AwardBIOS: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:38, 30 June 2024

AwardBIOS (also known as Award Modular BIOS and later as Phoenix - AwardBIOS) is a personal computer BIOS developed by Award Software from 1984 to 1998 and then by Phoenix Technologies from 1998 to 2009.

Merge with Phoenix Technologies

On April 16, 1998, Award Software announced a merger with Phoenix Technologies to create a $100 million BIOS development company. It was completed on September 28th of that year, and as a result, Award went bankrupt while Phoenix survived.

PhoenixNet controversy

Main page: PhoenixNet

In 2000, Phoenix developed an add-on for AwardBIOS called PhoenixNet, which allowed motherboard manufacturers and system labelers to advertise their services during POST, change the browser home page, and automatically install sponsored tools on the system after a clean Windows installation. It was heavily criticized by users for privacy concerns and performance issues on systems with it enabled. It was finally discontinued a year later due to "the demise of the Internet advertising market".

List of known versions

List of known AwardBIOS versions
Version	Release date	POST screen	Notes
AwardBIOS 1.xx	1984?	Not available	Confirmed existence by a file of a BIOS version database. No ROM files or pictures are available for it as of now.
AwardBIOS 2.xx	1985
AwardBIOS 3.xx	1987		Siemens-Nixdorf fork exists.
AwardBIOS v4.00	1990		Mostly used on motherboards with EISA expansion buses
AwardBIOS v4.20/4.26/4.28/4.32	1991-1992		4.26/4.28/4.32 might have been only used by Gateway 2000/Swan/Anigma.
AwardBIOS v4.50	1993		Not to be confused with EliteBIOS, early versions have blue POST screen while later versions have black EliteBIOS POST screen but with v4.50 version number.
AwardBIOS v4.50xx/v4.51xx/v4.60xx	1994		Codenamed "EliteBIOS".
Award PowerBIOS	1994(?)		Considered as AwardBIOS v5.00 internally by Award.
AwardBIOS v6.00PG	1998-1999		Codenamed "Medallion". Also known as Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG and Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG. Code forks from ASUS and Gigabyte do exist. A sub-version called WorkstationBIOS also exists.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-AwardBIOS (later known as [[Phoenix - AwardBIOS]] after Phoenix merger of the company) is a [[Personal Computer BIOS]] developed by [[Award Software]].
+AwardBIOS (also known as Award Modular BIOS and later as Phoenix - AwardBIOS) is a [[personal computer BIOS]] developed by [[Award Software]] from 1984 to 1998 and then by [[Phoenix Technologies]] from 1998 to 2009.
-== Phoenix acquisition ==
+== Merge with Phoenix Technologies ==
-In April 16 1998, [[Phoenix Technologies Ltd]] acquired Award Software to create $100M BIOS firm. It was completed in September 28.
+On April 16, 1998, [[Award Software]] announced a merger with [[Phoenix Technologies]] to create a $100 million BIOS development company. It was completed on September 28th of that year, and as a result, Award went bankrupt while Phoenix survived.
-<!-- Somebody needs to do the list of known versions of this BIOS... -->
+== PhoenixNet controversy ==
+''Main page: [[PhoenixNet]]''
+In 2000, Phoenix developed an add-on for AwardBIOS called PhoenixNet, which allowed motherboard manufacturers and system labelers to advertise their services during POST, change the browser home page, and automatically install sponsored tools on the system after a clean Windows installation. It was heavily criticized by users for privacy concerns and performance issues on systems with it enabled. It was finally discontinued a year later due to [http://www.cexx.org/phoenix.htm| "the demise of the Internet advertising market"].
+== List of known versions ==
+{| class="wikitable" style="width:100;%"
+|+List of known AwardBIOS versions
+!Version
+!Release date
+!POST screen
+!Notes
+|-
+|[[AwardBIOS 1.xx]]
+|1984?
+|''Not available''
+|Confirmed existence by [https://www.pcorner.com/list/DIAGS/BIOS32X.ZIP/BIOSSIG.DBA/ a file of a BIOS version database]. No ROM files or pictures are available for it as of now.
+|-
+|[[AwardBIOS 2.xx]]
+|1985
+|[[File:AwardBIOS 2.07 POST.png|300px]]
+|
+|-
+|[[AwardBIOS 3.xx]]
+|1987
+|[[File:AwardBIOS B3.11.03 POST screen.png|300px]]
+|Siemens-Nixdorf fork exists.
+|-
+|[[AwardBIOS v4.00]]
+|1990
+|[[File:Award_Modular_BIOS_v4.00_POST.png|300px]]
+|Mostly used on motherboards with EISA expansion buses
+|-
+|[[AwardBIOS v4.20|AwardBIOS v4.20/4.26/4.28/4.32]]
+|1991-1992
+|[[File:AwardBIOS 4.20 BIOS POST.png|300px]]
+|4.26/4.28/4.32 might have been only used by Gateway 2000/Swan/Anigma.
+|-
+|[[AwardBIOS v4.50]]
+|1993
+|[[File:AwardBIOS_4_50Blue.png|300px]]
+[[File:AwardBIOS_4_50Elite.png|300px]]
+|Not to be confused with EliteBIOS, early versions have blue POST screen while later versions have black EliteBIOS POST screen but with v4.50 version number.
+|-
+|[[Award EliteBIOS|AwardBIOS v4.50xx/v4.51xx/v4.60xx]]
+|1994
+|[[File:AwardBIOS v4.51PG POST.png|300px]]
+|Codenamed "EliteBIOS".
+|-
+|[[Award PowerBIOS]]
+|1994(?)
+|[[File:AwardBIOS_Power1_00.png|300px]]
+|Considered as AwardBIOS v5.00 internally by Award.
+|-
+|[[AwardBIOS v6.00PG]]
+|1998-1999
+|[[File:Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG POST.png|300px]]
+|Codenamed "Medallion". Also known as Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG and Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG. Code forks from ASUS and Gigabyte do exist. A sub-version called [[AwardBIOS v6.00PG#WorkstationBIOS|WorkstationBIOS]] also exists.
+|}