Using Expanded Memory Managers - Kontron MOPS/386A User Manual

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Using Expanded Memory Managers

20.3.1.
MOPS/386A extension BIOSes are mapped to an upper memory area. (See the previous
table.) There also is a memory mapped I/O area for SSD pages and SAT tables, if the
onboard silicon disk is enabled. Some add-on boards also have optional ROMs or use
drivers that communicate with their corresponding devices via memory mapped I/O such as
dual-ported RAM. These boards have to share the upper memory area with the Expanded
Memory Manager's EMS frame. This often causes several problems in the system.
Most EMMs scan the upper memory area for extension BIOSes (optional ROMs) and choose a
free memory area for their frame if it is not explicitly set. Normally, they are not always
capable of detecting special memory-mapped I/O areas. You need to tell the EMM which
memory areas are not available for the EMS frames, which is most of the time done by using
special exclusion parameters.
When using the MOPS/386A with the onboard silicon disk enabled, an EMM has to be
loaded in the CONFIG.SYS, the memory area E0000h to EFFFFh has to be excluded.
MS-DOS Example:
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE X=E000-EFFF
If the Expanded Memory Manager you use cannot detect extension BIOSes (optional ROMs),
make sure you excluded all areas in the upper memory, which are used by extension
BIOSes, too. Your instruction in the CONFIG.SYS concerning the Expanded Memory Manager
should look like this: (questionmarks for location of extension BIOS).
MS-DOS Example:
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE X=????-???? X=E000-FFFF
Note: When booting up your system using this configuration under MS-DOS, the
exclusion of area F000 to FFFF causes a warning. Microsoft reports that this message
will always appear when the F000 segment lies in the shadow RAM. This is a bug of
EMM386, not of the MOPS/386A.
Please carefully read the technical manuals of add-on cards used with the MOPS/386A for
the memory areas they use. If necessary, also exclude their memory locations to avoid a
conflict with the EMM.
MOPS/386A User's Guide 47 System-Resource Allocations