Appendix A
BIOS revision
AP5T revision 3.4
Rev 3.4
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 version of the mainboard?
A: The AOpen mainboard revision appears as Rev x.x on the PCB, near the
PCI slot. For example, for AP5T revision 3.4, the revision number appears
on the PCB as follows:
AP5T MB
A-1
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why the AOpen mainboards (MB) do not have cache module
expansion slot?
A: Faster CPU speed requires more difficult and complex MB timing design.
Every trace and components delay must be taken into consideration. The
expansion cache slot design will cause 2 or 3ns delay in PBSRAM timing,
and the extended trace length to the cache module through the golden
finger will further delay the timing by 1 or 2ns. This may result in unreliable
system once the cache module and slot becomes worn. All AOpen MBs
support 512KB PBSRAM onboard. For better performance (around 3%
higher than 256KB), we strongly recommend you to use 512KB onboard.
Otherwise, reliable 256KB is better than unreliable 512KB with cache
module. AOpen is the first company to promote this concept since the
fourth quarter of 1995.
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: Can SDRAM DIMM work together with FPM/EDO SIMM?
A: The FPM/EDO operate at 5V while SDRAM operates at 3.3V. The current
MB design provides different power to DIMM and SIMM but connects the
data bus together. If you combine SIMM and DIMM, the system will still
work fine; however, only temporarily. After a few months, the SDRAM 3.3V
data input will be damaged by 5V FPM/EDO data output line. Therefore,
we strongly NOT recommend DIMM and SIMM combined together. There
is one exception, if your SDRAM supports 5V tolerance (such as TI or
Samsung), which accepts 5V signal at 3.3V operating power, you can
combine them.
A-2
Frequently Asked Question
Manufacturer Model Suggested CAS
Latency Time
Samsung KM416511220AT-
G12
NEC D4S16162G5-A12-7JF 2 No
Hitachi HM5216805TT10 2 No
Fujitsu 81117822A-100FN 2 No
TI TMX626812DGE-12 2 Yes
TI TMS626812DGE-15 3 Yes
TI TMS626162DGE-15 3 Yes
TI TMS626162DGE-M67 3 Yes
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".
2 Yes
5V Tolerance
Q: What is 3.3V Over-current Protection?
A: The Over-current Protection was very popular implemented on the Baby AT
or ATX +5V/+12V switching power supply. It is very useful to prevent
accident short circuit when you install the mainboard, HDD, add-on cards
into housing. But unfortunately, the new generation CPU and chipset use
3.3V or 2.8V voltage which has regulator to transfer 5V to 3.3V/2.8V, and
makes 5V over-current protection useless. AOpen TX mainboard
AP5T/AX5T with switching regulator onboard support 3.3V (Vcpuio,
chipset, PBSRAM, SDRAM) and 2.8V (CPU Vcore) over-current protection,
in conjunction with 5V/12V power supply provide the full line over-current
protection.
Q: What is CPU Thermal Protection?
A: The higher speed of CPU , the more heat dissipation need to be taking into
consideration. If user does not use correct fan for the CPU cooling, it is
highly possible the CPU can over heat and causing system unstable.
AOpen AP5T/AX5T/AX6F has special thermal detection circuit under the
A-3
Frequently Asked Questions
CPU, and slow down the CPU speed as well as warning when temperature
is high then a predefined temperature. (Normally, 55 degree C.)
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.
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 30ns 4 120ns (1/120ns) x 2byte x2 = 33MB/s
Clock
count
Cycle
time
Data Transfer rate
A-4
Frequently Asked Question
Q: What is the performance of Ultra DMA/33? Do we need special driver?
A: You need driver to activate DMA/33, there are now driver from INTEL or
you can use driver in the Windows 95 Memphis, which can recognize
South Bridge PIIX4.
We got the mass production sample Quantum Fireball ST1.6A, following
are the test result.
MB : AOpen AP5T
CPU : P54C-200 Mhz
DRAM : 16MB * 2 (FP-7)
VGA : AOpen PV60
CDROM : AOpen CD-920E (20X)
OS : Win95 OSR2
Model OS/Driver Mode Winbench97
Disk Winmark
(Business)
Quantum
Fireball
1.2G
Quantum
Fireball
1.2G
Quantum
ST1.6A
Quantum
ST1.6A
Windows 95
OSR2
Windows 95
OSR2 + INTEL
PIIX4 driver
Windows 95
OSR2
Windows 95
OSR2 + INTEL
PIIX4 driver
PIO mode 4 717 2150
DMA mode 2 822 3050
PIO mode 4 853 2630
DMA/33 1040 4020
Winbench97
Disk Winmark
(High End)
A-5
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the memory performance improvement of TX chipset?
A: Following is the compare table of TX+SDRAM, VX+SDRAM, TX+EDO,
HX+EDO and VX+EDO.
CPU : Pentium PP/MT (P55C) 200MHz
DRAM :16MB EDO or SDRAM
HDD : Quantum Fireball 1280AT
VGA : AOpen PV60 S3 Trio64V+ 800x600x256 Small font
OS : Windows 95 OSR2
Chipset Model DRAM Timing Winstone9
6
Intel 430VX AP5VM EDO 6-2-2-2 86.1
Intel 430HX AP53/AP5K EDO 5-2-2-2 86.8
Intel 430TX AP5T/AX5T EDO 5-2-2-2 87.3
Intel 430VX AP5VM/AP5V SDRAM 6-1-1-1 86.6
Intel 430TX AP5T/AX5T SDRAM 5-1-1-1 87.7
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.
A-6
Frequently Asked Question
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.
Q: How can I eliminate the "?" marks presented under Device Manager
after installing Win'95 on TX or LX based system?
A: Although your system will still work fine with this "?" exist. We received
many requests about how to eliminate it. AOpen software team spends few
weeks to develop an utility AOchip.exe for convenience of Win95 users. It
is very user friendly and can be used on any TX or LX motherboard, not
limited to Aopen's 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: Why are there question marks or "standard IDE controller" presented
under Device Manager after installing Win'95 on TX or LX based system?
A: Intel has introduced 430TX or 440LX chipset with latest feature of "ACPI",
"USB" & "Ultra DMA/33". Since these devices are so new that Win'95 did
not anticipate to support them on Aug. of '95 which Win'95 initially is being
released. To eliminate, you may run AOchip.exe developed by AOpen
software team. Drivers for above new features are expected to be
implemented in Windows'98.
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 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: 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
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: 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 to work
properly. It is obviously not suitable for home user to pay LDCM extra cost.
A-8
Frequently Asked Question
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 2.0 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
No (will be supported
on ADM 2.1)
Yes No
Yes No
Standard SNMP
protocol
Yes (so that can work
with standard software
such as HP Open View)
No Yes
Yes
Intel proprietary RAP
protocol
No
A-9
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