Award EliteBIOS, commonly known as Award Modular BIOS v4.50x/4.51x/4.60x, is a family (and the codename) of various versions of AwardBIOS released between 1993 and 2000. These versions can be commonly found on motherboards made between mid 1990s and 2000, along with some legacy industrial systems made in later parts of the 2000s.
EliteBIOS is the successor of AwardBIOS v4.xx and was itself succeeded by AwardBIOS v6.00PG (codenamed Medallion) in 1998.
Versions
Initially being released as AwardBIOS v4.50 in 1993, EliteBIOS received many updates over time. These updates were mostly released to support newer hardware and their standards, such as Green PC and Plug and Play. Aside from these, some versions also introduced new features over their predecessors, such as multi-language support and PhoenixNet.
To indicate some of these, various suffixes are used in the version numbers, although these can be sometimes unclear or inconsistent among different instances. These suffixes are listed below in the general order they're used in:
- P - Plug and Play support
- G - Green PC features support
- N - PhoenixNet support
- M - Multilanguage support
- A - Unknown, although may indicate ACPI support, despite being used very inconsistently. Some instances with complete ACPI support do not have this suffix, while some with incomplete support do.
Feature comparison table
The table below shows the features each version generally has. However, it should be noted that it can be inaccurate and should be only used as a general reference. This is mainly caused by the feature suffixes sometimes being used inconsistently, along with development differences in code forks developed separately from stock EliteBIOS.
| Released | Version | Green PC features | Plug and Play | CD/SCSI boot support | ACPI | Multilanguage | 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 | |||||
| 1996(?) | v4.51GP | Yes | |||||
| 1996(?) | v4.51GPM | Yes | |||||
| 1997 | v4.51PGM | Yes | |||||
| 1998 | v4.60PG | No | |||||
| 1998 | v4.60PGA | Yes | |||||
| 1999 | v4.60PGMA | Yes | |||||
| 2000 | v4.51PGN | No | Yes | ||||
| 2000 | v4.51PGNM | Yes | |||||
| 2000 | v4.60PGN | No |
Detailed list
AwardBIOS v4.50 (1993 - 1994)
AwardBIOS v4.50 is likely the first version of EliteBIOS, released in 1993 and also commonly used in 1994.
Most instances of v4.50 use the older blue POST screen introduced with AwardBIOS v4.xx, while the black POST screen was introduced with some of its later instances, which would also be used by later versions of EliteBIOS (and by AwardBIOS v6.00PG, although with some slight changes).
While it is not certain (and sometimes debated) whether or not v4.50 can be considered an EliteBIOS version (due to its early instances being visually more similar to its predecessor than to other EliteBIOS versions), it is considered to be one by many (un)official sources along with the vast majority of BIOS enthusiasts. Therefore, it will be listed in this page on the wiki unless an official resource claiming otherwise is discovered.
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Blue POST screen
AwardBIOS v4.50G (1994 - 1995)
AwardBIOS v4.50G is a version of EliteBIOS released in 1994. It is an update to v4.50 that introduces Advanced Power Management support, along with support for other Green PC features. Later instances also display an EPA (Energy Star logo) in the POST screen.
AwardBIOS v4.50GP (1995)
AwardBIOS v4.50GP is an update to v4.50G that introduces Plug and Play support, along with the option ROM necessary for it. It was succeeded by v4.50PG in less than a year, and is therefore very uncommon.
AwardBIOS v4.50PG (1995 - 1996)
AwardBIOS v4.50PG is an update to v4.50GP. It is presumably the same version, but renamed for unknown reasons. A common theory is that this was done to avoid misdetections in various programs, where they would fail to detect the presence of Plug and Play support due to the "G" suffix (indicating Green PC support) coming before the "P" suffix, which indicates Plug and Play support. However, there is no evidence to support this theory, and it is unlikely to actually be the case.
AwardBIOS v4.51PG (1995 - 1999)
AwardBIOS v4.51PG is an update to v4.50PG, although the changes are unclear. It is commonly claimed that it has introduced the ability to boot from CDs and on-board SCSI controllers that do not have their own BIOS. However, later instances of v4.50PG also support booting from these devices. Although, it is still possible that this was introduced with v4.51PG and then backported to v4.50PG.
It is the most common version of EliteBIOS, and was used way after its introduction.
AwardBIOS v4.51G (1995 - 1996)
AwardBIOS v4.51G is an uncommon update to v4.50G. It is essentially the same as AwardBIOS v4.51PG but without the option ROM for Plug and Play support. It was most commonly used for BIOS updates for older motherboards with smaller ROM chips (such as 64 kilobyte chips) that do not have enough space for the Plug and Play ROM. It was also used on industrial/embedded motherboards utilizing legacy platforms that do not have a PCI bus.
AwardBIOS v4.51GP (1996?)
AwardBIOS v4.51GP is a possible version of EliteBIOS mentioned in some versions of the Award Zero-Volt Partition Utility (ZVHDD), such as Version 2.1. It is unknown if it was actually ever released, as it has no known instances.
It may have possibly been the developmental name of AwardBIOS v4.51PG before it was renamed at a later point.
AwardBIOS v4.51GPM (1996?)
AwardBIOS v4.51GPM is a possible version of EliteBIOS mentioned in some versions of the Award Zero-Volt Partition Utility (ZVHDD), such as Version 1.31, along with ZVHDD related strings in the ROM binaries of some EliteBIOS instances, such as Version 1.4a of the AwardBIOS v4.51PG instance from ECS P6BAP-Me.[1] It is unknown if it was actually ever released, as it has no known instances.
It may have possibly been the developmental name of AwardBIOS v4.51PGM before it was renamed at a later point.
AwardBIOS v4.51PGM (1997 - 1999)
AwardBIOS v4.51PGM is a variant of v4.51PG with multilanguage support. However, despite this, most of its instances are only in English.
AwardBIOS v4.60PG (1998 - 1999)
AwardBIOS v4.60PG is an uncommon version of EliteBIOS. It was mostly used by a few Taiwanese OEMs; such as Acer/AOpen, FIC, Leadtek and Zida. Its differences from v4.51PG are unknown.
AwardBIOS v4.60PGA (1998 - 1999)
AwardBIOS v4.60PGA is a variant of v4.60PG, although its differences from v4.60PG or v4.51PG are unknown. Judging by the "A" suffix, it may possibly have introduced ACPI support. However, this suffix was very inconsistently used, with many boards with it only having partial ACPI support, along with many boards without it having full ACPI support.
AwardBIOS v4.60PGMA (1999)
AwardBIOS v4.60PGMA is a variant of v4.60PGA with multilanguage support. However, despite this, most of its instances are only in English. It was only used on a few motherboards, such as the AOpen AX6BC, which unusually has a Chinese language option (alongside English) that can be toggled with the F8 key in CMOS Setup.
AwardBIOS v4.51PGN (2000)
AwardBIOS v4.51PGN is a variant of v4.51PG with built-in PhoenixNet support. Despite this, some of its instances do not actually have PhoenixNet.
AwardBIOS v4.51PGNM (2000)
AwardBIOS v4.51PGNM is an uncommon variant of v4.51PGN with multilanguage support. Despite this, many of its instances are only in English.
AwardBIOS v4.60PGN (2000)
AwardBIOS v4.60PGN is a variant of v4.60PG with built-in PhoenixNet support. Despite this, some of its instances do not actually have PhoenixNet.
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
