Pci Auto-Configuration; Isa Plug And Play; Desktop Management Interface - Intel VS440FX Technical Specification

3.5 PCI Auto-configuration

The PCI auto-configuration utility operates in conjunction with the Setup utility to let you insert
and remove PCI cards without user configuration (Plug and Play). When you turn on the system
after adding a PCI card, the BIOS automatically configures interrupts, I/O space, and other
parameters. PCI interrupts are distributed to available ISA interrupts that have been not been
assigned to an ISA card or to system resources. Any interrupts set to "available" in Setup are
considered free for use by PCI add-in cards. The assignment of PCI interrupts to ISA IRQs is
nondeterministic.
System configuration information is stored in ESCD format. You can clear the ESCD data by
moving the Clear CMOS jumper (refer to Section 1.13.3).
For information about the version of PCI supported by this BIOS, refer to Section 5.1. Peer-to-
peer hierarchical PCI Bridge is supported, and by using an OEM-supplied option ROM or TSR, a
PCI-to-PCMCIA bridge capability is possible as well.

3.6 ISA Plug and Play

The BIOS incorporates ISA Plug and Play capabilities. When used in conjunction with the ISA
Configuration Utility (ICU) for DOS or Windows 3.x, the system allows auto-configuration of
Plug and Play ISA cards or PCI cards, and manages resource for legacy ISA cards. Because the
BIOS supports configuring devices across PCI bridges, you must use ICU release 1.41 or greater to
properly view and change system settings.
System configuration information is stored in ESCD format. You can clear the ESCD data by
moving the Clear CMOS jumper (refer to Section 1.13.3).
There is a Setup option to support Windows 95 runtime Plug and Play utilities. If you select this
option, the BIOS assigns resources only to devices that are critical to booting. Device Node
information is available for all devices to ensure compatibility with Windows 95.

3.7 Desktop Management Interface

Desktop Management Interface (DMI) is a method of managing computers in an enterprise. The
main component of DMI is the Management Information Format (MIF) database, which contains
information about the computing system and its components. Using DMI, a system administrator
can obtain the system types, capabilities, operational status, installation date, and other information
about the system components. The DMI specification requires that certain information about the
system's motherboard be made available to an applications program. This information is located in
a series of data structures which are accessed in various ways by the DMI service layer.
Component instrumentation allows the service layer to gain access to information stored in the
general-purpose area of non-volatile memory. The MIF database defines the data and provides the
method for accessing the information.
BIOS and Setup Utility
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