Supermicro 440FX User manual

®
SUPER
440FX Chipset
AMI BIOS
REFERENCE MANUAL
Revision 3.3

The information in this User’s Manual has been carefully reviewed and is believed to be
accurate. The vendor assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be
contained in this document, makes no commitment to update or to keep current the
information in this manual, or to notify any person or organization of the updates.
The manufacturer reserves the right to make changes to the product described in this
manual at any time and without notice. This product, including software, if any, and
documentation may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated
or reduced to any medium or machine without prior written consent.
IN NO EVENT WILL THE MANUFACTURER BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT,
SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OR
INABILITY TO USE THIS PRODUCT OR DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN PARTICULAR, THE VENDOR SHALL NOT HAVE
LIABILITY FOR ANY HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR DATA STORED OR USED WITH THE
PRODUCT, INCLUDING THE COSTS OF THE REPAIRING, REPLACING, OR
RECOVERING SUCH HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR DATA.
Copyright © 1997 by SUPERMICRO COMPUTER INC.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Unless you request and receive written permission from the manufacturer, you may not
copy any part of this document.
All products and company names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective holders.
Do not upgrade the BIOS unless you are notified to do so. Please call technical
support first before upgrading the boot-block BIOS.
SUPER BBS # [phone] (24 hours)
Baud Rate: 1200-14400 bps, Data Bits: 8, Stop Bit: 1, Parity: None

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: AMI BIOS
1-1 Introduction
System BIOS ....................................................................................... 1-1
Configuration Data............................................................................. 1-1
How Data Is Configured................................................................... 1-1
POST Memory Test ............................................................................ 1-2
1-2 BIOS Features...................................................................................... 1-2
BIOS Configuration Summary Screen ........................................... 1-3
Chapter 2: Running Setup
2-1 Setup
2-1-1 Standard Setup.................................................................. 2-1
2-1-2 Advanced Setup................................................................. 2-3
2-1-3 Chipset Setup .................................................................... 2-8
2-1-4 Power Management........................................................ 2-12
2-1-5 PCI/PnP Setup ................................................................. 2-15
2-1-6 Peripheral Setup ............................................................. 2-18
2-2 Security Setup
2-2-1 Supervisor/User................................................................ 2-21
2-2-2 Anti-Virus ........................................................................... 2-21
2-3 Utility Setup
2-3-1 Language........................................................................... 2-22
2-3-2 Detect IDE.......................................................................... 2-22
2-4 Default Setting
2-4-1 Optimal Default................................................................. 2-22
2-4-2 Fail-Safe Default............................................................... 2-22
BIOS User's Manual
iii

Table of Contents
iv
Appendix A: Hard Disk Error Messages ................ A-1
Appendix B: BIOS Hard Disk Drive Types.............. B-1
Appendix C: BIOS Error Beep Codes..................... C-1
Appendix D: AMI BIOS POST Diagnostic Error
Messages.......................................... D-1
Appendix E: BIOS Non-Fatal Error Messages........ E-1

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

1-1
Chapter 1: AMI BIOS
Chapter 1
AMI BIOS
1-1 Introduction
This chapter describes the AMIBIOS for the Intel 440FX chipset
which is designed for Intel Pentium® Pro 150/166/180/200 MHz and
Pentium II 233/266/300 MHz processors. The AMI ROM BIOS is
stored in the Flash EEPROM and is easily upgraded using a floppy
disk-based program.
System BIOS
The BIOS is the basic input output system used in all IBM®PC,
XT™, AT®, and PS/2®compatible computers. The WinBIOS is a
high-quality example of a system BIOS.
Configuration Data
AT-compatible systems, also called ISA (Industry Standard Architec-
ture) must have a place to store system information when the
computer is turned off. The original IBM AT had 64 bytes of non-
volatile memory storage in CMOS RAM. All AT-compatible systems
have at least 64 bytes of CMOS RAM, which is usually part of the
Real Time Clock. Many systems have 128 bytes of CMOS RAM.
How Data Is Configured
AMIBIOS provides a Setup utility in ROM that is accessed by
pressing <Del> at the appropriate time during system boot. Setup
configures data in CMOS RAM.

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BIOS User's Manual
POST Memory Test
Normally, the only visible POST routine is the memory test. The
screen that appears when the system is powered on is shown
below.
An AMIBIOS Identification string is displayed at the left bottom
corner of the screen, below the copyright message.
1-2 BIOS Features
•supports Plug and Play V1.0A and DMI 2.0
•supports Intel PCI 2.1 (Peripheral Component Interconnect) lo-
cal bus specification
•supports EDO (Extended Data Out), ECC and FPM DRAM
•supports ECC (Error Checking and Correction)
•supports Flash ROM
Made in U.S.A. Mainboard Rev 1.2
BIOS Release 041197
xxxxx KB OK
Hit <DEL> if you want to run SETUP
(C) American Megatrends Inc.,
XX-XXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXX-X

1-3
Chapter 1: AMI BIOS
BIOS Configuration Summary Screen
AMIBIOS displays a screen that looks similar to the following when
the POST routines complete successfully.
AMIBIOS System Configuration (C) 1985-1994 American Megatrends Inc.,
Main Processor : Pentium(tm)Pro Base Memory Size : 640 KB
Math Processor : Built-In Ext. Memory Size : 31744 KB
Floppy Drive A: : 1.2 MB, 5¼ Display Type : VGA/EGA
Floppy Drive B: : 1.44 MB, 3½ Serial Port(s) : 3F8,2F8
AMI-BIOS Date : 7/15/95 Parallel Port(s) : 378
Processor Clock : 200MHz Power Management : APM, SMI
200 MHz CPU Clock

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BIOS User's Manual

2-1
Chapter 2: Running Setup
Chapter 2
Running Setup
The WinBIOS Setup options described in this section are selected
by choosing the appropriate high-level icon from the Standard Setup
screen. All displayed icons are described in this section, although
the screen display is often all you need to understand how to set
the option.
2-1 Setup
2-1-1 Standard Setup
Pri Master
Pri Slave
Sec Master
Sec Slave
Choose these icons to configure the hard disk drive. When you
click on an icon, the following parameters are listed: Type, LBA/
Large Mode, Block Mode, 32Bit Mode, and PIO Mode. All param-
eters relate to IDE drives except Type.
If the hard disk drive to be configured is an IDE drive, select the
appropriate drive icon, choose the Type parameter and select Auto.
The BIOS will automatically detect the IDE drive parameters and
display them. Click on the OK button to accept these parameters.
Click on LBA/Large Mode and choose On to enable support for IDE
drives with capacities greater than 528MB. Click on Block Mode
and choose On to support IDE drives that use Block Mode. Click on
32Bit Mode and click on On to support IDE drives that permit 32-bit
accesses.

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BIOS User's Manual
To configure an old MFM hard disk drive, you must know the drive
parameters (number of heads, number of cylinders, number of sec-
tors, the starting write precompensation cylinder, and drive capac-
ity). Select the hard disk drive type (1-46). Refer to Appendix B in
this manual for a list of the various hard disk drive types. Select
User in the Type field if the drive parameters on your MFM drive do
not match any of the drive type in Appendix B.
Entering Drive Parameters
You can also enter the hard disk drive parameters. The drive pa-
rameters are:
Parameter Description
Type The number for a drive with certain identification parameters.
Cylinders The number of cylinders in the disk drive.
Heads The number of heads.
Write The size of a sector gets progressively smaller as the track
Precompensation diameter diminishes. Yet each sector must still hold 512 bytes.
Write precompensation circuitry on the hard disk compensates for
the physical difference in sector size by boosting the write
current for sectors on inner tracks. This parameter is the track
number where write precompensation begins.
Landing Zone This number is the cylinder location where the heads will normally
park when the system is shut down.
Sectors The number of sectors per track. MFM drives have 17 sectors
per track. RLL drives have 26 sectors per track. ESDI drives
have 34 sectors per track. SCSI and IDE drive may have even
more sectors per track.
Capacity The formatted capacity of the drive is (Number of heads) x
(Number of cylinders) x (Number of sectors per track) x (512
bytes per sector)

2-3
Chapter 2: Running Setup
Date and Time Configuration
Select the Standard option. Select the Date/Time icon. The current
values for each category are displayed. Enter new values through
the keyboard.
Floppy A
Floppy B
Choose the Floppy Drive A or B icon to specify the floppy drive type.
The settings are 360 KB 5¼ inch, 1.2 MB 5¼ inch, 720 KB 3½ inch,
1.44 MB 3½ inch, 2.88 MB 3½ inch or Not Installed.
2-1-2 Advanced Setup
Quick Boot
Set this option to Enabled to permit AMIBIOS to boot within 5 sec-
onds. The settings are Disabled or Enabled. The Optimal default
setting is Enabled. The Fail-Safe default setting is Disabled.
1st Boot Device
2nd Boot Device
3rd Boot Device
The options for 1st Boot Device are Disabled, IDE-1, IDE-2, IDE-3,
Floppy, Floptical, SCSI, or Network. The options for 2nd Boot De-
vice are Disabled, IDE-0, or Floptical. The options for 3rd Boot
Device are Disabled, Floptical, or CDROM.
The Disabled option means that setup will not be considered dur-
ing the boot process. Floppy can be selected only as 1st boot
device. SCSI can be selected only as 1st boot device. CDROM can
be selected only as 3rd boot device. The same device cannot be
chosen more than once. For example, if Floptical is chosen as 2nd
boot device, it cannot be chosen as any other boot device. If IDE-1

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BIOS User's Manual
or IDE-2 or IDE-3 is selected as 1st boot device, IDE-0 cannot be
selected as 2nd boot device. This means that only one IDE device
can be selected as the boot device.
IDE-0, IDE-1, IDE-2, IDE-3 are the four hard disks than can be in-
stalled by the BIOS. IDE-0 is the first hard disk installed by the
BIOS, IDE-1 is the second hard disk, and so on. For example, if the
system has a hard disk connected to Primary Slave and another
hard disk to Secondary Master, then IDE-0 will be referred to as the
hard disk connected to Primary Slave and IDE-1 will be referred to
as the hard disk connected to the Secondary Master. IDE-2 and
IDE-3 are not present. Note that the order of the initialization of the
devices connected to the primary and secondary channels are Pri-
mary Master first, Primary Slave second, Secondary Master third,
and Secondary Slave fourth.
The BIOS will attempt to read the boot record from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
boot device in the selected order until it is successful in reading the
booting record. The BIOS will not attempt to boot from any device
which is not selected as the boot device.
Try Other Boot Device
This option controls the action of the BIOS if all the selected boot
devices failed to boot. The settings for this option are Yes or No. If
Yes is selected and all the selected boot devices failed to boot, the
BIOS will try to boot from the other boot devices (in a predefined
sequence) which are present but not selected as boot devices in
the setup (and hence not yet been tried for booting). If selected as
No and all selected boot devices failed to boot, the BIOS will try not
to boot from the other boot devices which may be present but not
selected as boot devices in setup. The Optimal and Fail-Safe de-
fault settings are Yes.
Initial Display Mode

2-5
Chapter 2: Running Setup
This option determines the display screen with which the POST is
going to start the display. If selected as BIOS, the POST will start
with the normal sign-on message screen. If Silent is selected, the
POST will start with the silent screen. The settings for this option
are BIOS or Silent. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are
BIOS.
Display Mode at Add-on ROM Init
This option determines the display mode during add-on ROM (ex-
cept Video add-on ROM) initialization. The settings for this option
are Force BIOS or Keep Current. If selected as Force BIOS, the
POST will force the display to be changed to BIOS mode before
giving control to any add-on ROM. If no add-on ROM is found, then
the current display mode will remain unchanged even if this setup
question is selected as Force BIOS. If selected as Keep Current,
then the current display mode will remain unchanged. The Optimal
and Fail-Safe default settings are Force BIOS.
Floppy Access Control
The settings for this option are Read-Write or Read-Only. The Op-
timal and Fail-Safe default settings are Read-Write.
Hard Disk Access Control
The settings for this option are Read-Write or Read-Only. The Op-
timal and Fail-Safe default settings are Read-Write.
S.M.A.R.T. for Hard Disks
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) is
a technology developed to manage the reliability of the hard disk by
predicting future device failures. The hard disk needs to be
S.M.A.R.T. capable. The settings for this option are Disabled or
Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Disabled.

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BIOS User's Manual
Boot Up Num-Lock
When this option is set to On, the BIOS turns off the Num Lock key
when the system is powered on. This will enable the end user to
use the arrow keys on both the numeric keypad and the keyboard.
The settings are On or Off. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default set-
tings are On.
PS/2 Mouse Support
When this option is set to Enabled, AMIBIOS supports a PS/2-type
mouse. The settings are Enabled or Disabled. The Optimal and
Fail-Safe default settings are Enabled.
Primary Display
This option specifies the type of display adapter card installed in
the system. The settings are VGA/EGA, CGA40x25, CGA80x25,
Mono, or Absent. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are
VGA/EGA.
Password Check
This option enables the password check option every time the sys-
tem boots or the end user runs WinBIOS Setup. If Always is cho-
sen, a user password prompt appears every time the computer is
turned on. If Setup is chosen, the password prompt appears if
WinBIOS Setup is executed. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default set-
tings are Setup.
Boot to OS/2
If DRAM size is over 64M, set this option to Yes to permit AMIBIOS to
run with IBM OS/2. The settings are No or Yes. The Optimal and
Fail-Safe default settings are No.

2-7
Chapter 2: Running Setup
CPU MicroCode Updation
Set this option to Enabled to allow the CPU microcode to be up-
dated online at any time. The settings for this option are Disabled
or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are En-
abled.
P6 Internal Cache
This option is for enabling or disabling the internal cache memory.
The settings for this option are Disabled, WriteThru or WriteBack.
The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are WriteBack.
System Bios Cacheable
AMIBIOS always copies the system BIOS from ROM to RAM for
faster execution. Set this option to Enabled to permit the contents
of F0000h RAM memory segment to be written to and read from
cache memory. The settings are Disabled or Enabled. The Opti-
mal default setting is Enabled. The Fail-Safe default setting is Dis-
abled.
C000, 16K Shadow
C400, 16K Shadow
These options specify how the contents of the video ROM are
handled. The settings are: Disabled, Cached or Enabled. When
set to Cached, the contents of the video ROM area from C0000h-
C7FFFh are not only copied from ROM to RAM, the contents of the
C0000h-C7FFFh RAM can be written to or read from cache memory.
The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Enabled.

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BIOS User's Manual
C800, 16K Shadow
CC00, 16K Shadow
D000, 16K Shadow
D400, 16K Shadow
D800, 16K Shadow
DC00, 16K Shadow
These options specify how the contents of the adaptor ROM named
in the option title are handled. The ROM area that is not used by
ISA adapter cards will be allocated to PCI adapter cards. The set-
tings are: Disabled, Cached or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe
default settings are Disabled.
2-1-3 Chipset Setup
USB Function
Set this option to Enabled to enable the USB (Universal Serial Bus)
functions. The settings for this option are Enabled or Disabled.
The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Disabled.
USB KB/Mouse Legacy Support
Set this option to Enabled to enable the USB keyboard and mouse.
The settings for this option are Enabled or Disabled. The Optimal
and Fail-Safe default settings are Disabled.
USB Passive Release Enable
Set this option to Enabled to enable the passive release on the
USB. The settings for this option are Enabled or Disabled. The
Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Enabled.

2-9
Chapter 2: Running Setup
DRAM Speed (ns)
This option should be set according to the speed of the DRAM in
the system. The value of this option determines how the DRAM
timings should be programmed in the chipset. The settings for this
option are 50ns, 60ns or 70ns. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default
settings are 70ns.
DRAM Integrity Mode (ECC)
Set this option to Enabled to enable ECC DRAM integrity mode.
ECC allows critical system to detect and correct memory errors,
while normal parity generator/checker can only detect such memory
errors. The settings are: Disabled or Enabled. The Optimal and
Fail-Safe default settings are Disabled.
DRAM Fast LeadOff
This option is for PMC register 57h where bit 7 is currently listed as
reserved. The settings are: Disabled or Enabled. The Optimal and
Fail-Safe default settings are Disabled.
DRAM Refresh Type
This option sets the type of system memory refresh that is used in
the computer. The settings are RAS Only or CAS/RAS. The Opti-
mal and Fail-Safe default settings are RAS Only.
DRAM Refresh Queue
Due to capacitor discharge, DRAM will lose information from the bit
cell. Therefore, all DRAMs are refreshed every fifteen microsecond.
When this option is Enabled, all refresh requests are queued. If
Disabled, all refreshes are priority requests. The settings are Dis-
abled or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are
Enabled.

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BIOS User's Manual
DRAM ECC Mode
The settings are Disabled or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe
default settings are Disabled.
VGA Frame Buffer USWC
USWC is a memory cycle type that stands for Uncacheable Specu-
lative Write Combining. The settings are: Disabled or Enabled.
The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Disabled.
PCI Frame Buffer USWC
When Enabled, the PCI frame buffer address and length are di-
vided into 2. The value is then programmed into the processor
Variable MTRR (3) with the value for USWC (01h). The settings are:
Disabled or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings
are Disabled.
Fixed Memory Hole
This option allows a memory hole to be specified for either the 512-
640K region or the 15-16M region. The settings for this option are
Disabled, 512-640KB or 15-16MB. The Optimal and Fail-Safe de-
fault settings are Disabled.
CPU to IDE Posting
Set this option to Enabled to enable posted messages from the
CPU to the IDE controller. The settings are: Disabled or Enabled.
The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Enabled.
USWC Write Posting
This option is for USWC Write Posting to PMC register 53h, bit 5.
The settings are: Disabled or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe
default settings are Disabled.

2-11
Chapter 2: Running Setup
CPU to PCI Posting
Set this option to Enabled to enable posted messages from the
CPU to the PCI bus. The settings are: Disabled or Enabled. The
Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Enabled.
PCI to DRAM Pipeline
Set this option to Enabled to allow the PCI bridge to run back-to-
back cycle to access the DRAM. The settings are: Disabled or En-
abled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are Enabled.
PCI Burst Write Combine
When Enabled, PCI bridge can combine memory writes to succes-
sive doublewords into a single memory write transaction using lin-
ear addressing. The combined doublewords must be written in the
same order in which they were posted. The settings are: Disabled
or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are En-
abled.
Read Around Write
This option is for PMC register 53h, bit 0. The settings are: Dis-
abled or Enabled. The Optimal and Fail-Safe default settings are
Enabled.
Deturbo Mode
When Enabled, it slows down (de-turbo) the system effective speed
by disabling the processor caching and stalls the processor pipe-
line at a rate programmed in the deturbo counter register. CPU
caching is off. The settings are: Disabled or Enabled. The Optimal
and Fail-Safe default settings are Disabled.