Intel AP440FX specifications Introduction, Bios Flash Memory Organization, Bios Upgrades

3 Motherboard BIOS and Setup Utility

3.1 Introduction

The AP440FX motherboard uses an Intel BIOS, which is stored in flash memory and easily upgraded using a floppy disk-based program. In addition to the Intel BIOS, the flash memory also contains the Setup utility, Power-On Self Tests (POST), APM 1.2, the PCI auto-configuration utility, and Windows 95 ready Plug and Play 1.0a. This motherboard also supports BIOS shadowing, allowing the BIOS to execute from 64-bit onboard write-protected DRAM.

The BIOS displays a sign-on message during POST identifying the type of BIOS and a five-digit revision code. The initial production BIOS in the motherboard is identified as 1.00.01.CT1.

3.2 BIOS Flash Memory Organization

The Intel PA28FB002BX 2 MB flash component is organized as 256K x 8 (256 KB). The flash device is divided into seven areas, as described in Table 33.

Table 33. Flash Memory Organization

Address

FFFF0000H

FFFEC000H

FFFEA000H

FFFE9000H

FFFE8000H

FFFE0000H

FFFD0000H

FFFC0000H

FFFFFFFFH

FFFEFFFFH

FFFEBFFFH

FFFE9FFFH

FFFE8FFFH

FFFE7FFFH

FFFDFFFFH

FFFCFFFFH

Flash Memory Area

64 KB Main BIOS

16 KB Boot block (Not flash erasable)

8 KB ESCD Area (Plug and Play data storage area)

4 KB Reserved for BIOS

4 KB OEM Logo Area

32 KB Reserved for BIOS

64 KB Reserved for BIOS

64 KB Reserved for BIOS

3.3 BIOS Upgrades

Flash memory makes distributing BIOS upgrades easy. A new version of the BIOS can be installed from a diskette. BIOS upgrades are available to be down loaded from the Intel Applications Support web site at http://www-cs.intel.com/oem_developer/motherbd/, or from Intel’s FTP site at ftp://ftp.intel.com/pub/bios/. Be sure to have the BIOS identification that applies to this motherboard.

45