AMI Hi-Flex BIOS: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:33, 3 December 2024

Not to be confused with the Hi-Flex Setup Utility on AMIBIOS 6 and AMIBIOS 7.

AMI Hi-Flex BIOS, unofficially nicknamed AMI Color BIOS (due to the various color presets available in its default setup utility), is a version of AMIBIOS released by American Megatrends (AMI) in late 1990 as a successor to the AMI Plus BIOS. It introduced an updated POST screen, a new setup utility with various menus and a new identification string format that would be used for all newer AMIBIOS versions and even early instances of Aptio, AMI's UEFI firmware.

POST screen

Although similar, the Hi-Flex BIOS POST screen has some changes compared to AMI Plus BIOS'. The most noticeable changes are with the identification string and the memory test.

Identification string

Memory test

On AMI Plus BIOS and older versions, the entire system memory is tested slowly by default during POST, unless the test is sped up by pressing the option key to "skip" the test (usually the Escape key). On Hi-Flex, this behavior was changed so that only base memory is tested slowly (usually the first 640 kilobytes), while extended memory (the rest) is tested fast to reduce the POST time. Because of this, the option to "skip" the memory test was also removed with Hi-Flex, but was later brought back with AMI WinBIOS in 1993.

Setup utility

All instances of Hi-Flex BIOS include a built-in setup utility, with the default setup utility from AMI being the most common (except for code forks). This utility, unlike previous default utilities, lists options in different menus for organization (with each menu containing relevant options). This also inspired the default setup utility introduced by Award Software for EliteBIOS in 1993. This utility also introduced color presets for the first time, with 16 presets included by default (as shown below).

Colour 1 (often default)
Colour 2
Colour 3
Colour 4
Colour 5
Colour 6
Colour 7
Colour 8
Colour 9
Colour 10 (default for early Intel fork)
Colour 11
Colour 12
Colour 13
Colour 14
Colour 15
Colour 16

Technical limitations

Lack of Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support

Similar to the AMI Plus BIOS, hard drives of up to 32 GB in capacity can be configured in the setup utility. However, due to the lack of LBA (Logical Block Addressing) in most revisions, only up to 504 MB can actually be utilized. Although, some late revisions of Hi-Flex BIOS support LBA. On these revisions, LBA can often be enabled in the Advanced CMOS Setup menu. Various workarounds also exist for this limitation, such as using Ontrack Disk Manager.

New ROM identification string format

As mentioned, Hi-Flex BIOS has introduced the string format that was in use for all newer versions of AMIBIOS and all versions Aptio until 2020 (when the string was finally removed), with only some slight changes over time.

C: Processor architecture, R: ROM size, MMMM: Manufacturer/OEM identification code, FFFFFFFF: BIOS feature identification (often 00101111), SSSSSS: BIOS compile date OR subcore release date, DDDDDDDD: BIOS identifier, Project: BIOS project ID (no maximum characters), K: Keyboard controller (KBC) ID

CR-VVVV-00MMMM-FFFFFFFF-SSSSSS-DDDDDDDD-Project-K

Note: The project ID section is only present on later cores of AMIBIOS 6 and later releases. The keyboard controller ID is also not used on AMIBIOS 07.00.xx, AMIBIOS 8 and Aptio.

Example string: 61-1108-001169-00101111-071595-440BX/ZX-1440B000-H

This string is for a 11.08 revision ("1108") 128 KB ("1") size AMIBIOS 6 ("071595", main subcore for it) for a motherboard for 686 architecture processors ("6") with Intel 440BX or 440ZX chipset ("440BX/ZX") and an AMIKEY-2 clone keyboard controller ("H") made by MSI ("1169").

For a list of codes for each field, click here.

Intel fork

Main page: List of BIOS and UEFI firmware used by Intel motherboards

Intel has forked AMI Hi-Flex BIOS core version 111192 and used it on most of their motherboards manufactured from 1993 to 1997 (when they switched to PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 instead). Early versions of this fork are not much different from the original AMI version, while later versions had a lot more differences. This fork was also used by most OEMs that licensed Intel motherboards for their computers, although sometimes with their own branding and occasionally even their own setup utility (like with Dell and IBM).

Early POST screen (Intel Classic/PCI)
Early setup utility (Intel Classic/PCI)
New POST screen (Intel Classic/PCI ED)
New setup utility (Intel Classic/PCI ED)
Late POST screen in 8x19 font (Intel AP440FX)
Late setup utility in 8x19 font (Intel AP440FX)
Dell Dimension M166a POST screen (based on Intel Hannibal+ motherboard)
Dell Dimension M166a setup utility
AMBRA (IBM) DP60PCI POST screen (based on Intel Premiere/PCI ED)
IBM PS/ValuePoint P60 POST screen (based on Intel Premiere/PCI LP/LPX)
IBM PS/ValuePoint P60 setup utility

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:AMI Hi-Flex BIOS POST.png|thumb|A late Intel AMI Hi-Flex fork]]
+[[File:AMI Hi-Flex BIOS POST.png|thumb|The Hi-Flex BIOS POST screen]]
-AMI Hi-Flex BIOS, also known between enthusiasts as AMI Color BIOS due to it's colourful setup utility, is a version of [[AMIBIOS]] released by [[American Megatrends]]. Compared to [[AMI Plus BIOS]] (which it replaced), it introduced an entirely new setup utility, a longer, more detailed BIOS string format (which was used with slight changes until 2020 when the string was removed with newer releases of [[AMI Aptio]]), and more setup options. AMIDIAG, which a limited version of was included with some versions of AMI Plus BIOS, was completely removed from BIOS ROM with this version. Although, some of AMIDIAG's features remained in the new setup utility.
+''Not to be confused with the Hi-Flex Setup Utility on [[AMIBIOS 6]] and [[AMIBIOS 7]].''
-== Setup Utility ==
+'''AMI Hi-Flex BIOS''', unofficially nicknamed '''AMI Color BIOS''' (due to the various color presets available in its default setup utility), is a version of [[AMIBIOS]] released by [[American Megatrends|American Megatrends (AMI)]] in late 1990 as a successor to the [[AMI Plus BIOS]]. It introduced an updated POST screen, a new setup utility with various menus and a new identification string format that would be used for all newer AMIBIOS versions and even early instances of [[AMI Aptio|Aptio]], AMI's UEFI firmware.
-The new setup utility introduced different menus for related settings, giving more space to store them. It also introduced 16 new colour schemes that can be toggled with F2/F3 keys on keyboard. The colour schemes look like the following:
-<gallery mode="packed" widths=90px heights=50px>
+== POST screen ==
+Although similar, the Hi-Flex BIOS POST screen has some changes compared to AMI Plus BIOS'. The most noticeable changes are with the identification string and the memory test.
+=== Identification string ===<!-- TODO: Finish this paragraph similarly to how the Plus BIOS identification string one was done. -->
+=== Memory test ===
+On AMI Plus BIOS and older versions, the entire system memory is tested slowly by default during POST, unless the test is sped up by pressing the option key to "skip" the test (usually the Escape key). On Hi-Flex, this behavior was changed so that only base memory is tested slowly (usually the first 640 kilobytes), while extended memory (the rest) is tested fast to reduce the POST time. Because of this, the option to "skip" the memory test was also removed with Hi-Flex, but was later brought back with [[AMI WinBIOS]] in 1993.
+== Setup utility ==
+All instances of Hi-Flex BIOS include a built-in setup utility, with the default setup utility from AMI being the most common (except for code forks). This utility, unlike previous default utilities, lists options in different menus for organization (with each menu containing relevant options). This also inspired the default setup utility introduced by Award Software for [[Award EliteBIOS|EliteBIOS]] in 1993.
+This utility also introduced color presets for the first time, with 16 presets included by default (as shown below).
+<gallery mode="packed" widths="90px" heights="50px">
 File:AMI Hi-Flex BIOS setup (Colour 1).png|Colour 1 (often default)
 File:AMI Hi-Flex BIOS setup (Colour 2).png|Colour 2
@@ Line 24: / Line 35: @@
 == Technical limitations ==
-Like AMI Plus BIOS, hard drives of up to 32 GB in capacity can be configured on Hi-Flex BIOS. However, due to lack of LBA on most versions, it can only use up to 504 MB. Although, some late versions had LBA in the Advanced CMOS Setup menu through code forks or OEM modifications.
-== BIOS string ==
+=== Lack of Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support ===
+Similar to the AMI Plus BIOS, hard drives of up to 32 GB in capacity can be configured in the setup utility. However, due to the lack of LBA (Logical Block Addressing) in most revisions, only up to 504 MB can actually be utilized. Although, some late revisions of Hi-Flex BIOS support LBA. On these revisions, LBA can often be enabled in the Advanced CMOS Setup menu. Various workarounds also exist for this limitation, such as using Ontrack Disk Manager.
-As mentioned, Hi-Flex BIOS introduced the string format that was in use with all newer versions of AMIBIOS, with some slight changes over time.
+== New ROM identification string format ==
+As mentioned, Hi-Flex BIOS has introduced the string format that was in use for all newer versions of [[AMIBIOS]] and all versions [[AMI Aptio|Aptio]] until 2020 (when the string was finally removed), with only some slight changes over time.
 '''C:''' Processor architecture, '''R:''' ROM size, '''MMMM:''' Manufacturer/OEM identification code, '''FFFFFFFF:''' BIOS feature identification (often 00101111), '''SSSSSS:''' BIOS compile date OR subcore release date, '''DDDDDDDD:''' BIOS identifier, '''Project:''' BIOS project ID (no maximum characters), '''K:''' Keyboard controller (KBC) ID
@@ Line 34: / Line 47: @@
 <code>CR-VVVV-00MMMM-FFFFFFFF-SSSSSS-DDDDDDDD-Project-K</code>
-'''Note:''' The project ID section is only present on late AMIBIOS 6 and later releases. The keyboard controller ID is also not used since AMIBIOS 07.00.xx.
+'''Note:''' The project ID section is only present on later cores of AMIBIOS 6 and later releases. The keyboard controller ID is also not used on [[AMIBIOS 07.00.xx]], [[AMIBIOS 8]] and [[AMI Aptio|Aptio]].
 '''Example string''': 61-1108-001169-00101111-071595-440BX/ZX-1440B000-H
@@ Line 43: / Line 56: @@
 == Intel fork ==
-[[File:Intel AMI 111192 for AP440FX.png|thumb|A late Intel AMI Hi-Flex fork]]
+''Main page: [[List of BIOS and UEFI firmwares used by Intel motherboards|List of BIOS and UEFI firmware used by Intel motherboards]]''
-''Main page: [[List of BIOS and UEFI firmwares used by Intel motherboards]]''
-Intel has forked AMI Hi-Flex BIOS subcore 111192 and used it on most of their motherboards manufactured from 1993 to 1997. Early versions of this fork are not much different from the original AMI version, while later versions look quite different.
+[[wikipedia:Intel|Intel]] has forked AMI Hi-Flex BIOS core version 111192 and used it on most of their motherboards manufactured from 1993 to 1997 (when they switched to [[PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.x|PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0]] instead). Early versions of this fork are not much different from the original AMI version, while later versions had a lot more differences. This fork was also used by most OEMs that licensed Intel motherboards for their computers, although sometimes with their own branding and occasionally even their own setup utility (like with [[wikipedia:Dell|Dell]] and [[wikipedia:IBM|IBM]]).
+<gallery mode="packed">
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-232303-926.png|Early POST screen (Intel Classic/PCI)
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-232405-957.png|Early setup utility (Intel Classic/PCI)
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-232110-785.png|New POST screen (Intel Classic/PCI ED)
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-232136-662.png|New setup utility (Intel Classic/PCI ED)
+File:Intel AMI 111192 for AP440FX.png|alt=|Late POST screen in 8x19 font (Intel AP440FX)
+File:Intel AMI 111192 Late VGA setup.png|alt=|Late setup utility in 8x19 font (Intel AP440FX)
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-233429-145.png|Dell Dimension M166a POST screen (based on Intel Hannibal+ motherboard)
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-233441-286.png|Dell Dimension M166a setup utility
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-233517-067.png|AMBRA (IBM) DP60PCI POST screen (based on Intel Premiere/PCI ED)
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-233606-115.png|IBM PS/ValuePoint P60 POST screen (based on Intel Premiere/PCI LP/LPX)
+File:Monitor 1 20240511-233625-868.png|IBM PS/ValuePoint P60 setup utility
+</gallery>