AMIBIOS 07.00.10

From SoftHistory

AMIBIOS 07.00.10, not to be confused with AMIBIOS 7, is a release of AMIBIOS that is usually known with the string core date of "040201" (April 2, 2001). Unlike AMIBIOS 7 (whose code was re-used for AMIBIOS 8), 07.00.10 is based on the older AMIBIOS codebase, although with some changes and new features. These features include bigger size storage support (from 64 GB to 2 TB), a built-in boot menu and a built-in option ROM for network boot (although it was still possible to perform a network boot on earlier versions with unofficial option ROMs).

POST screen

AMIBIOS 07.00.10 can often be seen with a VGA (640x480) resolution POST screen and a graphic Energy Star Ally EPA, although occassionally it may also be seen with an EGA (640x350) resolution POST screen and the older text mode EPA from AMIBIOS 6. Also, the EPA on both variants may be changed with a different graphic or can be completely disabled.

Setup Utility

Two different screen resolutions may be used for the setup on AMIBIOS 07.00.10, VGA (640x480) and EGA (720x400). Although versions that use VGA for the POST screen often also use it for the setup, some versions with VGA POST may also use EGA setup instead.

For VGA, AMIBIOS 07.00.10 has introduced new VGA resolution versions of all setup utilities originally introduced with AMIBIOS 6 (except for WinBIOS Setup Utility, which was discontinued by the time and was only in use by some code forks of AMIBIOS 6), although also with some other changes. These include Hi-Flex, Simple and Easy Setup. They are all often called "AMIBIOS NEW SETUP UTILITY", although in some rare cases the actual names of the utilities may also be used instead.

For EGA, the original Hi-Flex and Simple Setup utilities from AMIBIOS 6 can be seen (with no changes) with their original names (instead of "AMIBIOS NEW SETUP UTILITY"), although Easy Setup was re-written for EGA as well and is different from the original Easy Setup seen on AMIBIOS 6. Easy Setup is often also called "AMIBIOS NEW SETUP UTILITY" instead of its actual name, although sometimes it may also be called "AMIBIOS SETUP UTILITY" instead (seen on ASRock motherboards, which may indicate it is a modification made by ASRock, although sometimes the "AMIBIOS NEW SETUP UTILITY" name was also used by ASRock).

It is often possible to port the setup utilities from AMIBIOS 6 to AMIBIOS 07.00.10 by swapping the setup client module with AMIBCP 7, however both modules must be in the same screen resolution. Swapping a VGA resolution setup module with an EGA resolution setup module (or vice versa) will cause the setup utility to not work (and often just a black screen will be displayed when entering setup). Aside from this, swapping the setup utility may cause other issues as well (such as nonfunctional features or menus in setup), even if the utilities are in same resolution. By swapping the setup utilities, the WinBIOS Setup Utility may also be used with AMIBIOS 07.00.10 (by swapping one from an AMIBIOS 6 ROM with WinBIOS setup), however only if it's being swapped with an EGA setup client (as WinBIOS setup was never made in VGA resolution).

The gallery below contains images of known setup utilities introduced with AMIBIOS 07.00.10. Please note that EGA resolution version of Hi-Flex and Simple Setup are not included as they're exactly the same as the versions used on AMIBIOS 6.