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Text File | 1998-09-15 | 16KB | 344 lines

INSTALLATION AND USE OF THE MICRO 2000 CENTURION(tm) CARD 1.0 What Is The Problem? All PCs come with a Real Time Clock (RTC) to keep track of the date and time. Most RTCs being manufactured, even today, do not keep track of the century. This means that when the year 99 rolls over to 00, the RTC does not roll the century over from 19 to 20 and so the date becomes 1900 instead of 2000. In nearly all computers today this problem has to be taken care of by the BIOS on the PC. Unfortunately, most PCs manufactured before 1995 come with a BIOS that does not take care of this problem. So when the BIOS is asked to give a date after the turn of the century, it will give a year of 1900. If your computer was turned on after being off, the DOS operating system, for example, will change the date from 01-01-1900 to 01-04-1980 because it knows that PCs did not exist before 1980. Any program running on such a computer that asks the BIOS for a date could be given an incorrect one and the consequences of this can be disastrous. For example, computer transactions will have wrong dates, files will have wrong dates, back-up programs might even delete recently made backups as they appear more than 90 days old. It just goes on and on. 1.1 What Is Micro 2000's Centurion? The Centurion is Micro 2000's hardware solution to the problem of a PC that does not have a Year 2000 compliant RTC or BIOS. Centurion is an 8-bit ISA card with its own in-built clock and lithium battery that will last 10 years without external power. With the Centurion installed in your PC, your RTC and BIOS both effectively become Year 2000 compliant. This means that any program asking the BIOS for a date and time will now be given the correct date and time. It also means that the century rollover, which is not handled by the RTC, is automatically handled by Centurion instead. 1.2 How Does The Micro 2000 Centurion Work? Because of it's own Real Time Clock (RTC) the Centurion maintains an accurate date and time. When the Centurion is first installed in the PC it will automatically assume the date and time of the PC. Whenever the PC's BIOS is asked for a date or time, this date and time will come from the Centurion RTC and not from the System RTC. Whenever the BIOS is instructed to change the date and time then this changes the Centurion RTC as well as the System RTC. Whenever the BIOS is asked for a date or time, the Centurion date and time is copied to the System RTC so that both clocks are kept in sync with one another as much as possible. Each time the PC is powered up (turned on) or reset the Centurion will change the System's RTC to match its own RTC. Centurion also has a function that continuously monitors its own RTC for a Century rollover. When this happens, the century is automatically updated on both the Centurion and on the motherboard. Additionally, each time the rollover check is done, the time on the motherboard RTC is changed to match the time of the Centurion RTC. This function, known as "auto rollover", can be turned on or off (see section 1.5). 1.3 Establishing Whether A System Is Year 2000 Compliant This can be done by running the program YEAR2000.EXE which is on a diskette provided with the Centurion card. 1.4 Determining If Centurion Is Working Correctly This is done by running the program YEAR2000.EXE. If the automatic rollover function is enabled, then your PC will pass both the RTC test and the BIOS test. It should always pass the BIOS test. Within this program there is an additional menu option called Centurion Test. It is only active when a Centurion card has been installed. With this menu option you can set a date and time and see how the this affects the Centurion, the motherboard and the Operating System. 1.5 How To Turn Automatic Rollover On Or Off The Centurion automatic rollover function can be enabled or disabled using the program AUTORTC.EXE. The program will tell you if the function is on or off and allow you to change it. The change will not take effect until after the PC has been restarted. 2.0 Installing The Micro 2000 Centurion Card If one assumes that the default jumper settings are correct, installing the Centurion card is merely a matter of plugging in the card. No other special actions have to be taken for the Centurion to work properly. When booting the system a Centurion banner message should appear and this is evidence that Centurion is active in the PC. 2.1 Checking The Default Jumper Settings The Centurion card has already been pre-configured so that it will work on most PCs without any changes having to be made. If you wish, you can check the jumper settings to make sure that the jumpers are set correctly for the default settings (see Section 3.2-Changing The Default Settings for information on this.) 2.2 Inserting The Adapter Card Into An Available Bus Slot The Micro 2000 Centurion is an 8-BIT adapter card that may be installed into the 8-bit portion of any ISA, EISA or VLB (Vesa Local Bus) bus slot. Do not insert the card until the PC has been powered down (turned off). Then remove the PC case so that the Centurion card can be installed in the machine. Insert the edge connector of the card fully and evenly into any available bus slot. After securing the adapter bracket, confirm that the card remains evenly inserted into the bus slot to ensure its proper functioning. Always verify that the card is seated fully by visually inspecting the gold edge connectors to ensure correct and firm placement of the card. If needed, the adapter bracket can be removed from the card to ensure firm seating in the bus slot. 3.1 Configuring The Centurion Card The Centurion requires an I/O port so that it can retrieve the date and time directly from the Centurion RTC. The default I/O port address for this is 150-151. The other alternative is 140-141. The Centurion's program is located in a ROM on the card and it has to be assigned a memory address from the Upper Memory Area (UMA) which runs from memory address D00000-DFFFFF. This area may also be in use by other adapter cards already installed in the PC. Therefore, there is a potential for conflict and if the Centurion card does not work correctly this will have to be looked at more closely. The default location for Centurion's ROM in the UMA is D0000-D1FFF. Other locations in the UMA which can be selected are from D4000-D5FFF or D8000-D9FFF and finally DC000-DDFFF. 3.2 Changing The Default Settings The Centurion has a three position jumper block for configuring the I/O port address and the ROM address in UMA to be used by it. When looking at the Centurion card with its edge connector pointing down you can see the following arrangement of jumper pins: --pins-- 1 2 3 - - - OFF ON 0 0 0 <-----pins 0 0 |<--- jumper 0 0 0 <-----pins 0 0 Position 1: I/O Port Address jumper Jumper ON : I/O Port address 150-151 ( Default) Jumper OFF: I/O Port address 140-141 Position 2 and 3: Centurion ROM address in UMA UMA Address Position 2 Position 3 ---------------------- ---------- ---------- D0000-D1FFF (default) ON ON D4000-D5FFF ON OFF D8000-D9FFF OFF ON DC000-DDFFF OFF OFF Jumper ON is also known as jumper Closed; Jumper OFF is also known as Jumper Open. 3.3 Determining Free Memory In The UMA To Resolve A Conflict There are two approaches that can be taken depending on your level of knowledge and the Diagnostic software available to you. 1. Trial and Error. In total there are only 8 different combinations of jumper settings. Starting with the Default I/O port setting one can select an address setting and then test it. If this doesn't work, then try the next address setting and so on. If none of the settings work for default I/O port then change the setting to the alternative I/O port and then try each address setting. If none of this works then call Micro-2000's technical support hot-line for assistance. 2. Using Micro 2000's MicroScope or the DOS utility MSD.EXE which can be found in the DOS directory data can be obtained to help resolve the conflict. If you have MicroScope then: - "Active ROM search" will tell you what parts of the UMA are in use. - "Device Assignments" will tell you what I/O ports are in use. With Microsoft's MSD you can not find out what I/O ports are in use. You can find out what memory is free in the UMA by selecting the MEMORY menu option. 3.4 Tech Support or Customer Service Support Should you experience difficulties with the Centurion card that you are unable to resolve then contact your local Micro 2000 representative. 3.5 Possible Problems and Their Solutions 1. After installing the Centurion, the system starts up with an incorrect date. Enter the correct date and time using DOS, Date and Time commands. This can also be done using Windows or using the YEAR2000 program. When the PC is restarted, it will now come up with the date and time that was entered. 2. When running the YEAR2000 program to test the Centurion card, the year being displayed for the Motherboard RTC has an unusual value. Go into the CMOS setup program and select the option Standard CMOS Setup. Change the date to any valid date. Then leave CMOS and save the settings. Restart your PC. Run the YEAR2000 program again and the year displayed for the motherboard RTC will agree with the Centurion Year. This problem should only occur when Centurion has been installed for the first time. If the century byte on the motherboard RTC has a value that is not 19, 20 or 21 then Centurion assumes that this byte is NOT a century byte and therefore will not change it's value to match the century value on the Centurion. 5.0 Glossary BIOS: This stands for Basic Input/Output System. This is used by the operating system to handle the communications between the computer and the peripheral devices attached to the computer. BUS: This is the common highway along which data travels inside the computer connecting together the CPU and the components on the motherboard. The bus is not only the highway but is also includes the methods whereby the flow of data is managed and controlled (the traffic cops). The number of bits that can travel down the bus at the same time establishes the width of the bus. The first personal computers had an 8-bit bus. CMOS: Short for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (a type of chip that requires very little electricity from a battery to hold information when the computer is turned off). This is where the system settings - mainly date, time and information about the hard drive are stored. The CMOS settings are usually set up once, when the computer is first assembled, then changed again only as needed. CONFIGURATION: This is how something is arranged or set-up. It describes the parts that make up a computer or defines how a part on the computer is going to work. EISA: This standard known as Extended ISA was developed in 1988 to handle a 32-bit bus. I/O PORT ADDRESS: The address represents a location in a specially reserved area in lower memory which is used by an input/output device to communicate directly with a program. By using a pre-assigned I/O port address the program can issue commands to the device and the device can pass back data or instructions to the program. That is the function of the I/O port address. Each address acts like a mailbox in which information can be placed and picked up. ISA: Industry Standard Architecture is a bus standard that was developed for the first PC which had an 8-bit bus. Devices were attached to the bus by an adapter card that plugged into an expansion slot on the motherboard. K: Is an abbreviation for Kilobyte, which represents a value of 1024 bytes. MEGABYTE (M OR MB): This is the same as 1,024K or 1,048,576 bytes. Again, most people think of a megabyte as one million bytes and this is okay. However, when working directly with computer memory, you must use the exact number of 1,048,576 bytes. PERIPHERAL DEVICE: The word peripheral means at the edge or outside of something. A peripheral device is any device that can be connected to and run by a computer that sits outside of the computer's frame. The keyboard, printer, mouse and monitor are all peripheral devices. RAM: Random-Access Memory. This is the memory that is used in the computer to temporarily store information. Computer programs, before they can be run, have to be stored in RAM first. ROM: Read-Only Memory is a type of memory chip that contains information that is permanently or semi-permanently recorded in it. ROM is used to store important programs or data that must be available to the computer when it is turned on. UPPER MEMORY AREA (UMA) This is the top 384K of memory in a PC's first megabyte (1024K) of RAM. It is the memory space that immediately follows Conventional (Base) memory. This memory area is for use by the different adapter cards such as the video card and other cards that are installed on the motherboard. Y2K Year Two Thousand. K is the symbol for 1000. Copyright O 1998 MICRO 2000, Inc. All Rights Reserved. WARRANTY INFORMATION Limited Hardware Warranty The Manufacturer warrants to the original purchaser of this product that the hardware shall be free from defects resulting from faulty manufacture or components for a period of one (1) year from the date of sale or until 1 April 2000, whichever is later. Defects covered by this Limited Warranty shall be corrected either by repair or, at the Manufacturer's election, by replacement. In the event of replacement, the replacement unit shall be warranted for the remainder of the original one (1) year period or until 1 April 2000 or thirty (30)days, whichever is longer. THE EXPRESS WARRANTIES SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT ARE IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH ABOVE, NO OTHER WARRANTIES ARE MADE WITH RESPECT TO THE PROGRAM. MANUFACTURER EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES NOT STATED HEREIN. This Limited Warranty is non-transferable and does not apply if the product has been damaged by accident, abuse, misuse, modification, misapplication, shipping to the manufacturer, or service by someone other than the Manufacturer. The manufacturer does not warrant that this product will meet the purchaser's requirements; it is the purchaser's sole responsibility to determine the suitability of this product for his purposes. THE MANUFACTURER'S SOLE OBLIGATION AND LIABILITY UNDER THIS WARRANTY IS LIMITED TO THE REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT OF A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT. THE MANUFACTURER SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO PURCHASER OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE, TORT CLAIMS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL OR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ITS USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT OR THE BREACH OF ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, EVEN IF THE MANUFACTURER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THOSE DAMAGES.