BX
Maximum external bus
clock
SIMM support
Maximum DRAM size
66MHz 100MHz
Yes No
1GB EDO DRAM or
512MB SDRAM
1GB SDRAM
A-12
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