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4 Summary of the HP/Phoenix BIOS
HP/Phoenix BIOS Description
Little Ben
Little Ben is an HP application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that is
connected between the chipset and the processor. It has been designed to
act as a companion to the Super I/O chip. It contains the following:
• Hard and soft power control.
• BIOS timer:
hardware-wired, 50 ms long 80 Hz beep module;
automatic blinker that feeds the LEDs module with a 1 Hz oscillator
signal.
• Flash access and protection (supporting 128, 256 or 512 ROMs).
• Super I/O protection.
• Glue logic:
Support for SMIs (for Intel’s SMM mode). Enhanced keyboard lock and
external wake-up;
IRQ generator controlled by software;
SMI generator controlled by software;
Programmable chip selects.
• 16-bit address decoding and remapping.
• Four general purpose I/O (Input/Output).
Little Ben is powered by battery, so its consumption has to be as low as
possible. When VccState and PowerGood pins are both low, all output pins
are in tri-state mode, except for RemoteOnBen which continues to be
driven. This allows the PC to be restarted even after a power loss has
occurred.
If the BIOS needs to turn off the PC, it must ensure that the PC is not locked
by Little Ben’s lock bit. If it is, the power remains on, a red light is
illuminated, and a buzzer is activated.