Award EliteBIOS, commonly known as Award Modular BIOS v4.5x/4.6x, is a family of various versions of AwardBIOS released between 1993-1998 and used on many motherboards in that era, along with some legacy embedded systems well into the 2000s. It was succeeded by AwardBIOS v6.00PG (codenamed "Medallion") in 1998, although most manufacturers switched to this version a year later, specifically with the release of Intel's 810 and other 8xx series of chipsets.
Versions
Over its lifetime, EliteBIOS has received many updates to either support newer technologies (such as Green PC features and Plug and Play) or to add new features (such as multi-language support and later PhoenixNet in 2000, although EliteBIOS had already been replaced by v6.00PG). These updates have been relabeled with updated version numbers and/or new suffixes to indicate these changes.
Below is a table showing the various technologies and features supported by each version. Note that this is only intended as a general outlook for support with these releases and may not be accurate for some specific instances (such as custom changes done by the OEM that are not part of a release by default, or code forks developed separately from a standard instance of a release):
| Released | Version | Green PC features | Plug and Play | CD/Built-in SCSI boot | ACPI | Multilanguage support | Built-in PhoenixNet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | v4.50 | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| 1994 | v4.50G | Yes | |||||
| 1995 | v4.50GP | Yes | |||||
| 1995 | v4.50PG | ||||||
| 1995 | v4.51PG | Varies | Varies | ||||
| 1995 | v4.51G | No | |||||
| 1997 | v4.51PGM | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| 1998 | v4.60PG | No | |||||
| 1998 | v4.60PGA | Yes | |||||
| 1999 | v4.60PGMA | Yes | |||||
| 1999 | v4.51PGN | No | Yes | ||||
| 1999 | v4.51PGNM | Yes | |||||
| 1999 | v4.60PGN |
v4.50 (1993 - 1994)
v4.50 is the first version of AwardBIOS that can be considered an EliteBIOS release, first released in 1993.
Early instances of v4.50 have a blue POST screen similar to AwardBIOS v4.00 and v4.2x/4.3x, while later instances introduced the black POST screen that was used in later versions of EliteBIOS and also made its way into AwardBIOS v6.00PG (with some minor changes).
While it is not certain (and debated among BIOS enthusiasts) whether or not v4.50 can be considered a version of EliteBIOS, mainly because of its early releases visually being more similar to AwardBIOS' older versions than the newer and more common versions within the EliteBIOS family, it is considered as such by many unofficial sources and a large number of retro computing enthusiasts. Therefore it's listed on this page in the wiki.
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Blue POST screen as seen on the earlier instances
v4.50G (1994 - 1995)
v4.50G is a version of EliteBIOS released in 1994 as an update to v4.50 with (usually) Advanced Power Management and other Green PC features. Later instances 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 built-in option ROM and the necessary setup options for Plug and Play support. It is very uncommon and was replaced by v4.50PG in less than a year.
v4.50PG (1995 - 1996)
v4.50PG is an update to v4.50GP, which is presumably the exact same version, but renamed.
The reason for this is unknown, but a common theory is that since the "P" stands for Plug and Play (PnP) support, and it used to come after the "G" for Green PC support, some popular software at the time (primarily drivers) that only checked the first letter after the version number misidentified it as a BIOS version without PnP support. However, there is no evidence to support this theory, and information about it is 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.
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Early v4.50 with the older blue POST screen, as seen on the ASUS P/I-P5MP3
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v4.50G POST screen with the Award Medallion and the EPA, as seen on the ABIT AB-PB4
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v4.50G without the Award Medallion or the EPA, as seen on the MSI MS-5103
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v4.51PG POST screen in VGA 640x480, as seen on the FIC VA-503A
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v4.51PG with the Award Medallion removed and a custom EPA, as seen on the QDI EXCELLENT II
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v4.51PG in 720x400 text mode, seen after exiting the boot logo on a Legend (now Lenovo) OEM PC
