AMIBIOS 6

The POST screen used by early AMIBIOS 6, although some slight changes have occurred over years

AMIBIOS 6 is a version of AMIBIOS made by American Megatrends and often known with the subcore date 071595 (July 15, 1995), although some few newer subcore dates such as 071599 (July 15, 1999) do exist. It was used for a very long time, from 1995 to around 2001 when it was replaced by AMIBIOS 07.00.10 (which then quickly got replaced by AMIBIOS 8).

Early versions (cores) of AMIBIOS 6 could still only detect up to 32 GB hard drives, however in around 1999 this limit was bumped up to 64 GB. AMIBIOS 6 was also the first version of AMIBIOS to include built-in PnP (Plug and Play) support, an easy hardware detection technology used by Microsoft Windows 95 and newer versions.

POST screen

As AMIBIOS 6 was in use for a very long time, some changes to the POST screen (and the setup utilities and overall some features as well) have occurred. The EPA (Energy Star compliance logo, short for Environmental Protection Agency, used by AwardBIOS and enthusiasts) can also change depending on OEM/motherboard manufacturer and core version.

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  POST screen with small EPA, same EPA also used by AMI WinBIOS, often used by ones that have WinBIOS Setup Utility

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  POST screen with EPA on right corner

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  POST screen with EPA on top right corner

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  POST screen in VGA resolution (640x480), also often used on Chinese and Japanese BIOSes

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  POST screen in VGA resolution and with different EPA, used by some Gigabyte motherboards

Setup Utility

Unlike AMI WinBIOS and AMIBIOS 5, AMIBIOS 6 included a variety of setup utilities for use by OEMs/manufacturers. Early versions only had AMI WinBIOS Setup Utility or Hi-Flex Setup Utility, while Easy Setup Utility (resembling the Intel AMI Hi-Flex fork setup) and Simple Setup Utility (resembling the newer AwardBIOS setup) were also introduced later.

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  Early Hi-Flex Setup Utility (1995), does not mention Hi-Flex

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  Later Hi-Flex Setup Utility (1996-2001), does mention Hi-Flex

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  Hi-Flex Setup Utility in VGA resolution, often was used on versions with Chinese or Japanese language support.

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  WinBIOS Setup Utility

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  Easy Setup Utility

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  Early Simple Setup Utility

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  Late Simple Setup Utility

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  Setup Utility used by some Gateway 2000/Advanced Logic Research (ALR) computers/motherboards, believed to be made by Intel for a beta of their AMIBIOS 6 fork

Bugs and quirks

People have reported Plug and Play related issues on early AMIBIOS versions with Plug and Play support (assumed to be AMIBIOS 6). The issues were said to be fixed in around 1997, however.

Early versions of AMIBIOS 6 also have a bug with their CD-ROM boot option where they often can't boot into Windows XP installation disks. When attempted to, an NTLDR is missing error will appear, regardless of used disk.

Thomas Pabst of Tom's Hardware has also reported issues regarding IRQ routing with AMIBIOS 6 with WinBIOS Setup Utility, calling it "a big disappointment".

Intel fork

The POST screen used by Intel's AMIBIOS 6 fork, in 640x480 with 8x19 font

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

Intel forked AMIBIOS 6 subcore date 071595 in around 1998 and began using it on their motherboards. This fork also used an unusual 063200 core number (last for regular AMIBIOS 6 was 063100). It was also later replaced with their AMIBIOS 8 fork in early-2000s.