AMI Hi-Flex BIOS: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:31, 22 January 2024

AMI Hi-Flex BIOS, also called "AMI Color BIOS" by enthusiasts (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 BIOS string format (which was used with slight changes for all newer versions of AMIBIOS and all versions of Aptio until 2020), and more setup options.

AMIDIAG, which a limited version of was included with some versions of AMI Plus BIOS, was completely removed from the BIOS ROM with this version. Although some of AMIDIAG's features remained in the new setup utility.

Setup Utility

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:

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

Like AMI Plus BIOS, hard drives of up to 32 GB in capacity can be configured in the setup utility. However, due to lack of LBA (Logical Block Addressing) on most versions, only up to 504 MB can be used. Although, some late versions of Hi-Flex had LBA in the Advanced CMOS Setup menu through code forks or modifications. Additionally, various workarounds do exist for this limitation, such as using Ontrack Disk Manager.

New 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 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.

POST screen for Intel AP440FX, a Socket 8 motherboard with a very late instance of Intel's AMI Hi-Flex 111192 fork.
AP440FX's 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.
+AMI Hi-Flex BIOS, also called "AMI Color BIOS" by enthusiasts (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 BIOS string format (which was used with slight changes for all newer versions of AMIBIOS and all versions of [[AMI Aptio|Aptio]] until 2020), and more setup options.
+AMIDIAG, which a limited version of was included with some versions of AMI Plus BIOS, was completely removed from the BIOS ROM with this version. Although some of AMIDIAG's features remained in the new setup utility.
 == Setup Utility ==
 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>
+<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 26: @@
 == 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.
+Like AMI Plus BIOS, hard drives of up to 32 GB in capacity can be configured in the setup utility. However, due to lack of LBA (Logical Block Addressing) on most versions, only up to 504 MB can be used. Although, some late versions of Hi-Flex had LBA in the Advanced CMOS Setup menu through code forks or modifications. Additionally, various workarounds do exist for this limitation, such as using Ontrack Disk Manager.
-== BIOS string ==
+== New identification string format ==
-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.
+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 36: @@
 <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