Notes and information about EKF CCG-RUMBA: ========================================== 1) System does not start after power is reapplied ================================================= Sometimes the system does not start after power is reapplied to the board. In almost all cases this is NOT caused by a hardware failure of the board! It is caused because the board enters S4 or S5 state after power-up (like a "normal" PC), instead of running state S0. Sleep states S4 or S5 are indicated by front panel LED PG=off and one or both LEDs GP/HD=ON). Chapter "PG (Power Good) LED" in User Guide of CCG-RUMBA describes this in detail: http://www.ekf.de/c/ccpu/ccm/ccm_uge.pdf To bring the board back to working state the (red) ejector handle in front panel of CCG-RUMBA handle must simply be opened for a short time (> 0, less than 4 seconds). Note: This implies that BIOS setup option "Function of front panel ejector:" is not changed from its default setting "Power button". More info on this: Chapter "Reset" in User Guide of CCG-RUMBA. See also http://www.ekf.de/c/ccpu/img/reset_400.gif Technical background: On EKF CCG-RUMBA there are 4 reasons why the system enters S4/S5 (sleep) state after power-up, instead of S0 (running) state: 1. The user sets BIOS Setup option "Advanced -> Miscellaneous Configuration -> State after Power-On:" to mode "Go to S4/S5". The default mode is "Go to S0". Description of BIOS Setup item, which controls board behaviour after power-up (G3): -> Setup (F2): Advanced -> Board Configuration -> State after Power-On: Available options: a. Go to S0 (Factory Default): After power-on the system always enters S0 state, even if the system was in a sleep state at power-off b. Go to S4/S5: The system enters S0 state if it was not in a sleep state at power-off. It goes to S4 (or S5) sleep state if it was in state S4 (or S5) at power-off. Even if user option above is not set to "Go to S4/S5" there are three further reasons, controlled by ICH8 internal hardware, which force sleep state S5 after power-up: 2. The corresponding bit in the SMBus unconditional power down message is set 3. ICH8 internal thermal sensor catastrophic condition (ICH8 overheating) 4. Assertion of THRMTRIP# signal at ICH8 (Processor or GM965 overheating) 2) Behaviour of Green LED GP in front panel of CCG-RUMBA during POST ==================================================================== Green LED GP (General Purpose) is located in front panel of CCG-RUMBA. The following behaviour of LED GP is valid if a) LED PG (Power Good) lights up green and b) for CCG-RUMBA BIOS Builds >= 74: - A green blinking LED GP indicates: BIOS has not started (-> Board Failure) - LED GP constantly on immediately after Reset indicates a successful BIOS start - LED GP off a few seconds after start of POST indicates successful initialization of Video BIOS - LED GP is switched on again after a successful memory test - Green LED GP is switched off immediately before Boot 3) Invalid CMOS data ==================== If the BIOS detects a bad checksum in CMOS data, CMOS is reset to default values during POST. The possible reasons for a bad CMOS checksum are: - An empty battery - A board with NO battery - Any software writes to CMOS and does not update the CMOS checksum bytes For CCG-RUMBA these options exist to manually reset CMOS to default values: - key when in Setup - Set jumper GP (see CCG User Guide for more info) - Reset-in-Series option (more info below) 4) How to reset CMOS when it is not possible to enter BIOS Setup ================================================================ If the BIOS is configured in such a way, that it is not possible to enter Setup (F2 key) and to reset CMOS (F9 key) and it is not possible or difficult to set jumper GP there exist one further option to completely reset CMOS to factory defaults. This option is called "Reset-in-Series option". The procedure is as follows: Step A: Restart the board by a) making a Power-Off-ON sequence or b) by pressing reset button if available Step B: Now restart the board again during the timeframe when green LED 'GP' in front panel goes on (this is normally immediately after reset) and BEFORE this LED is switched off for the first time. Repeat Step B exactly two times, i.e. Step B must be executed three times in series after any reset. Now wait until the BIOS prompts you to enter Setup ... It should be noted that a Power-Off-ON sequence requires a full battery. The counter, which is used for this option, is cleared when LED 'GP' goes off the first time during POST (a few seconds after reset). If you want to reset CMOS and if a reset from Step B is made too late (LED GP is off again), restart with Step A. If successfully completed the BIOS loads - after next reset - factory defaults into CMOS. 5) First start of a board with invalid CMOS data ================================================ The first start of a board with invalid CMOS data automatically enables a debug feature, which redirects all POST Codes, which are normally send to port 80 only, additionally send to serial port COM1 (IO port 3F8h, 19200 Baud, 8N1). POST Codes are used to show BIOS progress step by step. If an external serial terminal is a attached to COM1 (or a Windows PC with Hyperterminal), the progress of the BIOS can be observed even in case of board failures caused by non-working memory, non-working graphics etc. The feature will be automatically disabled after the first successful End of POST, but can be permanently enabled via BIOS Setup: Setup [F2]: Advanced -> BIOS/POST Options -> Output POST-Codes to COM1 -> Enabled Last modified: 2011-06-08 EKF