Rom Dos Interaction - RadiSys EPC - 6A Hardware Reference Manual

4. Attempt to boot from RFA
If the BIOS proceeds down the flash memory path, the flash memory is viewed as a
bootable disk device and the BIOS starts the bootstrap process by loading the first 512
bytes into memory location 07C0:0000 and passing control to it. The display blanks
before the bootstrap process begins.
Once the system completes POST, an INT19 is attempted. This attempts to read the
boot sector from the disk. In the EPC-6A's case, this is routed through an INT13
handler which reads the boot sector from the RFA.
For more information about the bootstrap process and how to create a bootable image in
the flash memory, see the EPControl Programmer's Guide.
In the event that an invalid CMOS setup is saved or the disk image becomes un-bootable it
will be necessary to go into forced recovery. From forced recovery, it is possible to restore
CMOS values to there factory defaults. It is also possible to reload the factory default
bootable DOS image into the RFA should it become corrupt or mis-configured. For more
on these items, see Forced recovery section on page 48.

ROM DOS Interaction

Although you can use a standard PC-compatible keyboard, the EPC-6A is used more as a
dedicated controller than an embedded PC-compatible computer. When using the EPC-6A
without a keyboard, you can interact with the ROM DOS on the EPC-6A in these ways:
• Connect a standard ASCII terminal with an RS-232 interface to the serial port
connector on the front panel.
The EPC-6A's customized CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files redirect the
command input and output streams to the COM1 serial port. Connecting a terminal
and invoking ROM DOS displays the standard DOS prompt on the terminal. By
typing the DOS
program in ROM to display and change the configuration information maintained by
the BIOS.
• Use a separate full EPC (having keyboard and monitor) on the same VMEbus with
supplied software that uses this EPC as a virtual console to the EPC-6A(s).
The software needed to use another EPC as the human interface for an EPC-6A is part
of the EPControl software product. For detailed information about this software, see
the EPControl software's documentation.
Artisan Technology Group - Quality Instrumentation ... Guaranteed | (888) 88-SOURCE | www.artisantg.com
command, you can see available programs. You can use the
DIR
Chapter 3: Operation
SETUP
11