One of the new innovations that AOpen has come up with for their latest motherboards is Dr. LED. It's a rather simple concept which makes me wonder why no one thought of it earlier.

These days, some motherboards come with 4 LEDs that lights up in different patterns during the booting process. If the boot fails, the LEDs would not complete the entire sequence of flashing (the final result is normally all 4 LEDs lighted up). This allows you to determine the cause of the problem by comparing the resulting pattern of LED lights with a list of different LED light patterns and their significance.

As you can see, there are a few flaws to that method :-

1. Because the LEDs are soldered to the motherboard, you will have to leave the casing open in order to be able to view them lighting up
2. Comparing the lighted LEDs may be problematical to the inexperienced user since they can be misread (because it may be difficult to determine the correct orientation of the LEDs) 
3. There's the hassle of comparing the patterns of LEDs to a list. :)

With Dr. LED, AOpen eliminates those flaws and presents a diagnostic solution that's both easy to use and practical. So, what's Dr. LED?

Well, Dr. LED consists of a front panel that is inserted into a 5.25" bay. This front panel is connected to the motherboard and has 8 LEDs, each with a number and a label. When the computer is booted up, the LEDs will light up sequentially from LED 0 to LED 7. All 8 LEDs will light up if the computer boots normally. But if the boot fails at some point, the last LED to be lighted up indicates where the fault may lie. The picture below will show you what I mean :-

AOpen's Dr. LED

Note that with Dr. LED, you no longer need to compare LED patterns with a list of LED patterns and their diagnosis. All you need to do is glance below the last lighted LED! So, there will be no confusion on whether you have read the LED correctly or upside-down and there will be no need to panic when you realize you have just lost the list of diagnostic LED patterns. Great idea, ain't it? ;)

External Controller For DIE-HARD BIOS

Just like any other dual BIOS solutions, AOpen's DIE-HARD BIOS offers security against the erasure or corruption of BIOS data by the provision of a backup ROM. However, AOpen didn't just stop there. They went further and came up with an external controller for their DIE-HARD BIOS. Now, you might begin to wonder - why would a BIOS need an external controller?

Let's examine the external controller first and then get back to the reasons for this controller. Since AOpen had already provided a front panel for Dr. LED, I guess they might have thought, "What the hell... let's go for broke and add in a little something for the back panel as well" because that's what the external controller essentially is.

The external controller is actually nothing more than a back panel cover with a simple switch attached to the motherboard. The switch can be flipped into one of three positions - up, center, down. Those positions correspond to the following functions - Normal, Rescue and Lock.

AOpen's External Controller For The DIE-HARD BIOS

During normal operation of the motherboard, the switch is left in the Up position. This allows the motherboard to read from the normal BIOS. However, if this BIOS has been infected by a virus or corrupted by a failed BIOS flash, you can easily restore the BIOS by following these four steps :-

1. Turn off the system, set the External Controller to "Rescue" (Center) to read from the rescue ROM
2. Boot the system and set the switch back to "Normal" (Top)
3. Reflash the BIOS to restore the infected / corrupted BIOS
4. Reboot the system and the BIOS should be back to normal

As you can see, this allows you to restore your infected / corrupted BIOS without the need to open the casing or fiddle with jumpers.

In addition to its function in restoring the infected / corrupted BIOS, the External Controller for the DIE-HARD BIOS also has a secondary purpose. If you set the switch to its center position (Lock), it will prevent the system from booting. This is useful if you want to prevent other people from accessing your system while you are away.

Of course, this should not be considered as a proper security system as its effectiveness relies heavily on the premise that those who want to use your system do not know about this feature. If they do, all it takes is a mere flip of the switch and they will be able to boot up your computer.