Award EliteBIOS: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:33, 30 June 2024

Award EliteBIOS, often referred as Award Modular BIOS v4.5x or v4.6x, is a family of AwardBIOS versions, used on many motherboards in the mid and late-90s, and on some legacy industrial systems well into the 2000s. It was succeeded by AwardBIOS v6.00PG (codenamed "Medallion") in 1998, however most system manufacturers did not switch to this version until a year later.

Revisions

Various revisions of EliteBIOS exist. In most cases, this is reported at the top of the POST screen (which, if a full screen OEM logo is displayed during, can usually be shown by pressing TAB).

v4.50 (1993 - 1994)

v4.50 is likely the first revision of EliteBIOS, released in 1993. While it is not certain (and is also debatable) if v4.50 was ever officially considered as a revision of EliteBIOS by Award, most unofficial sources do consider it as such.

Early instances of it include a blue POST screen similar to the earlier v4.0 and v4.2x POST screens, while later instances introduced the iconic black POST screen that was also used by later revisions.

v4.50G (1994 - 1995)

v4.50G is the next revision of EliteBIOS, released in 1994 and also used in 1995. It is an updated revision of v4.50 with Advanced Power Management (usually) and other Green PC features. Later releases of v4.50G also display the EPA in the POST screen.

v4.50GP (1995)

v4.50GP is an updated version of v4.50G with a BIOS extension for Plug and Play support. It is very uncommon and was quickly replaced by v4.50PG.

v4.50PG (1995 - 1996)

v4.50PG is essentially the same version as v4.50GP, but renamed. It's not known why this was done, but a popular theory is that because the "P" stands for Plug and Play (PnP) support, and it came after the "G" for Green PC support, some software could potentially misidentify the BIOS version as one without PnP support. However, there is no evidence to support this theory, and information is very scarce.

v4.51PG (1995 - 1999)

v4.51PG is an update to the v4.50PG, although what changes it has brought over it are unclear. However, it might have introduced the ability to boot from other devices such as CD-ROM drives and the on-board SCSI controller on motherboards containing one.

v4.51G (1995 - 1996)

v4.51G is a rare update to the v4.50G. It is basically v4.51PG but without the Plug and Play BIOS extension. It may have been offered for motherboards with small ROM chips (such as 64 kilobyte chips).

v4.51PGM (1997 - 1999)

v4.51PGM is a variant of v4.51PG. It usually has multi-language support compared to v4.51PG, but not always.

v4.60PG (1998 - 1999)

v4.60PG is a rare revision of EliteBIOS, mostly used by AOpen/Acer and FIC, although the difference between it and the earlier v4.51PG is unknown.

v4.60PGA (1998 - 1999)

v4.60PGA is a variant of v4.60PG, although the difference between it and the v4.60PG or the v4.51PG are unknown. However, the "A" may indicate ACPI support on some boards, although not always.

v4.60PGMA (1999)

v4.60PGMA is a variant of v4.60PGA, often with multilanguage support (although not always), used on a few boards such as the AOpen AX6BC.

v4.51PGN (1999)

v4.51PGN is a variant of v4.51PG, often with PhoenixNet (although not always).

v4.51PGNM (1999)

v4.51PGNM is an uncommon variant of v4.51PGM, often with PhoenixNet (although not always).

v4.60PGN (1999)

v4.60PGN is a variant of v4.60PG, often with PhoenixNet (although not always).

POST screen

The POST screen of EliteBIOS has went through major changes over the time period. On early implementations of v4.50, the older blue POST screen style from AwardBIOS v4.2x was used (with some slight changes). At some later point with v4.50, a new black POST screen with a completely different style was introduced. The early implementations of the new POST screen often also had the blue AwardBIOS medallion symbol on top left (sometimes also called "The Award Man", due to it also resembling a man unintentionally), although not the EPA (Energy Star logo) on top right, which was introduced with v4.50G.

However, on some versions, both the medallion symbol and the EPA can be absent, often due to modifications by the OEM. They might also be absent if a startup logo is used or if PhoenixNet is enabled (both on some later cores). Also, often on newer BIOSes, the EPA might be modified to display custom logos from the OEM instead of the Energy Star logo.

Early v4.50 with the older blue POST screen, as seen on the ASUS P/I-P5MP3
v4.50G POST screen with the Award Medallion and the EPA, as seen on the ABIT AB-PB4
v4.50G without the Award Medallion or the EPA, as seen on the MSI MS-5103
v4.51PG POST screen in VGA 640x480, as seen on the FIC VA-503A
v4.51PG with the Award Medallion removed and a custom EPA, as seen on the QDI EXCELLENT II
v4.51PG in 720x400 text mode, seen after exiting the boot logo on a Legend (now Lenovo) OEM PC

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:AwardBIOS v4.51PG Azza PT-5IV.png|thumb|AwardBIOS v4.51PG (a version of EliteBIOS), as seen on the Azza PT-5IV motherboard.]]
+[[File:AwardBIOS v4.51PG Azza PT-5IV.png|thumb|AwardBIOS v4.51PG (a revision of EliteBIOS), as seen on the Azza PT-5IV motherboard.]]
-'''Award EliteBIOS''', often referred as Award Modular BIOS v4.5x or v4.6x, is a family of versions of [[AwardBIOS]], used on many OEM and retail motherboards from the mid-90s to the early-2000s, and also on some legacy industrial motherboards even well into the 2000s. It was succeeded by [[AwardBIOS v6.00PG|AwardBIOS v6.00PG (also known as Award Medallion BIOS)]] in 1998, however most board manufacturers kept on using EliteBIOS until next year.
+'''Award EliteBIOS''', often referred as Award Modular BIOS v4.5x or v4.6x, is a family of [[AwardBIOS]] versions, used on many motherboards in the mid and late-90s, and on some legacy industrial systems well into the 2000s. It was succeeded by [[AwardBIOS v6.00PG|AwardBIOS v6.00PG (codenamed "Medallion")]] in 1998, however most system manufacturers did not switch to this version until a year later.
-== Core versions ==
+== Revisions ==
-Various core versions of EliteBIOS do exist. In most cases, the actual core version is reported at the top of the POST screen (which, if a full screen OEM logo is displayed during instead, can often be shown by pressing TAB).
+Various revisions of EliteBIOS exist. In most cases, this is reported at the top of the POST screen (which, if a full screen OEM logo is displayed during, can usually be shown by pressing TAB).
 === v4.50 (1993 - 1994) ===
-v4.50 is (most likely) the first version of EliteBIOS, released in 1993. While it is not certain (and is also debatable) if v4.50 was ever officially considered as an EliteBIOS version by Award, it is considered by most unofficial sources as a version of it.
+v4.50 is likely the first revision of EliteBIOS, released in 1993. While it is not certain (and is also debatable) if v4.50 was ever officially considered as a revision of EliteBIOS by Award, most unofficial sources do consider it as such.
-Early versions of v4.50 include a blue POST screen similar to the earlier v4.0 and v4.2x POST screens, while later versions introduced the newer black POST screen also used by later versions (although without the Energy Star logo, also called an EPA).
+Early instances of it include a blue POST screen similar to the earlier [[AwardBIOS v4.00|v4.0]] and [[AwardBIOS v4.2x/v4.3x|v4.2x]] POST screens, while later instances introduced the iconic black POST screen that was also used by later revisions.
 === v4.50G (1994 - 1995) ===
-v4.50G is the second version of EliteBIOS, released in 1994 and also used in 1995. It is an updated version of v4.50 with Advanced Power Management (usually) and other Green PC features. Later releases of v4.50G also introduced the EPA in the POST screen.
+v4.50G is the next revision of EliteBIOS, released in 1994 and also used in 1995. It is an updated revision of v4.50 with Advanced Power Management (usually) and other Green PC features. Later releases of v4.50G also display the [[EPA (BIOS)|EPA]] in the POST screen.
 === v4.50GP (1995) ===
-v4.50GP is an updated version of v4.50G with a BIOS extension for support for Plug and Play devices. It is very uncommon and was quickly replaced by v4.50PG.
+v4.50GP is an updated version of v4.50G with a BIOS extension for Plug and Play support. It is very uncommon and was quickly replaced by v4.50PG.
 === v4.50PG (1995 - 1996) ===
-v4.50PG is practically the same version as v4.50GP, but renamed.
+v4.50PG is essentially the same version as v4.50GP, but renamed. It's not known why this was done, but a popular theory is that because the "P" stands for Plug and Play (PnP) support, and it came after the "G" for Green PC support, some software could potentially misidentify the BIOS version as one without PnP support. However, there is no evidence to support this theory, and information is very scarce.
 === v4.51PG (1995 - 1999) ===
-v4.51PG is an update to the v4.50PG, although what changes it has brought over v4.50PG are unclear. However, v4.51PG might have introduced the ability to boot from other drives such as CD-ROM drives and from the on-board SCSI controller on motherboards with it.
+v4.51PG is an update to the v4.50PG, although what changes it has brought over it are unclear. However, it might have introduced the ability to boot from other devices such as CD-ROM drives and the on-board SCSI controller on motherboards containing one.
 === v4.51G (1995 - 1996) ===
-v4.51G is an uncommon update to the v4.50G. It is basically v4.51PG but without the Plug and Play BIOS extension. It might have been offered for boards with smaller ROM chips (such as 64K), however this is just a theory.
+v4.51G is a rare update to the v4.50G. It is basically v4.51PG but without the Plug and Play BIOS extension. It may have been offered for motherboards with small ROM chips (such as 64 kilobyte chips).
 === v4.51PGM (1997 - 1999) ===
-v4.51PGM is a variant of v4.51PG. It often has multilanguage support compared to the v4.51PG, although not always.
+v4.51PGM is a variant of v4.51PG. It usually has multi-language support compared to v4.51PG, but not always.
 === v4.60PG (1998 - 1999) ===
-v4.60PG is an uncommon core version of EliteBIOS, often used by AOpen and FIC, although the difference between it and the earlier v4.51PG is unknown.
+v4.60PG is a rare revision of EliteBIOS, mostly used by AOpen/Acer and FIC, although the difference between it and the earlier v4.51PG is unknown.
 === v4.60PGA (1998 - 1999) ===