Copyright: Copyright © TouchStone Software, Inc 2003


Main Window

The BIOS Agent Main Window provides the ability to detect BIOS information and to connect with BIOS upgrade web site.

Buttons

The Main Window contains buttons for controlling functions available with BIOS Agent. With these buttons you can enable BIOS Agent to detect BIOS information, save or print a report, submit the report to our BIOS upgrade web site to request a BIOS upgrade, or close the application.

BIOS Information Fields

The Main Window contains fields for displaying various BIOS information about the BIOS installed on your system. When BIOS Agent is first started, these fields are blank. You must click on the ″Get BIOS Info″ button to enable BIOS Agent to detect this information.

Options

This section contains option(s) for controlling BIOS Agent.


BIOS Agent Help Index

Introduction

BIOS Agent is a Windows utility which detects various critical information about the BIOS on your system. This information can be used for obtaining the latest BIOS upgrade for your system.

How Do I …

Get information about my BIOS.

Get a BIOS upgrade

Get a hard copy printout of my BIOS information

Save my BIOS information to a text file

Main Window

Main Window Buttons

BIOS Information Fields

BIOS Agent Options

FAQ's

Refer to this section for Frequently Asked Questions about BIOS Agent.

Contact Information


Running BIOS Agent

To get information about the BIOS on your system, click on the ″Get BIOS Info″ button. BIOS Agent will then detect the BIOS and chipset hardware installed on the system. This information will be displayed in the various fields in the Main Window.


Upgrading Your BIOS

To obtain a BIOS upgrade for your system, you first need to identify the BIOS currently installed on your system. To do that, run BIOS Agent and click on the ″Get BIOS Info″ button to detect BIOS information on your system. Next, click on the ″Submit Request″ button in BIOS Agent to connect to BIOS Upgrade web site with a browser where your BIOS information report can be submitted for a BIOS upgrade request. You must have a default browser installed on your system and be actively connected to the Internet for this to work.

Other methods available for submitting your BIOS upgrade request:

1.	Via Cut&Paste:

Using a browser, goto our BIOS Upgrade web site at www.biosupgrade.com, select Upgrade Now, choose Option #3 where our BIOS Upgrade form will be displayed.You can then cut&paste from the BIOS Agent BIOS Information fields into the form.

2.	Using Save or Print Report:

If you are not actively connected to the Internet or wish to submit your request for a BIOS upgrade at a later time or from another system, you can save or print a BIOS Information report. Then using a browser, goto our BIOS Upgrade web site at www.biosupgrade.com, select Upgrade Now, choose Option #3, and enter the BIOS information manually on the BIOS Upgrade form.

If there is a problem with submitting your BIOS upgrade request online, try consulting the FAQ section in this help.


Main Window Buttons

Get BIOS Info

This button enables BIOS Agent to detect BIOS Information.

Print Report

This button will print BIOS information to a printer. When the BIOS Agent application first starts, you will find this button is disabled. That is because you must get BIOS information first with the Get BIOS Info before printing a report.

Save Report

This button will save BIOS information to a text file. When the BIOS Agent application first starts, you will find this button is disabled. That is because you must get BIOS information first with the Get BIOS Info before saving a report.

Submit Request

This button enables you to submit a request for a BIOS upgrade online for your system. Refer to Upgrading Your BIOS for more information. When the BIOS Agent application first starts, you will find this button is disabled. That is because you must get BIOS information first with the Get BIOS Info before submitting a BIOS upgrade request

Help

This button displays help about BIOS Agent.

Close

This button closes the BIOS Agent application.

Options

This button will display a separate dialog box with options to control BIOS Agent features.

More Info

This button will display a separate dialog box with additional advanced information that BIOS Agent detected for your system such as memory configuration details including the amount of memory installed in each available memory slot. Knowing the amount of memory installed in each slot can be useful for making decisions about upgrading your system with additional memory. This button will only be available if BIOS Agent was able to detect advanced information about your system.  If not, this button will not be available.


BIOS Information Fields

BIOS Agent detects the following information about your BIOS:

BIOS Type

This is the BIOS Manufacturer such as Award, Phoenix, American Megatrends, or MRBIOS.

BIOS Date

Thie is the date the BIOS was released or built. This date is useful as a reference to determine whether a newer BIOS upgrade is available.

BIOS ID

The BIOS ID Sign-On message string contains critical information identifying the BIOS installed on the system. Each BIOS manufacturer has their own unique system for formating of this string. BIOS Agent will attempt to detect the BIOS ID string supported by most BIOS manufacturers. Some manufacturers have a proprietary method for identifying their BIOS and may not support a BIOS ID Sign-On message string. If BIOS Agent is not able to detect the BIOS ID message string, ″Unknown″ will be displayed in this field.

OEM Sign-On

This is a custom message string used by some Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) for providing additional information identifying the BIOS. If this information is not available in the BIOS, this field may be either blank or contain ″Unknown″.

Super I/O

This field identifies the Super I/O chip installed on the motherboard. The Super I/O chip contains the most common components available on PC motherboards to support devices such as diskette drive, serial and parallel ports, and sometimes keyboard. Identifying the Super I/O chip can be helpful as additional information to identify the exact motherboard installed on your system and the appropriate BIOS upgrade that should be installed. Installing a BIOS which does not support the same Super I/O chip installed on your motherboard will cause your system to have problems functioning correctly or the system may not even be able to boot.

An example where identifying the Super I/O chip can be critical:

It has been found where some motherboard manufacturers use the exact same BIOS Sign-On strings for the BIOS installed on different versions of their motherboard with different Super I/O chips. In this situation the only way to identify the correct BIOS version which should be installed is to look for identifying model number on the motherboard or to verify the Super I/O chip supported by the BIOS upgrade matches that currently used on the motherboard.

If BIOS Agent is not able to detect the Super I/O chip installed, ″Unknown″ will be displayed in this field.

Chipset

This field identifies the basic chipset used on the motherboard. A BIOS upgrade must support the same basic chipset or your system will not function at all.

OS

This field identifies operating system information which iincludes version and any service packs that may be installed.

CPU

These fields identify CPU Information which includes the CPU type such as Intel Pentium or AMD Duron. CPU speed is the current speed of the CPU in Mhz. Max Speed is the maximum CPU speed that is supported by the motherboard.  BIOS Agent attempts to identify this information through DMI built into the BIOS, or if the BIOS does not support DMI or DMI detect is disabled, CPU information is obtained from the Windows operating system. Some BIOS versions, especially those dated earlier than mid 1998 may not support DMI. In addition, even if DMI is supported by the BIOS, the motherboard manufacturer may not support this field through DMI or the information reported may sometimes not be accurate or correct. If BIOS Agent is not able to detect CPU information through DMI, ″Unknown″ will be displayed.

BIOS ROM In Socket

This field identifies whether the BIOS ROM chip is installed in a socket on the motherboard or soldered onto the motherboard.If the ROM chip is in a socket, ″Yes″ will be displayed and a BIOS upgrade can be installed by removing the existing chip and replacing it with another chip with a new BIOS upgrade If ″No″ is displayed, the ROM chip is soldered on the motherboard, cannot be removed, and a BIOS upgrade can only be installed using a flash loader program. BIOS Agent attempts to identify this information through DMI built into the BIOS. Some BIOS versions, especially those dated earlier than mid 1998 may not support DMI. In addition, even if DMI is supported by the BIOS, the motherboard manufacturer may not support this field through DMI. If BIOS Agent is not able to detect BIOS ROM In Socket through DMI, ″Unknown″ will be displayed.

BIOS ROM Size

This field identifies the BIOS ROM chip size. BIOS Agent attempts to identify this information through DMI built into the BIOS. Some BIOS versions, especially those dated earlier than mid 1998 may not support DMI. In addition, even if DMI is supported by the BIOS, the motherboard manufacturer may not support this field through DMI. If BIOS Agent is not able to detect BIOS ROM Size through DMI, ″Unknown″ will be displayed.

Memory Installed

This field identifies the total amount of memory installed. BIOS Agent attempts to identify this information through DMI built into the BIOS, or if DMI is not supported by the BIOS, it is obtained through the Windows operating system. Some BIOS versions, especially those dated earlier than mid 1998 may not support DMI. In addition, even if DMI is supported by the BIOS, the motherboard manufacturer may not support this field through DMI or the amount reported may not be accurate or correct. If BIOS Agent is not able to detect Memory Installed through DMI, ″Unknown″ will be displayed, otherwise BIOS Agent reports whatever is memory size is reported back through DMI or Windows.

Memory Maximum

This field identifies the maximum amount of memory that can be installed and is supported by the motherboard. This information can be helpful when deciding whether to upgrade your system with more memory. BIOS Agent attempts to identify this information through DMI built into the BIOS. Some BIOS versions, especially those dated earlier than mid 1998 may not support DMI. In addition, even if DMI is supported by the BIOS, the motherboard manufacturer may not support this field through DMI or the memory maximum amount may sometimes not be accurate or correct. If BIOS Agent is not able to detect Memory Maximum through DMI, ″Unknown″ will be displayed, otherwise BIOS Agent reports whatever is memory size is reported back through DMI.


BIOS Agent Options

The following options are available to control BIOS Agent:

Disable Super I/O Detect

Clicking on this checkbox will disable Super I/O chip detection function in BIOS Agent. Disable this option if BIOS Agent fails to run when clicking on the Get BIOS Info button. For more information refer to this FAQ.

Disable DMI Detect

Clicking on this checkbox will disable DMI BIOS detection function in BIOS Agent. Disable this option if BIOS Agent fails to run when clicking on the Get BIOS Info button. Disabling this option will result in Unknown being reported for some BIOS Information fields like BIOS ROM In Socket and BIOS ROM Size..


FAQ's

When I click on "Submit Results" button a warning window pops up stating that I should install a "default browser" and try again.

When I download the BIOS Agent and run the program I get a messsage that says "The zip file is corrupted or truncated, try downloading again.

When I run BIOS Agent I get a message "Error loading driver Ke386IO.sys".

When I click on Get BIOS Info button, BIOS Agent fails to run or freezes my system.

The CPU Max Speed reported by BIOS Agent does not appear to be accurate for my system.

The Memory Maximum reported by BIOS Agent does not appear to be accurate for my system.


Contact Information

eSupport.com, Inc.

1-800-800-BIOS (2467)

www.esupport.com


Desktop Management Interface

Deskitop Management Interface (DMI), now known as System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) is a method for defining, storing and accessing information about the computing system and components. If DMI is supported by the BIOS, data structures are defined in the BIOS ROM to provide information about the system and a mechanism is available to obtain this information from the BIOS. DMI was originally released as version 2.0 as defined in the DMI spec dated June 1998. The latest version is SMBIOS version 2.3. To determine whether your system’s BIOS supports DMI and the version you can run our BIOS Wizard diagnostic available under Support, BIOS Utilities at www.esupport.com.


FAQ's

When I click on "Submit Results" button a warning window pops up stating that I should install a "default browser" and try again.

Something is wrong involving Windows configuration of your default browser. Refer to Upgrading Your BIOS section for alternate methods for requesting a BIOS upgrade.


FAQ's

When I download the BIOS Agent and run the program I get a messsage that says "The zip file is corrupted or truncated, try downloading again.

There is a problem with your Internet connection causing data transfer errors downloading the BIOS Agent program file. If you are on a dialup connection, try hanging up and reconnecting. You can also try downloading the BIOS Agent program file from another system and another Internet connection and transferring and running the BIOS Agent program file on original system which caused the problem.


FAQ's

When I run BIOS Agent I get a message "Error loading driver Ke386IO.sys".

Make sure you are downloading the BIOS Agent program file to a local hard disk and not to a mapped drive over a network.


FAQ's

When I click on Get BIOS Info button, BIOS Agent fails to run or freezes my system.

Try enabling the checkbox option Disable Super I/O Detect. This should solve the problem. When BIOS Agent attempts to detect various Super I/O chips available it probes various I/O ports looking for a response to see if these chips are installed. Unfortunately, the design of some earlier Super I/O chips is such that that they may appear at the same I/O ports as some custom chips designed on some motherboards, especially laptops. This means that when BIOS Agent probes these I/O ports looking for a specific Super I/O chip it is actually addressing a custom chip. This situation is fairly rare, but it does occur.


FAQ's

The CPU Max Speed reported by BIOS Agent does not appear to be accurate for my system.

BIOS Agent does not detect or calculate CPU Max Speed. The information for this parameter is obtained through the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) built into the BIOS. The accuracy for this value depends upon how the BIOS vendor has implemented support for the maximum CPU speed supported by the motherboard. In some cases, this value may simply be a static number bullt into the BIOS which the manufacturer estimated as the maximum CPU speed which could be supported in the future at the time when the BIOS was originally developed for the motherboard. In any event, BIOS Agent is simply reporting the CPU Max Speed as reported by the BIOS. If this value does not appear to be accurate there is nothing wrong with BIOS Agent and there is no cause for concern if, for example, you are running a CPU speed greater than the maximum value reported.


FAQ's

The Memory Maximum reported by BIOS Agent does not appear to be accurate for my system.

BIOS Agent does not detect or calculate Memory Maximum. The information for this parameter is obtained through the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) built into the BIOS. The accuracy for this value depends upon how the BIOS vendor has implemented support for the maximum memory supported by the motherboard. In some cases, this value may simply be a static number bullt into the BIOS which the manufacturer estimated as the maximum memory which could be supported in the future at the time which the BIOS was originally developed for the motherboard. In any event, BIOS Agent is simply reporting the maximum memory as reported by the BIOS. If this value does not appear to be accurate there is nothing wrong with BIOS Agent.