American Megatrends Excalibur PCI User manual

American Megatrends, Inc.
Excalibur PCI Pentium
ISA Motherboard
User's Guide
MAN-701
5/1/94
© Copyright 1994 American Megatrends, Inc.
All rights reserved.
American Megatrends, Inc.
6145F Northbelt Parkway
Norcross, GA 30071
This publication contains proprietary information which is protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transcribed, stored in a
retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of the
publisher, American Megatrends, Inc.
Limited Warranty
Buyer agrees if this product proves to be defective, that American Megatrends, Inc. is only obligated to replace or refund the purchase price of this product
at American Megatrend's discretion according to the terms and conditions on the motherboard warranty card. American Megatrends shall not be liable in
tort or contract for any loss or damage, direct, incidental or consequential. Please see the Warranty Registration Card shipped with this product for full
warranty details.
Limitations of Liability
In no event shall American Megatrends be held liable for any loss, expenses, or damages of any kind whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, incidental, or
consequential, arising from the design or use of this product or the support materials provided with the product.
Trademarks

2
Intel, Pentium, and Overdrive are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.
MS-DOS, Xenix, Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, and Microsoft are registered trademarks ofMicrosoft Corporation.
SMC is a registered trademark of SMC Corporation.
IBM, AT, VGA, PS/2, OS/2, and EGA are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. XT and CGA are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.
Fujitsu is a registered trademark of Fujitsu America, Inc.
Motorola is a registered trademark of Motorola Corporation.
Boca is a registered trademark of Boca Research Inc.
Antec is a registered trademark of Antec Corporation.
Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi America, Ltd.
PNY is a registered trademark of PNY Corporation.
Oki is a registered trademark of Oki America, Inc.
NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation.
Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Corporation.
Siemens is a trademark of Siemens Corporation.
Mitsubishi is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Electronics of America.
Micron is a registered trademark of Micron Corporation.
Unix is a registered trademark of American Telephone and Telegraph Company Bell Laboratories.
Weitek is a trademark of Weitek, Inc.
National Semiconductor is a registered trademark of National Semiconductor Corporation.
Toshiba is a registered trademark of Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba.
Revision History
2/4/94 Initial release of manual.
5/1/94 Manual updated.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 System Overview....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 2 PCI Local Bus ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 3 Specifications............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Chapter 4 Installation................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13
Installation Steps ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 15
Step 1 Set Switches and Jumpers.............................................................................................................................................................. 15
Step 2 Install System Memory.................................................................................................................................................................. 19
Step 3 Install the Motherboard.................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Step 4 Connect the Power Supply............................................................................................................................................................. 25
Step 5 Connect the Keyboard Cable......................................................................................................................................................... 27
Step 6 Connect the Mouse Cable.............................................................................................................................................................. 28
Step 7 Connect Cables.............................................................................................................................................................................. 28
Step 8 Connect Onboard I/O..................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Step 9 Install Floppy Drive....................................................................................................................................................................... 38
Step 10 Install Hard Disk.......................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Step 11 Install Adapter Cards................................................................................................................................................................... 41
Step 12 Test and Configure...................................................................................................................................................................... 46
Chapter 5 AMIBIOS Power-On Self Test................................................................................................................................................................................ 47
Beep Codes ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 49
AMIBIOS Displayed Error Messages......................................................................................................................................................................... 50
Chapter 6 WinBIOS Setup........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 55
Section 1 Setup........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 59
Standard Setup.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 59
Advanced Setup........................................................................................................................................................................................ 63
Chipset Setup............................................................................................................................................................................................ 67
Power Management Setup........................................................................................................................................................................ 70
Peripheral Setup........................................................................................................................................................................................ 71
Section 2 Utility......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 75
Section 3 Security ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 77
Section 4 Default........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 81
Appendix A Flash EPROM Programming .............................................................................................................................................................................. 83
Index ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 91

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Preface
To the OEM
Thank you for purchasing the high performance American Megatrends Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA motherboard. This
product is a state of the art Pentium-based motherboard that includes the famous AMIBIOS. It is assumed that you have also
licensed the rights to use the American Megatrends documentation for the American Megatrends Excalibur PCI motherboard.
This manual was written for the OEM to assist in the proper installation and operation of this motherboard. This manual
describes the specifications and features of the Excalibur PCI motherboard. It explains how to assemble a system based on the
Excalibur PCI motherboard and how to use the AMIBIOS that is specifically designed for this motherboard.
This manual is not meant to be read by the computer owner who purchases a computer with this motherboard. It is assumed
that you, the computer manufacturer, will use this manual as a sourcebook of information, and that parts of this manual will be
included in the computer owner's manual.
Technical Support
If an American Megatrends motherboard fails to operate as described or you are in doubt about a configuration option, please
call technical support at 404-246-8600.
Acknowledgments
This manual was written by Robert Cheng and Paul Narushoff. The writers gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Ganesan
Viswanathan.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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Chapter 1
System Overview
The American Megatrends Excalibur PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) baby AT-size PCI ISA motherboard
that supports a Pentium® CPU. This motherboard has three PCI Local Bus expansion slots (two can be used for bus
mastering PCI adapter cards) and four ISA expansion slots.
Features
The American Megatrends Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA motherboard has the following features:
• supports 256 KB of direct-mapped write-back (or write-through) secondary cache memory,
• supports from 2 to 192 MB of non-interleaved system memory via two to six x 36 single-sided or double-
sided SIMMs on the motherboard,
• supports fast PCI local bus-resident IDE on the motherboard with support for IDE Mode 0, 1, 2, and 3 with
32-bit read/write, readaheand, and write posting,
• includes an SMC® FDC37C665 100-pin PQFP Universal Peripheral Controller that supports two National
Semiconductor NS16C550 serial ports, a parallel port with ECP (Extended Capabilities Port) and EPP (Enhanced
Parallel Port) support, and a floppy controller,
• includes a 128 KB flash EPROM for the system BIOS,
• has a battery-backed Real Time Clock with 128 bytes of CMOS RAM to store system configuration data,
and
• has four ISA and three PCI expansion slots, and

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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Chapter 2 PCI
8
Chapter 2
PCI Local Bus
PCI is a specification for a local bus standard. The PCI specification also provides the electrical specifications for
peripheral chip makers and the logic requirements for a PCI Controller. While PCI defines a local bus standard, it also
defines a standard component-level interface. PCI is a common I/O component interface.
The Excalibur PCI Motherboard conforms to the Intel PCI specifications. The PCI Local Bus Specification is a
standard set of interface, architecture, timings, electrical, and physical specifications that permits all PCI Local Bus
products to be totally interchangeable. PCI is a multiplexed extension of the CPU bus. In PCI, the CPU bus control
mechanisms have been extended to optimize I/O support. PCI establishes a local bus standard in which a large variety of
I/O components can be directly connected without using any glue logic.
What PCI Accomplishes
PCI is a way to physically interconnect highly integrated peripheral components and processor/memory systems.
PCI Features
Up to ten PCI loads can be used in the same system on the PCI bus, including the PCI Controller and an expansion
bus controller for EISA, ISA, or MCA. PCI decouples the CPU from the expansion bus and works at 33 MHz but can use
either a 32-bit or 64-bit data connection path to the CPU.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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PCI, Continued
PCI Features
• is processor-independent,
• has a multiplexed address, command, and data bus and supports burst mode operation on reads and writes,
• runs synchronous with the CPU at speeds up to 33 MHz,
• has a maximum data transfer rate of 120 MBs (with a peak rate of 132 MBs on a 32-bit data path),
• has a maximum data transfer rate of 240 MBs (with a peak rate of 264 MBs on a 64-bit data path),
• has an optional 64-bit data path that is transparently interoperable with the 32-bit data path,
• has low latency random accesses (about 60 ns write access latency) to slave registers from a PCI bus master
on the PCI bus,
• is capable of full concurrency with the processor and PCI bus masters,
• has full multimaster capability, allowing any PCI Master peer-to-peer access to any PCI slave,
• has hidden and overlapped central arbitration,
• has a low pin count (master - 47; slave - 45),
• has address and data parity, and
• uses three physical address spaces: 32-bit memory, 32-bit I/O, and a 256 byte-per-agent configuration
space.

Chapter 2 PCI
10
PCI, Continued
PCI Diagram
A typical PCI motherboard system block diagram follows.
Buffered Reads and Writes
The PCI Controller buffers reads and writes between the memory/CPU and PCI peripheral devices.
PCI Component Classes
PCI components must be one of three classes: bus master, slave, or master/slave combination.
Bus Mastering
PCI devices can be bus masters, slaves, or a combination of bus master and slave.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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PCI, Continued
Concurrent Operation
The CPU in a PCI system runs concurrently with PCI bus mastering peripherals. Although bus mastering peripheral
devices are arbitrated, significant data transfer rate improvements can be achieved without splitting resource utilization
between the CPU and a bus mastering device. Peripheral devices can operate at speeds up to 33 MHz in a PCI
environment.
Burst Mode
The PCI specification also provides for burst mode of any length for both reads and writes.
Multiplexing
PCI is a multiplexed bus. Multiplexing allows more than one signal to be sent on the same electrical path. The
control mechanisms have been modified and extended to optimize I/O support.
Using PCI Adapter Cards
The American Megatrends Excalibur PCI motherboard has three PCI expansion slots. The PCI expansion slots can
accept any adapter card that complies with the PCI Revision 2.0 specification. P16 (Slot1), P17 (Slot2) are bus master
PCI slots. P18 (Slot3) is a slave-only PCI slot.

Chapter 3 Specifications
12
Chapter 3
Specifications
The American Megatrends Excalibur PCI is a baby AT-size motherboard. The motherboard has an onboard fast IDE
controller on the PCI local bus that supports IDE Modes 0, 1, 2 and 3 with 32-bit read/write, readahead, and write posting.
The motherboard has an I/O Controller that supports floppy drives, serial ports, and a parallel port with ECP and EPP
capabilities.
Motherboard Frequency
The Excalibur PCI motherboard operates at either High or Low speed. High speed is the same as the speed of the
CPU mounted on the motherboard. Low speed is approximately the same speed as that of an 8 MHz IBM® AT. Low
speed is achieved by emulation.
Socketed CPU
The Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA motherboard supports a 60 MHz Pentium CPU.
Internal Cache Memory
The Pentium CPU includes both an 8 KB code cache and an 8 KB write-back data cache. All onboard memory can
be stored in internal cache memory on the CPU.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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Specifications, Continued
Secondary Cache Memory
The Excalibur PCI motherboard has 256 KB of factory-installed L2 secondary (external) cache memory. The cache
memory architecture is direct-mapped in write-back mode. All onboard memory can be stored in secondary cache
memory.
The Intel Pentium is supported in both write-back and write-through modes. The external cache memory can also be
in write-back or write-through mode.
Onboard System Memory
The Excalibur PCI motherboard supports from 2 to 192 MB of system memory.
The Excalibur PCI motherboard can have two, four, or six
x 36 SIMMs in six SIMM sockets. The Excalibur PCI motherboard supports 256 KB x 36, 1 MB x 36, and 4 MB x
36 single-sided SIMMs and 512 KB x 36, 2 MB x 36, and 8 MB x 36 double-sided SIMMs.
70 ns fast page mode DRAMs are required. Parity is checked on all system memory reads to ensure data integrity.
CMOS RAM
The Excalibur PCI motherboard has 128 bytes of CMOS RAM on the Real Time Clock. The contents of CMOS
RAM are configured by AMIBIOS Setup, resident with the system BIOS on the Flash EPROM.
PCI Expansion Slots
The Excalibur PCI motherboard has two bus mastering PCI slots operating at 30 MHz synchronous with the CPU
clock. There is also a non-bus mastering slave PCI expansion slot.

Chapter 3 Specifications
14
Specifications, Continued
System BIOS
The system BIOS resides on a 128 KB boot block flash EPROM and supports shadowing between F0000h and
FFFFFh in 64 KB granularity. The system BIOS can be updated through the AMIFlash software utility. The system BIOS
is always shadowed to RAM and can be cached. The system BIOS supports the Plug and Play BIOS extensions and IDE
LBA (Logical Block Address) mode. IDE LBA mode permits IDE drives with capacities greater than 528 MB to be used.
Adaptor ROM BIOS
The Adaptor ROM BIOS between C0000h - EFFFFh can be shadowed to RAM. The contents can be read from or
written to secondary cache memory and the contents can be write-protected with 16 KB granularity via AMIBIOS Setup.
ISA Expansion Slots and Bus Speed
The Excalibur PCI motherboard has four ISA expansion slots operating at 7.5 MHz.
Mouse
The Excalibur PCI motherboard supports a PS/2- compatible mouse interface through a 10-pin dual-inline connector.
Keyboard
The standard Excalibur PCI motherboard has a five-pin DIN keyboard connector.
Green PC Monitor Connector
The Excalibur PCI motherboard has a 10-pin dual-inline connector for Green PC monitor support.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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Specifications, Continued
Excalibur PCI Motherboard Dimensions
The Excalibur PCI motherboard is approximately 8.5 inches wide by 13 inches long (the standard Baby AT® size
with similar mounting hole locations). The following graphic shows the dimensions and height restrictions.

Chapter 3 Specifications
16
Onboard I/O
Universal Peripheral Controller
The Excalibur PCI motherboard has an SMC FDC37C665 Universal Peripheral Controller that supports up to two
floppy drives (360 KB, 1.2 MB, 720 KB, 1.44 MB, or 2.88 MB), two serial ports (using National Semiconductor
16C550s), and one parallel port with ECP (Extended Capabilities Port) and EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) capability.
Onboard PCI IDE Support
The onboard IDE is on the PCI bus. The IDE controller supports IDE Mode 0, Mode 1, Mode 2, and Mode 3. It also
supports IDE read data prefetch and write posting. The AMIBIOS supports 32-bit data transfers as well as the following
cycle times for each IDE Mode.
IDE Mode Cycle Time (in nanoseconds)
0 600
1 383
2 240
3 180
PCI IDE Support on the PCI Expansion Slots
PCI IDE adapter cards that require IRQ14 are supported only in PCI Slot1 (P16).
SW1-8 must be set ON to enable IRQ14.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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Chapter 4 Installation
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Chapter 4
Installation
Unpacking the Motherboard
Step Action
1 Inspect the cardboard carton for obvious damage. If
damaged, call Technical Support at 404-246-8600. Leave
the motherboard in its original packing.
2 Perform all unpacking and installation procedures on a
ground-connected anti-static mat. Wear an anti-static
wristband, grounded at the same point as the anti-static mat
or use a sheet of conductive aluminum foil grounded
through a 1 megohm resistor instead of the anti-static mat.
Similarly, a strip of conductive aluminum foil wrapped
around the wrist and grounded through a 1 megohm resistor
serves the same purpose as the wristband.
3 Inside the carton, the motherboard is packed in an
anti-static bag and sandwiched between sheets of sponge.
Remove the sponge and the anti-static bag. Place the
motherboard on a grounded anti-static surface component
side up. Save the original packing material in case of
reshipment.
4 Inspect the motherboard for damage. Press down on all ICs
mounted in sockets to verify proper seating. Do not apply
power to the motherboard if it has been damaged.
5 If the motherboard is undamaged, it is ready to be installed.

Excalibur PCI Pentium ISA Motherboard User's Guide
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Chapter 4 Installation
20
Installation Steps
Step Action Turn to
1 Set switch and jumper options Page 20
2 Install memory Page 24
3 Install motherboard Page 38
4 Connect the power supply Page 39
5 Connect the keyboard Page 41
6 Connect the mouse Page 42
7 Connect cables Page 42
8 Connect onboard I/O Page 46
9 Install floppy drive Page 51
10 Install hard disk drive Page 51
11 Install adapter cards Page 53
12 Test and configure Page 47
Warning
This motherboard contains sensitive electronic components which
can be easily damaged by static electricity. Follow the instructions
carefully to ensure correct installation and to avoid static damage.
Step 1 Set Switches and Jumpers
Set all user-configurable jumpers and switches before installing the motherboard in the chassis. There are two
user-configurable switches and two jumpers:
SW1 Multipurpose switch
J2 Parallel Port IRQ Select
J3 Enhanced Parallel Port DMA Select Request
J5 Enhanced Parallel Port DMA Select Acknowledge
J4 Select Password LED
J6 Flash BIOS Programming Voltage
P24 Select SCSI Interrupt