| American Megatrends, Inc. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Private |
| Founded | S. Shankar, (1985) |
| Headquarters | Norcross, Georgia (USA) |
| Industry | Computer hardware Diagnostic software Remote access Motherboards Firmware Storage systems |
| Products | AMIBIOS Aptio AMIDIAG StorTrends MegaRAC ManageTrends |
| Employees | 500+ worldwide |
| Website | www.ami.com |
American Megatrends Incorporated (AMI) is a hardware and software company heaquartered in Norcross, Georgia, USA that specializes in PC hardware and firmware. It was founded in 1985 by the current chairman and president, S. Shankar.
AMI's product line includes AMIBIOS (a BIOS), Aptio (a successor to AMIBIOS8 based on the UEFI standards), diagnostic software, remote access, motherboards, backplanes, driver/firmware development, service processors, storage systems, chassis design, and integrated systems.
AMI claims a number of initiatives:
- First to build motherboards based on Intel's 386 and 486 processor platforms.
- First to use onboard external cache designs for these boards;.
- First to build and ship a quad-Xeon processor system.
- First to support USB.
- First to create a GUI BIOS interface with mouse support.
- First to integrate diagnostics and first to support ACPI.
- First to support SATA in the diagnostics.
Worldwide offices:
- Norcross, Georgia (USA)
- US Field Offices: Texas, California, Oregon, New York
- China
- Taiwan
- Germany
- India
- Japan
- Korea
AMIBIOS
| Number of beeps | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | power-on self test successful |
| 2 | Parity error in the first 64KiB of RAM |
| 3 | Memory failure in the first 64KiB of RAM |
| 4 | Same as 3, but also including a non-functional timer 1 |
| 5 | CPU error |
| 6 | Error in the A20 line on the 8042 keyboard controller chip |
| 7 | Generation of a CPU virtual mode exception signifying an error |
| 8 | Read/write error when accessing system video RAM |
| 9 | Mismatch between the calculated checksum of the ROM firmware and the expected value hardcoded into the firmware. |
| 10 | Read/write error for the CMOS NVRAM shutdown register |
| 11 | A fault in the L2 cache |
AMIBIOS (also AMI BIOS) is the BIOS produced and sold by American Megatrends. It is used both on the company's own motherboards and on motherbords sold by other companies. American Megatrends is the only third-party BIOS manufacturer to also produce its own motherboards. As of 2002, AMI BIOS was the most popular BIOS firmware for PCs.[3][4]
The original AMI BIOS did not encrypt the machine startup password, which it stored in non-volatile RAM. Therefore, any utility capable of reading a PC's NVRAM was able to read and to alter the password. The AMI WinBIOS encrypts the stored password, using a simple substitution cipher.[5]
The AMI WinBIOS was an update to AMIBIOS, with a graphical user interface setup screen that mimicked the appearance of Windows 3.1. It was described by Thomas Pabst at Tom's Hardware in 1998 as a "big disappointment", in part because of its inability to distribute all IRQ signals to every PCI and ISA expansion slot and by Anand Lal Shimpi at AnandTech as "mask[ing] the high-end and extremely configurable core of their top notch BIOS Setup behind a layer of good-looks and a hardly intimidating interface".[6][7]
During powerup, the BIOS firmware displays an ID string in the lower-left-hand corner of the screen. This ID string comprises various pieces of information about the firmware, including when it was compiled, what configuration options were selected, the OEM licence code, and the targetted chipset and motherboard. There are 3 ID string formats, the first for older AMIBIOS, and the second and third for the newer AMI Hi-Flex ("high flexibility") BIOS. These latter are displayed when one presses the Insert key during power-on self-test.[4]
By pressing the Delete key during power-on self-test, during the period when one is prompted to do so, one can invoke the built-in setup utility program. Some AMIBIOS versions also included, in addition to that, a menu-driven system troubleshooting and diagnostics program — a cut-down version of the AMIDIAG utility that AMI also sold separately. This program does not perform extensive memory checks, and its hard disc formatting capabilities only extend to using BIOS APIs for doing so, rather than accessing the ATA disc unit command registers directly. Most recent AMI BIOSes do not include this program.[4]
AMI produces no end-user documentation for its BIOS firmware, leaving that up to the motherboard manufacturers that licence its BIOS firmware. (AMI does not sell its BIOS source code to motherboard manufacturers. It customizes its BIOS for each OEM indvidually.) However, it has published two books on its BIOS (listed in further reading), written by its engineers.[4]
AMIBIOS is only sold through distributors, not directly to end users. Firmware upgrades and replacements are not available from AMI, except for its own motherboards. Upgrades and replacements for AMIBIOS customized for a motherboard are only available from the manufacturer of that motherboard, or from eSupport. AMI supplies both DOS and Win32 firmware upgrade utilities for its own motherboards. eSupport only supplies a Win32 upgrade utility.[4][8][9]
References
- ^ K. F. Ibrahim (2002). PC Operation and Repair. Pearson Education, 223. ISBN 0582452708.
- ^ Jennifer Fulton (2002). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Upgrading and Repairing PCs. Alpha Books, 214–215. ISBN 0028642392.
- ^ Roderick W. Smith (2000). "BIOS History and Design Theory", The Multi-Boot Configuration Handbook. Que Publishing, 71. ISBN 0789722836.
- ^ a b c d e Scott Mueller (2002). Upgrading and Repairing PCs. Que Publishing, 368—372. ISBN 0789727455.
- ^ Phil Croucher (2001). "Advanced CMOS setup", The Bios Companion: The Book That Doesn't Come with Your Motherhood!. Lulu.com, 128. ISBN 0968192807.
- ^ Thomas Pabst (1998-05-26). Review of Slot 1 Motherboards with Intel 440BX Chipset — Spring 1998. Tom's Hardware.
- ^ Anand Lal Shimpi (1998-04-27). Tyan S1846 Tsunami ATX BX Pentium II Board. AnandTech.
- ^ American Megatrends. AMIBIOS Support.
- ^ Unsupported operating system. eSupport.com. TouchStone Software (2007).
Further reading
- American Megatrends, Inc. (1993). Programmer's Guide to the AMIBIOS. Windcrest/McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070015627.
- American Megatrends Inc. (1994). Programming Amibios. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Limited. ISBN 0070015619.
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