Martik BIOS Info 1.0 Help
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Martik BIOS Info 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.

To get information about the BIOS on your system, click on the "Get BIOS Info" button. Martik BIOS Info 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.

- Print Report
This button will print BIOS information to a printer. When the Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info 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.

- More...
This button will display a separate dialog box with additional advanced information that Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info was able to detect advanced information about your system.  If not, this button will not be available. 

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Martik BIOS Info detects the following information about your BIOS:
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BIOS Type
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This is the BIOS Manufacturer such as Award, Phoenix, American Megatrends, or MRBIOS. 

BIOS Date
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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
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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. Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info is not able to detect the BIOS ID message string, "Unknown" will be displayed in this field.

OEM Sign-On
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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
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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 Martik BIOS Info is not able to detect the Super I/O chip installed, "Unknown" will be displayed in this field.

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

CPU
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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.  Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info is not able to detect CPU information through DMI, "Unknown" will be displayed.

BIOS ROM In Socket
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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. Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info is not able to detect BIOS ROM In Socket through DMI, "Unknown" will be displayed.

BIOS ROM Size
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This field identifies the BIOS ROM chip size. Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info is not able to detect BIOS ROM Size through DMI, "Unknown" will be displayed.

Memory Installed
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This field identifies the total amount of memory installed. Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info is not able to detect Memory Installed through DMI, "Unknown" will be displayed, otherwise Martik BIOS Info reports whatever is memory size is reported back through DMI or Windows.

Memory Maximum
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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. Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info is not able to detect Memory Maximum through DMI, "Unknown" will be displayed, otherwise Martik BIOS Info reports whatever is memory size is reported back through DMI.


FAQ
# When I run Martik BIOS Info I get a message "Error loading driver Ke386IO.sys".
- Make sure you are downloading the Martik BIOS Info program file to a local hard disk and not to a mapped drive over a network.

# When I click on Get BIOS Info button, Martik BIOS Info fails to run or freezes my system.
- Try enabling the checkbox option Disable Super I/O Detect. This should solve the problem. When Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info 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. 

# The CPU Max Speed reported by Martik BIOS Info does not appear to be accurate for my system. 
- Martik BIOS Info 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, Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info and there is no cause for concern if, for example, you are running a CPU speed greater than the maximum value reported.

# The Memory Maximum reported by Martik BIOS Info does not appear to be accurate for my system. 
- Martik BIOS Info 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, Martik BIOS Info 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 Martik BIOS Info.