Cbrom.

exe
Version 1.11

BIOS ROM
Combination
Utility

User’s Guide
Proprietary Notice and Disclaimer

Unless otherwise noted, this document and the information herein disclosed are
proprietary to Award Software International Inc. (Award). Any person or entity to whom
this document is furnished or who otherwise has possession thereof, by acceptance agrees
that it will not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part, nor used in any manner except
to meet the purposes for which it was delivered.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice, and should not be
considered as a commitment by Award. Although Award will make every effort to inform
users of substantive errors, Award disclaims all liability for any loss or damage resulting
from the use of this document or any hardware or software described herein, including
without limitation contingent, special, or incidental liability.

Copyright © 1997 by Award Software International Inc. All rights reserved.

Document date 11 April, 1997

Award Software InternationalÒ and the Award logo are registered trademarks of Award
Software International Inc.
All other products and brand names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their
respective companies.

Award Software International Inc. Tel: (415) 968-4433

777 East Middlefield Road Fax: (415) 968-0274
Mountain View, CA 94043-4023 www: http://www.award.com

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BIOS ROM Combination Utility
This manual briefly discusses Cbrom, the Award BIOS ROM Combination
utility, with instructions to guide you through combining third-party firmware
with the Award BIOS in a file format for flash memory chips. Cbrom
supports 1-MB and 2-MB flash memory file formats.

Using Cbrom

This manual describes Cbrom ver. 1.11. Later versions may contain
additional enhancements.

Cbrom runs at a DOS prompt. To view the complete Cbrom usage, type
CBROM /? at the DOS prompt and press Enter. A screen similar to this
appears:

CBROM v1.11
Copyright © Award Software, Inc. 1995-1997 All Rights Reserved.
Syntax: A:\CBROM.EXE InputFile [/other] [8000:0] [RomFile|Release]
A: \CBROM.EXE InputFile [/D|logo|vga … ] [RomFile|Release]
InputFile : System BIOS to be added with Option ROMs
D : For display all combined ROMs information in BIOS
/ncr : Add NCR(SYMBIOS) SCSI ROM to System BIOS
/aha : Add AHA78xx SCSI ROM to System BIOS
/blg : Add BusLogic SCSI ROM to System BIOS
/vga : Add VGA BIOS ROM to System BIOS
/logo : Add OEM LOGO BitMap to System BIOS
/other : Add special OEM ROM to System BIOS
/cpucode, /epa, /acpitbl

RomFile : File name of option ROM to add-in

Release : Release option ROM in current System BIOS
<<Examples>>
A:\CBROM.EXE 2a4ib000.bin /D
A:\CBROM.EXE 2a4ib000.bin /vga VGA.BIN /ncr release
A:\CBROM.EXE 2a4ib000.bin /other 8000:0 YYY.ROM

Cbrom Parameters

NOTES: 1. Examples in this manual use 2a59cxxx.bin as the system BIOS

FILE name, ncr307.rom as the file name of an NCR SCSI ROM
BIOS version 3.07 for the NCR810/825, and aha7850.rom as the
file name of an Adaptec SCSI ROM BIOS for the Adaptec 7850.

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Keep in mind that these file names are examples only, to help you
understand the process.

2. Cbrom commands are not case-sensitive. Upper- or lowercasing of

command letters in this manual is for clarity only.

SCSI ROMs /ncr For standard PCI motherboards, users can combine an NCR
/aha SCSI ROM, Adaptec SCSI ROM, or BusLogic SCSI ROM and
/blg the system BIOS using these commands:

cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /ncr ncr307.rom

cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /aha aha7850.rom
cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /blg ba81c15.rom

After the program executes one of these commands, a confirmation message

similar to these appears:

Combine ncr307.rom file to 2a59cxxx.bin…

Combine aha7850.rom file to 2a59cxxx.bin…
Combine ba81c15.rom file to 2a59cxxx.bin…

You may also combine more than one ROM, like this:

cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /ncr ncr307.rom /aha aha7850.rom /blg ba81c15.rom

After the program executes this command, all three confirmation messages
shown above should appear.

Video ROMs For an all-in-one PCI motherboard, you must combine the VGA BIOS with
the system BIOS to also combine option ROMs such as an NCR SCSI BIOS
with the system BIOS. Here is an example of combining the VGA BIOS and
the NCR SCSI BIOS:

cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /vga vga.bin /ncr ncr307.rom

After the program executes this command, confirmation messages similar to

these appear:

Adding vga.bin 2a59cxxx.bin…46.1%

Combine ncr307.rom file to 2a59cxxx.bin

NOTE: When adding uncompressed firmware, Cbrom shows the code

compression ratio in the confirmation message. In the examples in

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this manual of adding uncompressed firmware (/vga vga.bin, /logo
test.bmp) the “adding” messages differ from the “combining” messages
in the examples of adding compressed code, such as ncr ncr307.rom,
/aha aha7850.rom, and /blg ba81c15.rom. To determine if a ROM is
compressed or not, use the debug command (e.g., search for the
string marker -lh5).

Other ROMs You can combine other ROMs not listed above with the system BIOS. The
command has this format:
cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /other [Expand to RAM Address] [Rom File]

For example, this command adds a LAN card boot ROM:

cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /other 8000:0 BOOTROM.bin

NOTE: This function requires specially modified source code. Contact Award
for information about obtaining source code customized for this
feature.

Adding a Full- This command lets you add a full screen logo to the system BIOS.
Screen Logo cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /logo test.bmp

After the program executes this command, a confirmation message similar to

this appears:
Adding test.bmp…4.5%

Note the compression ratio in the message.

NOTES: 1. You must obtain a BIOS from Award modified for a full-screen logo
to use this command.

2. Use these specs for the logo:

Display mode 640 x 480 x 16 colors
Maximum screen 640 x 464
File format Bitmap file, 16 colors

3. Due to size limitations, we recommend a file with a limited number

of colors, to improve the compression ratio.

Miscellaneous /cpucode Combine up to four micro codes for the Pentium Pro CPU.
Additions
/epa This command lets you insert a small logo in the system BIOS
to replace the Energy Star Logo. Note that at time of the
writing, this function is not available.

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/acpitbl Use this command to add ACPI hardware descriptor tables to
support ACPI, when it becomes available in operating systems.

Removing a This command lets you remove any existing ROMs from the system BIOS.
ROM For example, you may remove the NCR SCSI BIOS and the Adaptec SCSI
BIOS from the system BIOS with these commands:
cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /ncr release

A confirmation message similar to this appears:

[NCR] driver is released

Then type:
cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /aha release

A confirmation message similar to this appears:

[AHA] driver is released

Displaying This command lists all the combined ROMs, with file details. For example, to
Details display a list of the binary files combined in 2a95cxxx.bin, type this
command:
cbrom 2a59cxxx.bin /d

A display similar to this appears:

CBROM v1.11
Copyright © Award Software, Inc. 1995-1997 All Rights Reserved.
******** 2a59cxxx.bin BIOS Component ********

No. Item-Name Original-Size Compressed-Size Original-File-Name

0. System BIOS 20000h (128.00K) 1401Bh (80.03K) 2a59cxxx.bin
1. NCR ROM 04000h (16.00K) 02594h (9.39K) ncr307.16k
2. AHA ROM 02B99h (10.90K) 02BC0h (10.94K) aha7850.rom

Total compress code space = 1B000h (108.00K)

Total compress code size = 1916Fh (100.36K)
Remain compress code space = 01e91h (7.54K)

Exceeding ROM Space

Sometimes when you attempt to add a third-party ROM to the current

firmware in the chip, a message similar to this appears:
2a59cxxx.bin not enough ROM size for adding driver

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This error message indicates that the attempted third-party ROM addition
exceeds the size allotted for such ROMs in the BIOS binary file. Contact your
Award sales representative about obtaining an updated BIOS code base to
solve this problem.

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