Machine-specific notes

This page contains important notes related to specific machine models emulated by 86Box.

8088

IBM PC

IBM PCjr

  • Some applications may shift the display slightly to one side due to unconventional use of the PCjr video hardware. Unchecking the Apply overscan deltas option accessible through the internal video’s Configure button can help bring the display back into position.

  • Hard disks are not supported, as a PCjr-compatible hard disk controller is not emulated by 86Box.

IBM XT

80286

IBM AT

  • On-board RAM is limited to 512 KB; more can be added through ISA memory expansion cards.

  • The IBM Personal Computer Diagnostics disks are not Y2K-compliant and will produce a 0152 ERROR - SYSTEM BOARD code if time synchronization is enabled. This code can be cleared by disabling time synchronization, then wiping NVRAM through the VM manager or by deleting ibmat.nvr from the machine’s nvr directory.

IBM XT Model 286

GRiD GRiDcase 1520

  • The BIOS is locked to specific Conner IDE hard disk models. Any hard disks must be set to the Conner CP3024, CP3044 or CP3104 model profiles.

  • The Yamaha V6366 video chip is not emulated by 86Box. An IBM CGA set to amber monochrome mode (through the Configure button) is recommended as an approximation.

i386SX

Amstrad MegaPC

  • The BIOS does not configure itself on first boot or after clearing CMOS; the machine will not work properly until an automatic configuration is performed by pressing F9 on the BIOS setup’s main Setup menu, then saving with F10 and exiting with Esc.

i486

Intel Classic R/R Plus (Monsoon)

  • The messages for entering the BIOS setup and skipping the memory test are not displayed by default. To enter the setup utility, press F1 when the number 135 or an error is displayed. To skip the memory test, press Space. Both messages can be enabled through the POST Setup Prompt and POST Memory Test Prompt options on page 1 of the BIOS setup respectively.

  • The internal IDE hard disk controller is disabled by default. It can be enabled through the Onboard IDE option on page 1 of the BIOS setup.

Zida Tomato 4DPS

  • Floppy drive support is completely disabled by default. It can be enabled through the Onboard FDD Controller option of the Chipset Features Setup menu on the BIOS setup; the floppy drives themselves must also be configured in the Standard CMOS Setup menu.

Socket 7

MSI MS-5119

  • 86Box versions prior to 4.0.1 used BIOS version A37E, which has PS/2 mouse issues. The fixed A37EB BIOS is not applied automatically to existing setups; it can be applied by wiping NVRAM through the VM manager or deleting ms5119.bin from the machine’s nvr directory.

ASUS P/I-P65UP5 (C-P55T2D)

  • Modular motherboard, consisting of a P/I-P65UP5 baseboard and one of the following CPU cards:

    • C-P55T2D: Socket 7 with Intel 430HX northbridge;

    • C-P6ND: Socket 8 with Intel 440FX northbridge;

    • C-PKND: Slot 1 with Intel 440FX northbridge.

  • While the northbridge depends on the selected CPU card, the southbridge always remains the Intel PIIX3, as it is located on the baseboard.

  • The real CPU cards support dual CPUs. As 86Box does not emulate multiprocessing, only a single CPU will be present.

  • Due to a lack of I/O APIC emulation at the moment, 86Box will patch the MultiProcessor Specification tables out of RAM during boot, so that operating systems will not hang or exhibit other erratic behavior due to the missing I/O APIC.

NEC Mate NX MA23C

  • Accessing the BIOS setup utility takes an additional step. Press F2 during the NEC logo screen and a Japanese message will appear; once a different message appears, press 🠊 (right arrow) to enter the setup utility.

  • The first setup option below the date and time can be used to change the BIOS language to English.

Socket 8

ASUS P/I-P65UP5 (C-P6ND)

See: ASUS P/I-P65UP5 (C-P55T2D)

Slot 1

ASUS P/I-P65UP5 (C-PKND)

See: ASUS P/I-P65UP5 (C-P55T2D)

A-Trend ATC6310BXII

  • Equipped with the obscure SMSC Victory66 southbridge instead of the regular Intel PIIX4E.

    • The Victory66 has faster IDE - up to Ultra ATA/66 as opposed to the PIIX4E’s Ultra ATA/33 - and a different USB controller.

    • Drivers for Windows 95, 98, Me and 2000 are available here. Windows XP, Vista and 7 include drivers out of the box.

NEC Mate NX MA30D/23D

See: NEC Mate NX MA23C

Slot 1/2

Freeway FW-6400GX

  • The maximum amount of RAM is limited to 2032 MB due to a BIOS bug with 2048 MB.

  • ACPI is disabled by default. It can be enabled through the ACPI Aware O/S option of the Power Management Setup menu on the BIOS setup.

  • Once enabled, ACPI does not work correctly if a non-Intel CPU is selected.

Slot 2

Gigabyte GA-6GXU

  • The BIOS display will corrupt itself during the memory test if the maximum of 2048 MB RAM is selected. This is a visual glitch which does not otherwise negatively impact the machine.

Socket 370

A-Trend ATC7020BXII

See: A-Trend ATC6310BXII

AEWIN AW-O671R

  • Equipped with dual Winbond W83977EF Super I/O chips driving four serial (COM1-COM4) and two parallel (LPT1-LPT2) ports.

    • The I/O ports and IRQs used by all these ports can be configured in the BIOS setup.

  • ACPI is disabled by default, unlike other machines with AwardBIOS v6.00PG. It can be enabled through the ACPI function option of the Power Management Setup menu on the BIOS setup.

ASUS CUBX

  • Equipped with an on-board CMD PCI-0648 IDE controller on the tertiary and quaternary channels, on top of the PIIX4E southbridge controller on the primary and secondary channels.

Samsung CAIRO-5 (MSI MS-6309)

  • The BIOS is in Korean by default. Press F2 during the Samsung logo screen to enter the setup utility, where the first option can be used to change the BIOS language to English.

  • Broken ACPI causes some operating systems such as Windows 2000 and Linux to reboot during startup. Disabling ACPI at operating system level is required, as the BIOS lacks an option for it.

Miscellaneous

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

  • This machine loads the AMIBIOS 8 ROM from Virtual PC 2007 on 86Box. It does not use the virtualization engine or any other components from Virtual PC.

  • Virtual PC’s special 8 MB video card, WDM sound card and Guest Additions are not emulated by 86Box.

Footnotes

Broken ACPI

Some machines may have faulty or otherwise incomplete Advanced Configuration and Power Interface implementations in their BIOSes, symptoms of which include:

  • Windows 2000 and higher will install the “Standard PC” HAL, which does not enable ACPI features such as soft power off and sleep mode;

  • Booting an existing Windows installation with the ACPI HAL will result in a STOP 0x000000A5 blue screen;

  • Booting Windows Vista or 7 (which require ACPI) will also result in a STOP 0x000000A5 blue screen, or a Windows Boot Manager 0xc0000225 error.

There is no solution to this issue outside of disabling ACPI, as none of the affected machines ever received a BIOS update to fix it. ACPI can be disabled through the BIOS setup on many machines, or at operating system level if that is not an option:

  • Windows 2000 or XP: during installation, press F7 when the Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver… message appears; this disables ACPI even though no indication is displayed on screen.

  • Linux: add acpi=off to the kernel command line.