esmith1977 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 The specifications of the Intel G945GNT board say that it has "Intel Platform Innovation Framework for the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)... What does this mean exactly? the specs also say "System BIOS 4 Mb Flash EEPROM with Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI Plug and Play, IDE drive auto-configure Advanced configuration and power interface V1.0b, DMI 2.0, multilingual support" Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 (edited) This is a good question. Here is where I am at with it: (1) The boards have the EFI "Framework" embedded in ROM. This allows EFI applications to run very quickly during boot. But otherwise is not absolutely necessary becasue the same EFI "Framework" is availble as software and loadable from a disk. (2) Just like it says, it has a 4Mb Flash EEPROM. I believe this is sort of a "work space" for EFI related applications to store information. I know that it is used to hold parts of some Compatability Supports Modules (CSMs) to boot BIOS operating systems and also to hold "Non-BIOS" ROMs. Otherwise, I think these boards also have a regular BIOS EPROM, but I am not sure about that. Page 17: ftp://download.intel.com/technology/frame...map_EFIS001.pdf Edited January 20, 2006 by bofors Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/#findComment-45519 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudar Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 (edited) I repeat my post from another branch downhere: "Well, despite I have said that I prefer to keep away from all this EFI theory until the time I am able to put my hands on the Intel-Mac's keyboard, I give you guys a couple of clues to dig for multi-boot info: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServe...be9cf01033.mspx http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/help/m.../title_page.htm http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx And also do not forget to check the attached file." EDITED> SBF21.doc.zip Edited January 20, 2006 by Sudar Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/#findComment-45524 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 (edited) http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/help/m.../title_page.htm http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServe...be9cf01033.mspx These two links do not work for me and appear to be old. The third link is "Windows and GPT FAQ" ((GUID Partition Tables (GPTs)) from MicroSoft and looks useful to me. The attached file is from Microsoft and appears to describe normal BIOS operation from "power-on", which also may useful for those (like me) who lack a detailed understanding, but contains information about a "Simple Boot Flag Specification" that "can be used by an operating system to communicate boot options to the system firmware and add-in card option ROMs". Thanks for your assistance, Sudar. Edited January 20, 2006 by bofors Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/#findComment-45535 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudar Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 These two links do not work for me. They appear to be old. The third link is about GUID Partition Tables (GPTs) and looks useful to me. The attached file is from Microsoft and appears to describe normal BIOS operation from "power-on", which also may useful for those (like me) who lack a detailed understanding. Thanks for your assistance, Sudar. You are welcome. I have corrected outdated links upthere. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/#findComment-45537 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 (edited) http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx This has some interesting information about booting XP on EFI systems in general and also this: I have corrected outdated links upthere. OK, they seem to be working for me know. The Intel link goes to there EFI "How To" guide, which a good resource, I already had that one downloaded. I believe an EFI page has been set up on the Wiki we should probably start using that to collect a list of useful documentation resources: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/EFI Edited January 20, 2006 by bofors Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/#findComment-45539 Share on other sites More sharing options...
agentsmith Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 13. Can the 64-bit version of Windows XP read, write, and boot from GPT disks?Yes. 14. Can the 64-bit version of Windows XP read, write, and boot from MBR disks? The 64-bit version of Windows XP can read and write MBR disks, but cannot boot from MBR disks. 15. Can the 32-bit version of Windows XP read, write, and boot from GPT disks? No. The 32-bit version will see only the Protective MBR. The EE partition will not be mounted or otherwise exposed to application software. 16. Can the 32-bit version of Windows XP read, write, and boot from MBR disks? Yes. This is from page mentioned above by bofors here's the link http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/#findComment-45768 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudar Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Well, that just means OSX and WinXP shall live on different hard drives. That is the easiest way of dual-booting. But there is another way - more suitable for us all! ) Guess what is it? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/7303-efi-support-on-intel/#findComment-45802 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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