ARC Firmware

What is ARC Firmware?

ARC firmware replaces what traditional IBM PC's called BIOS, or basic input/output system. Designers of high end operating systems, namely UNIX, didn't need the hardware manufacturer to write a BIOS for them, they would handle the code themselves. For this reason, Firmware on our RS/6000 systems provides almost no "help" in starting an operating system that is used to having a BIOS. Because Windows NT was designed to be cross platform, they decided to create the BIOS for the machine instead of modifying NT. The result is an industry standard (though no-one has used it besides Microsoft) called Advanced RISC Computing. ARC functions in much the same was as a BIOS in terms of starting the computer and getting NT loaded, but to the user that is mostly transparent.What ARC really replaces in the users eyes is the BOOT.INI/NTLDR from it's Intel cousin. ARC allows you to setup multiple copies of NT and boot to each via a boot menu identical to the BOOT.INI menu from x86 NT.

What is the Latest Version?

The last publicly available ARC is ARC 1.51, which adds support for the E20, F30 and RS/6000 Thinkpad 860. It supersedes all other ARC's and should be the only one used.

To get the latest version click at PC Company Download Site, just Search for ARC.

How to I create an ARC Boot Diskette from what I've downloaded?

You must find an Intel machine running Windows NT or another PowerPC machine running Windows NT to create an ARC diskette. If you have a UNIX system download the latest .dd image at PC Company Download Site, just search for ARC. Extract the .dd image as you normally would and you will have created a bootable ARC diskette.
Copy the executable to a temp directory and run the executable. A readme file and archive should be extracted.
The README file that extracts contains directions on how to extract the archive on the appropriate system.

How can I find out what version of ARC is on my system?

At the end of the system POST, the system will beep or play a sound depending on the model. At this point, the system should transfer control to ARC and it will turn the screen blue and ARC will start. You should see "PowerPC Portable BootLoader version X.XX" where X.XX is the version number. If it is not 1.51, then you should update it.

What is the ARC Boot Disk?

Like MS-DOS systems, if there is no OS on the hard disk, you must inserting a boot disk. A Power-PC boot disk simply contains the ARC Firmware so you can boot the system and begin the installation process. A newer ARC disk can also be booted to update the existing ARC already on the hard drive.

How do I update the ARC Firmware?

!!!IMPORTANT!!!

Before you update your ARC firmware, you must first write down you current ARC configuration. The only information you need to concern yourself with is the BOOT.INI information, as it tells ARC where it can find OSLOADER.EXE, the Kernel, and the Operating System proper are. See: A grand tour of the ARC Bootloader, for a sample screen shot of the

Step 1: Insert a Boot disk with the latest ARC version into the A: drive.

Step 2: Turn on the computer.

Step 3: Select: "Installation and Setup Services"

Step 4: Select: "Advanced Setup"

Step 5: Select: "Disk Partition Management Services"

Step 6: Select: "Update ARC Software in Boot Partition"

Step 7: Select: "PowerPC Boot Disk in A:"

You can also select to load the ARC image from another FAT disk, like the hard disk or floppy disk.

I just upgraded my ARC and rebooted, but now ARC just goes dead, why?

There have been rare instances where upgrading from one ARC level to another corrupts the video display if you boot from the ARC on the hard drive. To fix this, simply boot from the updated ARC diskette, delete the ARC partition and recreate another one.