AwardBIOS: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:40, 12 January 2023

AwardBIOS (also known as Award Modular BIOS and later known as Phoenix - AwardBIOS after the Phoenix Technologies merge of the company) is a Personal Computer BIOS developed by Award Software in 1984.

Merge with Phoenix Technologies

On April 16, 1998, Phoenix Technologies acquired Award Software to create a $100M BIOS firm. It was completed on September 28 of the same year and both companies merged. As a result of the merge, Award Software went bankrupt, while Phoenix survived.

PhoenixNet controversy

Main page: PhoenixNet

In 2000, Phoenix developed an add-on for AwardBIOS called PhoenixNet, which gave motherboard manufacturers and system OEMs to advertise their services, change the browser home page and automatically install sponsored system tools on the system after a Windows 9x installation.

PhoenixNet was heavily criticized among enthusiasts for privacy concerns and performance issues on systems with it enabled. Eventually, the add-on was discontinued in 2001 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(?)		Probably considered as AwardBIOS v5.00 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 (also known as Award Modular BIOS and later known as Phoenix - AwardBIOS after the [[Phoenix Technologies Ltd|Phoenix Technologies]] merge of the company) is a [[Personal Computer BIOS]] developed by [[Award Software]] in 1984.
-== Phoenix acquisition ==
+== Merge with Phoenix Technologies ==
 On April 16, 1998, [[Phoenix Technologies Ltd|Phoenix Technologies]] acquired Award Software to create a $100M BIOS firm. It was completed on September 28 of the same year and both companies merged. As a result of the merge, Award Software went bankrupt, while Phoenix survived.
 == PhoenixNet controversy ==
-In 2000, Phoenix Technologies developed a technology for AwardBIOS versions 4.51PGN and 6.00PGN, called PhoenixNet that integrates into the BIOS of motherboard. It received a major criticism due to being spyware.
+''Main page: [[PhoenixNet]]''
-This spyware however, also installs some bloated software once it detects an existing operating system and internet connection. Their services have been discontinued in late 2001, but there are probably few motherboards in 2002 that still have PhoenixNet built-in but may not work. After the service ended, some PC vendors have released BIOS updates for their motherboards that have PhoenixNet already to remove or disable the spyware.
+In 2000, Phoenix developed an add-on for AwardBIOS called PhoenixNet, which gave motherboard manufacturers and system OEMs to advertise their services, change the browser home page and automatically install sponsored system tools on the system after a Windows 9x installation.
+PhoenixNet was heavily criticized among enthusiasts for privacy concerns and performance issues on systems with it enabled. Eventually, the add-on was discontinued in 2001 due to [http://www.cexx.org/phoenix.htm|"the demise of the Internet advertising market"].
 == List of known versions ==
@@ Line 17: / Line 19: @@
 !Notes
 |-
-|AwardBIOS 1.xx
+|[[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
+|[[AwardBIOS 2.xx]]
 |1985
 |[[File:AwardBIOS 2.07 POST.png|300px]]
 |
 |-
-|AwardBIOS 3.xx
+|[[AwardBIOS 3.xx]]
 |1987
 |[[File:AwardBIOS B3.11.03 POST screen.png|300px]]
 |Siemens-Nixdorf fork exists.
 |-
-|AwardBIOS v4.00
+|[[AwardBIOS v4.00]]
 |1990
 |[[File:Award_Modular_BIOS_v4.00_POST.png|300px]]
 |Mostly used on motherboards with EISA expansion buses
 |-
-|AwardBIOS v4.20/4.26/4.28/4.32
+|[[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
+|[[AwardBIOS v4.50]]
 |1993
 |[[File:AwardBIOS_4_50Blue.png|300px]]
@@ Line 48: / Line 50: @@
 |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
+|[[Award EliteBIOS|AwardBIOS v4.50xx/v4.51xx/v4.60xx]]
 |1994
 |[[File:AwardBIOS v4.51PG POST.png|300px]]