PC BIOS Access

From: Marvin Johnston <marvin_at_rain.org>
Date: Sun Oct 17 09:57:41 2004

I seem to recall that the IBM setup disk would work on other computers
that required a setup disk.

Another useful piece of information would be the ways to access the HD
format routines on PCs. Somewhere I have a list that came from
ComputerLand that gives the debug entry addresses for a number of
controller cards. IIRC, the Xebex card required a sequence of debug
instructions to start the format routines.

> >> It might be interesting to have a list of ways that the BIOS gets
> >> accessed during startup. These are the ways that I know about; are there
> >> others I've missed? I don't recall which keys work with what BIOS and
> >> that might also be interesting information to have.
> >>
> >> * Setup disk (IBM AT)
> >> * Del key
> >> * Cntl-Alt-Insert
> >> * Cntl-Alt-S
> >> * F1 key
> >> * F2 key
> >> * F10 key (Compaq)
> >
> >It would be great if there was a database of all computer models that gave
> >this information, as well as other useful tidbits. It could be a Wiki
> >thing, or certainly an open, public thing that people could contribute
> >to.
>
> It would be nice if they could post the unique setup programs there too.
>
> Joe
Received on Sun Oct 17 2004 - 09:57:41 BST