SCREEN UTILITIES MENU
The Utilities section contains routines to perform various diagnostic or system maintenance functions. These include options to display memory contents, edit media (for floppy, fixed disks, SCSI and IDE devices), benchmark system components, rebuild the master boot record, clean floppy heads, and configure the monitor display for color or monochrome. There is also a selection of debugging functions that allow you to exercise very specific I/O addresses, interrupts, etc.
The Memory Display window will display the 1024K real mode memory from segment 00000 through segment F0000. The left hand side is in hex. The right hand side is in ASCII. The segment, offset and actual address (20 bit) is displayed at the bottom.
SCREEN MEMORY DISPLAY
Press S (Segment) to select the segment. Press Character and number keys for desired segment. Press Enter to execute.
Press O (Offset) to select the offset. Press character and number keys for desired offset. Press Enter to execute. Page Up and Page Dn keys will move the window in 256 byte intervals (000, 0100, 0200, etc.). Arrow keys (Cursor Up and Cursor Down) will move the window in 16 byte intervals (000, 0010, 0020, etc.). Home will move to the beginning of the current segment. End will move to the end of the current segment.
System ROM BIOS and ROM BIOS Extensions SYSTEM ROM BIOS copyright information will be located at or near Segment F000. ROM BIOS extensions on adapters are identified in Section I, Active ROM Search. Copyright Information about adapters with ROM BIOS will be located between the beginning and ending segment in Memory Display.
SCSI/ESDI Setup Routine Segment/Offset Most Adapters for SCSI and ESDI drives have a setup routine located on the ROM BIOS. To access this setup routine, go to the USE CONTROLLER BIOS option on the Fixed Disk diagnostic menu. The segment and offset are required, which can be found under Active ROM Search on the System Configuration menu. Look for the beginning segment of the SCSI or ESDI adapter (example: C800). Go to this segment in Memory Display. Look at top line in the hex field. The second E9 (near jump) or EB (far jump) is the standard offset to jump to the setup routine (example: first E9 or EB is under column 3, second E9 or EB is under column 5, offset is 0005). The segment and offset in the preceding examples would be segment C800 and offset 0005.
Available Memory It is possible to determine if memory is currently being used by a program by using the memory display. If it is necessary to load a device driver or program in the area between 640k and 1024k, first use the Active ROM search to find any memory used by ROMs. Load all device drivers and programs before running Micro-Scope. Use the Memory Display and page down in the areas in question. If a pattern of FFFF is found for an entire 256 byte block, there is an excellent chance that this area is not utilized. This assumption is based on the fact that properly written code will zero out any buffer that is used to store data within the length of the program. If code is resident in an area it will have various characters on the screen. If the area is used as a buffer, the screen will be filled with zeros. If the screen is filled with FFFF then it is not utilized, or the program utilizing the area did not zero out the buffer area which may cause problems within the program, so it is very unlikely that this will occur. Remember that F000:0000 to F000:FFFF is reserved for system ROM. Portions of this area may be used. However, to be sure the system ROM is not utilizing the area, use the memory display and look for a pattern of FFFF for an entire 256 byte block.
The Floppy Editor window can display and edit media on the selected floppy diskette.
Drive Select (0, 1, 2 and 3) The Drive select option allows the selection of floppy drive 0, 1, 2 and 3. Press Enter with the cursor on the selected drive to be displayed or edited.
Media Select (360, 720, 1.2, 1.44, 2.88) The Media Select window allows the selection of 5.25 360K, 5.25 1.2M, 3.5 720K, 3.5 1.44M, and 3.5 2.88M. The User Defined option allows the user to define the media type manually. Press Enter with the cursor on the selected media type to be displayed or edited.
SCREEN MEDIA SELECT
The User Defined option will highlight the media area to be manually set on the left side of the window. Press the character and number keys to change area. Use the cursor to move to the different media areas. Press Enter when finished.
The Display/Edit window displays the information from the floppy diskette in hex on the left side of window and ASCII on the right side of window. The initial information comes from the keyboard buffer. Press R (Read) to read the first sector on the floppy diskette. The Next Access line (next area to be displayed or edited) and the Current Access line (present area being displayed or edited) are located below the hex and ASCII fields. Options to Modify, Read, Write, Cylinder, Sector and Head are located at the bottom of the window. Press F (Find) to do a search for particular content on the diskette. A pop-up menu will give you a choice of entering your content as ASCII, Hex, or Continue, to locate additional occurrences of the same data. You can then enter a starting cylinder if you dont want to search from Cylinder 0. Press M (Modify) to bring cursor up on the top left corner of the Hex field. Cursor to area to be modified and press the character and number keys to edit information in the window. Press Enter to exit the Modify option.
SCREEN FLOPPY EDIT/FIND
Press A (ASCII) to bring cursor up on the top left corner of the ASCII field. Cursor to area to be modified and press the character and number keys to edit information in the window. Press Enter to exit the Modify option.
Press R (Read) to read the information from the Next Access line to the Current Access line and display the information in the hex and ASCII fields.
Press W (Write) to write the information from the hex and ASCII fields to the floppy diskette. A warning message will be displayed. Press Y (Yes) to write information to the floppy diskette. Press N (No) to cancel write operation.
Press C (Cylinder) to highlight the cylinder in the Next Access line. Press the number keys to change the cylinder. Press Enter to exit cylinder option.
Press S (Sector) to highlight the sector in the Next Access line. Press the number keys to change the sector. Press Enter to exit sector option.
Press H (Head) to highlight the head in the Next Access line. Press the Number keys to change the head. Press Enter to exit head option.
The Fixed Disk Editor can display and edit media on the selected hard disk.
Drive Select (0 - 6) The Drive Select option will allow the selection of drive 0 through 6. Press Enter with the cursor on the selected drive to be displayed or edited.
Display/Edit Once the drive has been selected, the Fixed Disk editor operation is identical to the Floppy Editor. The options are repeated here for convenience.
Press F (Find) to do a search for particular content on the drive. A pop-up menu will give you a choice of ASCII, Hex, or Continue, to locate additional occurrences of the same data. You can then enter a starting cylinder if you dont want the search to start at the beginning of the drive.
Press M (Modify) to bring up cursor on the top left corner of the hex field. Cursor to the area to be modified and press the character and number keys to edit the information in the window. Press Enter to exit Modify option.
Press A (ASCII Modify) to bring up cursor on the top left corner of the ASCII field. Cursor to the area to be modified and press the character and number keys to edit the information in the window. Press Enter to exit.
Press R (Read) to read the information from the Next Access line to the Current Access line and display the information in the hex and ASCII fields.
Press W (Write) to write the information from the hex and ASCII fields to the hard disk. A warning message will be displayed. Press Y (Yes) to continue, and N (No) to cancel.
Press C (Cylinder) to highlight the cylinder in the Next Access line. Press the number keys to change the cylinder. Press the Enter key to exit cylinder option.
Press S (Sector) to highlight the Next Access sector. Change the sector with the number keys. Press Enter to exit.
Press H (Head) to highlight the head in the Next Access line. Press the number keys to change the head. Press the Enter key to exit head option.
This utility is comparable to the floppy and hard drive editors that can be used on a variety of removable drives. A prompt will ask for the type of device.
Device Select Choose between an IDE / ATAPI Device or a SCSI / ASPI Device. If the IDE / ATAPI is selected, you will then need to designate one of the following: Primary Master, Primary Slave, Secondary Master or Secondary Slave. If selecting SCSI / ASPI, you will be required to enter the number of the drive, between 0 and 15.
SCREEN SCSI DEVICE SELECT
After entering the drive number, press Escape to enter the editor. The options are: Press F (Find) to do a search for particular content. You may enter a starting sector for the search or accept Sector 0. Press R (Read) to see the Hex and ASCII text of the media section being displayed. Press W (Write) to change the contents of the displayed section. Press (S) to enter a specified sector number.
The Run Benchmarks option provides a tool for measuring the throughput capabilities of various system components, including processors, memory, fixed disks, video and, CD ROM drives. The menu allows the selection of Run All or individual components.
SCREEN RUN BENCHMARKS
Processors will benchmark the CPU and NPU. The window will display the number of instructions executed per second and the current operating frequency of the processors.
Fixed Disks This option will benchmark the fixed disks. The display will show, in kilobytes per second, the rate at which data is transferred between the fixed disk and system.
CD ROM will benchmark the CD ROM drive. The display will show, in kilobytes per second, the rate at which data is transferred between the CD-ROM drive and the system memory, and the average time in milliseconds necessary to access any given sector on the drive.
Memory Benchmarks the system memory. The display will show, in kilobytes per second, the rate at which data is transferred between the CPU and system memory.
Video This option will benchmark the video adapter transfer rate. The display will show, in kilobytes per second, the rate at which data is transferred between the video memory and the system memory.
Note: During the video benchmark, the monitor screen may blank out for a few seconds. This is normal.
This feature displays up to 3 temperatures, 3 fan speeds, and 8 voltage readings for systems equipped with a hardware monitoring IC. This IC must be a Winbond or compatible type such as the Via 686 or SiS South Bridge Chip, National LM79, LM81 or LM87, Dallas Semiconductor DS1780, Analog Devices ADM1024, ADM1025, ADM1026 or ADM9024, Genesys Logic GL525 or Phillips NE1619.
In machines not equipped with a monitoring IC, the program will report "No supported Hardware Monitoring IC has been found in the system".
SCREEN PC HEALTH STATUS
The Rebuild MasterBoot option will rewrite the first 446 bytes of the master boot sector with a generic DOS boot loader program.
SCREEN REBUILD MASTERBOOT
The Master Boot Sector contains a boot loader program (446 bytes), Master Boot Record (64 bytes) and a 55 AA boot signature (2 bytes). When the BIOS looks at the Master Boot Sector on the C drive and finds a 55 AA boot signature at 01FE, the BIOS turns control over to the boot loader program at 0000. The boot loader program then loads the Master Boot Record at 01BE. If the boot loader program is missing or corrupted, the Master Boot Record will never be loaded and the C drive will not boot. It is still possible to boot to the A drive then go to the C drive. Press Y (Yes) to rewrite the Master Boot Sector. Press any other key to cancel write operation.
This utility exercises the floppy heads for one complete pass in an efficient pattern for using a head cleaning diskette to clean the read/write heads on your floppy disk drives. With this feature, the normal floppy cleaning diskette can last up to 20 longer (it is recommended that you do not use abrasive head cleaning materials). Floppy drives that are suspected of being defective should be cleaned first in order to determine that the problem is not simply dirty heads obscuring the signal.
Sometimes to isolate a malfunction, it is useful to pinpoint and exercise a specific Interrupt, I/O address or memory address. That is the purpose of the Debugging Functions, which allow direct triggering or interrogation of hardware. This utility can be used to give you the state of a device, reset the device, or help to pin down the exact cause of a failure that Micro-Scope has caught.
Execute Interrupts This function allows
the user to specify the execution of any BIOS or hardware device interrupt-based
call, and to see the results of that call. 
SCREEN EXECUTE INTERRUPTS
There are 256 interrupt levels. The first 16 are reserved for IRQs, although these can also be triggered with the Execute Interrupt utility.
In/Out to I/O Address This feature allows you to write to, or read from, a specific I/O location. One byte of information will be transferred, making it possible to pinpoint failing ports, registers, etc.
Read/Write to Real Memory One byte of information can be written to or read from a location in the first 1MB of memory, by entering the segment and offset of that location.
Read/Write to Protected Memory One byte of information can be written to or read from a location in upper memory (over 1MB). This feature cannot be used if a memory driver or paging-type memory manager is loaded.
WARNING: These debugging features are very powerful troubleshooting aids but can also be dangerous, with the potential to lock up a device or even the entire system. Do not use them without complete documentation of the functions being manipulated.
This feature provides a way to sterilize a hard drive that contains classified
or sensitive information. There are three levels of security available, with
the more thorough methods taking more time. 
SCREEN SECURE WIPE
Short Secure Wipe This will over-write the data twice, which is sufficient to obscure it from anyone without access to a sophisticated data recovery laboratory.
Long Secure Wipe The data will be over-written six times, which will prevent its recovery by techniques available in the private sector.
Long Wipe with Format This option makes a total of seven passes: six over-writes followed by a pass that does a low-level format of the drive, and meets the most stringent national security requirements for declassifying a drive.
Entire/Partial Any of the choices above can be applied to all or part of a drive. If Partial Drive is selected, you will enter the start and ending cylinder and head. Before the Secure Wipe operation begins, a warning will appear to let you know that the data on the drive is about to be destroyed. Press Y to continue or N to abort.
Certain plasma, LED and monochrome displays are difficult to read if a program is running in color. The Toggle Attributes options will change the Micro-Scope program from color to monochrome.
Color The Color option will change the program from monochrome display to color display.
Monochrome The Monochrome option will change the program from color display to monochrome display.
Note: If the cursor can not be seen then the program is running in color on a monochrome-only monitor, and the display should be changed to monochrome. Use the description lines to determine where the cursor is located and go to Toggle Attributes, change the attribute to monochrome and the cursor will appear.
This feature provides the capability to save the CMOS contents into a backup file, and to restore the saved contents back to the CMOS. Backing up the CMOS is recommended before replacing the CMOS chip or battery, and before making major changes to the CMOS configuration. A backup file should also be kept for emergencies and updated after major changes to system hardware.
SCREEN SAVE CMOS
Save CMOS Contents Select Save CMOS Data, and enter the complete drive, path and filename for the location where the backup file will be created. This can be on any floppy or hard drive that was detected by Micro-Scope during bootup.
Restore CMOS Contents To put the previously saved CMOS contents back into CMOS, select Restore CMOS Data, and enter the drive\path\filename where the data was saved.
SCREEN SAVE/RESTORE MBR
The contents of the Master Boot Record for any hard drive or floppy drive in the system can be saved to a backup file, and then written back to the Master Boot Record of that drive or another drive. This offers protection against a Master Boot Record that is missing or corrupt, for instance from a boot record virus, and also provides an easy way to port a Master Boot Record from one drive to another. Save MBR When the Save MBR option is selected, a box opens with a list of floppy drives 0-3 and hard drives 0-5, which is the maximum number of each drive that can be configured by hardware. Choose the drive whose MBR you wish to save and press Enter. In the filename box, type in the complete drive\path\filename of the storage location. A file will be created at that location containing the MBR contents. If the location was entered incorrectly or a drive was selected that does not exist on the system, a prompt will appear to let you know that the file could not be created. Restore MBR Select a drive and then the location for the backup file. The contents of the specified file will replace the current MBR on that drive. Note that this can be an MBR saved from a different drive. For more information about the Master Boot Record, see the section on rebuilding the Master Boot Record, earlier in this chapter.