ACPI not supported??

[Ovi]

Hi everyone
I have an Acorp 6zx86 (i440zx) motherboard. The manual (and the specs at the site) claims that it is ACPI compliant, but Sisoft Sandra reported that the BIOS supported APM but not ACPI. Anyway, I updated the BIOS to the latest version (dated September, 2000) .At this point, the BIOS must be ACPI compliant, since its so new, but Sandra still reports that the BIOS doesn’t support ACPI!! The BIOS setup doesn’t have any option relating to ACPI, but then I read at Microsoft’s site that its recommended that M/B manufacturers do not give any option relating to ACPI (like options for turning it off) in the BIOS (which is found in some M/B’s, nevertheless). Any ideas why Sandra is reporting this?
Also, is ACPI enabled in Win Me in same way as in Win 98 (using the setup switch)??
Thanks for any suggestions
Cheers
Ovi

[Guru]

Don't trust sandra it reports the same thing for my abit bx6-r2 (latest BIOS)!

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Join the MURC SETI team! | SETI @ MURC

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[Ovi]

Thanks Guru
Btw,what os are you running? If Win 98 or Me,have you enabled ACPI?
Cheers
Ovi

[Guru]

W2K Pro and yes I have enabled ACPI! I used to run W98 SE on this system but is now working as the server of y home network!

------------------
Join the MURC SETI team! | SETI @ MURC

Don't get even — get odd!

[Himself]

Check Device Manager and system devices, it should list whether your bios is ACPI or not.

[kjliew]

Based on the date of your BIOS, September,2000, Win98SE, WinME and Win2k should have automatically installed ACPI capabilities with the OS. However, there can still be several possbilities that the OS won't install in ACPI mode.

1. Your motherboard/BIOS is in the BAD ACPI BIOS list.
2. Your motherboard BIOS doesn't come with ACPI tables in the BIOS.

(1) is highly unlikely I would say. Most probably it's (2). You will be surprised that some cheap motherboards actually do this.

[Ovi]

Hi
Your suggestion sounds scary Kjliew!!
The thing is,when I installed Win Me,my BIOS was dated March 1999,it was only after installing the os did I update my M/B's BIOS,so I think now ACPI might get installed using the setup switch,if I reinstall the os from scratch. Is the switch 'setup/p j' ??
Thanks
Ovi

[kjliew]

Well, you should have said so. Simply upgrade the BIOS won't get ACPI capabilities. You need to re-install the OS with ACPI support.

ACPI == OSPM

All an ACPI BIOS does is to make whole bunch of ACPI tables visible to the OS. Then the OS decides if it wants ACPI.

"setup /p j" is for Win98/SE, maybe WinME will work too. I have not tried WinME.

[kjliew]

Well, Ovi, bad news for you.

Just download the BIOS you mentioned from Acorp website, 6zx862c.exe (9/15/2000).
Well, it does not contain ACPI tables. Looks like I am right. If you force ACPI installation with "setup /p j", Windows will install a failsafe PnP BIOS and turn off all power management stuffs.

Anyway, APM should still work fine.

[Ovi]

Hi Kjliew
Thanks a ton for the useful info
Well,I kinda feel cheated,with the manual and the site mentioning full support for ACPI,grrrrrr.
Had it not been for your quick replies,I would have wasted a lot of time over reinstalling Win Me. Thanks again.
Cheers
Ovi