Extended Bios Switch; Video Switch; User Switch; Bios Recovery Switch - Octagon Systems XE–700 Reference Manual

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Extended BIOS switch

The extended BIOS switch is position 2. The extended BIOS memory region

(D8000h to DFFFFh) contains the Octagon INT17 functions. When this switch is

Off, this memory region is freed up for other uses. Note that if you want to use the

INT17 functions, you must either leave the switch On or copy those functions

elsewhere.

You can also modify the extended BIOS using the MAKEBIOS.BAT file, located in

the XE–700 SBC subdirectory of the Octagon CD. Type MAKEBIOS ? for a list of

available options.

Note

If you are using an operating system other than DOS the X switch should be Off.

The X switch maps the INT17 extended BIOS into the 0xD8000-0xDFFFF memory.

This can cause problems with applications or hardware running on other operating

systems if they attempt to use this memory range. Setting the X switch Off frees

this memory for use by other operating systems.

The video switch is position 3. When this switch is On the on-card video is enabled.

To use a serial console, or an extension-card video only without using the onboard

video controller (such as a PC/104), set this switch Off.

The user switch is position 4 and is associated with GPIO23 on the Atlas processor

IC. The INT17 functions provide an easy method to implement software routines

according to whether or not a switch is On. Refer to the INT17 calls to read user

switch on page 90.

The BIOS recovery switch on the XE–700 SBC is position 5. This switch allows you

to reinstall the BIOS from a floppy disk. When the BIOS recovery switch is Off, the

system will use the boot block recovery process to program a new BIOS.

The BIOS recovery process uses the embflash.exe utility. This utility can be

obtained from Octagon Technical Support. To use the BIOS recovery switch follow

the instructions in CRISIS.HTM on the Octagon Product CD in the \700\EXT

BIOS\CRISIS directory.

The BIOS on the XE–700 SBC can be reprogrammed using the PHLASH.EXE

utility. This utility can be found on the Octagon Product CD-ROM in the \XE–

700\EXTBIOS subdirectory. To program the new BIOS the following steps must be

taken:

1. Copy PHLASH.EXE, PLATFORM.BIN, and BIOS.ROM from the

\XE700\EXTBIOS subdirectory to the root of a bootable CompactFlash disk.

2. Boot the XE–700 SBC from the CompactFlash disk with a CRT monitor or flat

panel connected to the system. Note that HIMEM.SYS or other memory

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