===================================================================== Last Revised AST RESEARCH, INC. SOFTWARE BULLETIN # 0116 09/30/97 ===================================================================== TITLE: Power Premium BIOS Update, v2.20 FILENAME(S) / PART NUMBER(S) / DESCRIPTION(S): 05500311.EXE / 905500-311 Power Premium BIOS v2.20 SUMMARY File 05500311.EXE contains version 2.20 of the Power Premium BIOS. This software applies to the following systems: 500852, 500935, 501118, and 501193. RESOLUTIONS Revision 2.20 contains the following issue resolution: Used routines to enable LBA translation. ENHANCEMENTS Revision 2.20 contains the following issue enhancement: Added support for large IDE hard drive (larger than 528 MB). PREVIOUS RELEASE(S) Production Release: 2.11 contained the following resolutions and enhancements: Video BIOS changes The file PVGAMAIN.ASM was modified to include the AST Shadow RAM signature and a VGA BIOS signature (compliant with the Software Engineering Version Numbering Specification). The VGA BIOS is shadowed in place from C0000 - C7FFF. The 2KB window at C6000 is no longer supported, thus compatibility with the IBM PGA is forfeit. The file PVGACINT.ASM was optimized to delete checking from 3270 modes which are not supported by this BIOS. The file PVGAMAIN.ASM was modified to: 1. Read the video "switches" using INT 15. 2. Read the video "switches" on warm and cold boots. 3. Ignore the "special 31.5 Hz" switch. The file PVGATABX.ASM was modified to fix a problem with FIFO underflow problems in 72Hz modes. The BIOS was modified for full VESA support by including the necessary tables in the system BIOS. One entry point was hard coded at c000:0086 to facilitate this support. The VESA TSR source code was incorporated into the BIOS source code and the needed table was moved over the system BIOS. The file PVGATABX.ASM was modified so that the FIFO timing does not violate our 54mHz clock. The default values were causing the ASTMFGT test to fail in production. System BIOS Changes Changed P5 slow speeds to be almost the same as fast speed. Fixes problem accessing the floppy at slow speed. Fixed the problem with MS serial mouse not working if the system is in server mode. Fixed problem when system displayed invalid hard drive parameters in second hard drive parameter fields in SETUP, if there was no first hard drive connected, or the first hard drive type was set to NONE. If an adapter card (such as AST Ethernode) is used the Adapter ROM's message (pass/fail) could not be seen. If the CMOS defaults are loaded, a warning message number which does not indicate a valid FRU is displayed (40.09 changed to 11.03). Fixed problem when ECMOS is corrupted, having EISACU display the error message "The configuration information in your system's ECMOS was created by a later version of EISACU". Fixed a memory failure occurring on systems with EISA cards installed, having larger than 64MB. Added support for P5 processor. Fixed problem when the Add-in floppy does not work if the Integrated Super I/O is disabled. The message "...take up to two minutes..." does not appear if the second hard drive type is configured in System Setup and a second hard drive is not physically connected to the system. The MS serial mouse does not work with MS mouse driver 8.20A if the integrated mouse is enabled. Capability to disable the integrated mouse fixed. Fixed Mylex card that would not reinstall after a warm boot if any sort of access to RAM was previously done before rebooting. Removed ability to cache all but the 15-16 MB region which will no longer be supported. Fixed problem initializing mouse with 16 MB limit. Added support for both C711 and Super IO chipsets. This may effect the initialization of the serial and parallel ports, hard disk and floppy disk, as well as the coprocessor. Added routine to clean out all memory before booting. Boot problem fixed. Fixed extra long beep codes on preshadow POST errors. ========================================================= Production Release: 2.00 contained the following resolutions and enhancements: When running Banyan Vines with an IBM Token Ring adapter configured for IRQ2 after a warm boot, Banyan Vines would report a Token Ring configuration error. When an EISA board is installed in the system, the option to "Limit memory access to 16MB" is disabled in Setup and EISA configuration to prevent intermittent memory size errors reported during POST. Fixed a problem where the system will hang when booting from a floppy after CMOS corruption if no hard drive is configured. Fixed problem setting 1024x768 video frequency to 87hz in Setup. Fixed the problem with Power Premium's parallel port and IRQ always reset to '3BC, IRQ5' when exit and save in EISA mode. (PR#C06059) Fixed the system hanging in the Video and Memory menu of Setup if the system has 64MB of memory. Fixed the system reporting "[20.08] Memory size error. Run EISA configuration." if more than 64MB of RAM is installed and an EISA adapter is also installed and configured. The integrated mouse may intermittently fial because the wrong location in CMOS was used to determine if the mouse was enabled or disabled. Fixed EISACU crashing if after having multiple memory boards installed in EISA CMOS (by previously running EISACU, along with any EISA card), one of the memory boards was removed. Fixed Setup displaying garbage after the number of heads is entered in the hard-disk user-defined field. Fixed slow reaction time of NUM & CAP lock keys when using IBM 3270 emulation. Fixed HP Ethertwist LAN Adapter card failing diagnostic test (TEST.EXE). Fixed problem with Madge EISA LAN adapter when set to IRQ2/9 (Level trigger) or IRQ 12 under DOS 5.0 and Netware 3.1 causing the system to hang during POST after a warm boot. Fixed problem connecting to an IBM 3174 server with IBM 3270 emulation software. ========================================================= Production Release: 1.06 contained the following resolutions and enhancements: A conflict between the driver EMM386.EXE and the Proteon Pronet-4 LAN card. After EMM386.EXE was loaded in memory, executing IPX.COM to initialize the LAN card would generate the error "EMM386 DMA BUFFER TOO SMALL". A problem using the SMC 8013WC Ethernet controller at it's default I/O Port address of "300". With the card set at this address, the shared RAM address could not be set at a valid address, such as "CC00". The card appeared to have a RAM address such as "8000". A hardware conflict with the Puredata PDE9025-4/16 EISA Token Ring adapter. With this card installed in the system, performing a warm boot (CTRL-ALT-DEL keys) would cause the system to hang during Power On Self Test (POST) at the "TESTING CACHE" message. The inability for any adapter to be configured to use IRQ 12, with the mouse set to "DISABLED" in CMOS SETUP. Configuring an adapter to use IRQ 2 would cause the system to hang when the adapter was accessed by software. ========================================================= Production Release: 1.05 contained the following resolutions and enhancements: The error message "[20.08] MEMORY SIZE HAS BEEN CHANGED" is displayed if the following conditions existed: 1. The 486/50 processor card (part number 202465-002) with 16MB memory is present in the system. 2. The field "LIMIT ACCESS TO 16MB" in the EISA configuration utility is enabled. 3. An EISA adapter is installed in the system. With a 486/50 processor card (part number 202465-002) and a DPT Host Bus Adapter (part number 202193-XXX) installed in the system, and base memory configured at 512K, the system would hang during POST (Power OnSelf Test). ========================================================= Production Release: 1.04 contained the following resolution: Resolved the issue where having the Integrated Mouse enabled in SETUP without having a mouse connected to the port, but having the mouse driver loaded, caused applications to hang. ======================================================== Production Release 1.03 contained the following resolution: The video BIOS was updated to correct a problem displaying 1024x768 graphics modes and 132 column text modes. ======================================================== Production Release: 1.01 contained the following resolutions and enhancements: This was the initial release of this BIOS. NOTES The AST EISA Configuration Utility 2.84 (p/n 910918-031 or higher) must be used with this BIOS release. File 10918031.EXE is available from any of AST's On-Line! services. For additional information on the EISA Configuration Utility For Premmia Non-PCI Systems, see Software Bulletin #0271, on AST's On-Line! services. For information on installing this update, please view the README.TXT file that accompanies the update. You can download this file from the following services: AST WWW Site: http://www.ast.com AST On-Line! BBS*: See IB0001.TXT CompuServe: GO: ASTFORUM Prodigy: JUMP: ASTSUPPORT * Refer to IB0001.TXT for a list of AST's international BBS numbers. To decompress this file, create a temporary directory on your hard drive, copy the downloaded file to that directory, and run the file. TAN N/A --------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in this data sheet is subject to change without notice. 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