A bridge between computer hardware and software programs 4

Part 4: detailed explanation of BIOS settings

The full name of BIOS is (Basic Input Output System), which is the most basic and important system in the computer.Program. This program is stored in a repeatable, Erasable read-only memory that does not require power. This memory is also called EEPROM. It provides the lowest level but most direct hardware control for the computer and stores some basic information. The initialization operations of the computer are completed according to the content solidified in the BIOS. To be precise, BIOS is a "converter" or an interface for human-computer communication between hardware and software programs. It is responsible for solving the real-time requirements of hardware, perform hardware operations according to the software. Computer users will be exposed to the BIOS when using the computer, which plays a very important role in the computer system.
The BIOS settings of the motherboard are numerous and complicated. Many friends do not know about these settings. In addition, there are a lot of introductions from some media that do not illustrate the rigor, this is easy to cause misunderstanding to the reader. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the ideas and objectives in BIOS settings and optimization. Next, let's take a look at the many settings in the BIOS of the motherboard and the best setting method.

Here we take the mainstream 845pe motherboard as an example. First, we will provide some additional instructions on some other special BIOS projects of the motherboard. It has been said that after the boot, press the "Del" or "f1" key to enter the BIOS Main Menu, depending on the motherboard. BiOS standard Homepage

I. softmenu III setup

In this example, we use the abit motherboard. softmenu III setup is a super-Frequency Technology exclusive to the upgrade technology, which can be achieved through soft settings in the BIOS.

Ii. Standard CMOS features (Standard CMOS settings)

Here is the most basic CMOS system settings, including the time and date, drive information and display adapter, among which the more important one is halt on: System suspension settings, the default is all errors, indicates that the startup will stop if any error occurs during the post (power on self test, power-on Self Test) process. This option ensures system stability and checks some necessary peripheral devices. If you want to speed up the startup, you can set it to "no errors" without checking any peripheral settings.

3. Advanced BIOS features (Advanced BIOS settings)

Virus warning (virus warning)
Optional: enabled (Enabled) or disabled (disabled)
This item can prevent external programs from writing data to the hard drive Boot Sector and hard disk partition table. When a write operation occurs, the system will automatically generate a warning and temporarily interrupt program execution. Although it does not protect the entire hard disk, it can prevent viruses that damage the Boot Sector of the hard disk and the file allocation table. However, when it is enabled for hard disk partitioning, operating system installation, execution of some disk tool programs, and bios upgrades, a warning will be prompted, resulting in the interruption of these programs. It is recommended that you enable this option for novice users. Advanced users disable this item. The default value is "Disable ".

It is worth noting that some boards provide anti-virus functions, which can provide a higher level of warning defense than common virus warnings, however, when a PCI Controller (such as scsicard or ATA hard disk controller) with its own BIOS is enabled, viruses can bypass the system BIOS to attack the hard disks connected to these controllers, this protection will be completely ineffective.

Quick power on Self Test(Fast power-on self-detection)
Optional: enabled (Enabled) or disabled (disabled)
This setting can speed up the system's self-check, so that the system skips some self-check options (such as memory detection for multiple times). To speed up the system startup, it is recommended that advanced users enable this project.

First/second/Third boot device(Device 1, device 2, and device 3)
Optional: Floopy, ls120, CDROM, HDD-0, HDD-1, HDD-2, HDD-3, S-ATA, SCSI, lan, USB, Disabled
In this project, you can set the startup sequence of the first, second, and third devices, which can be soft drive, ls120 drive, optical drive, (0, 1, 2, 3) Hard Drive, Serial ATA excuse, scsicard, you can also disable network, USB, and other projects. Generally, you can set the first boot device directly as a HDD-0 to speed up boot from the hard disk.

Boot other device(Start from another device)
Optional: Same as above
You need to start the project from other devices when setting the project. You can disable the project without setting the project.

Swap Floppy Driver(Switch the Starting sequence of the soft drive)
Optional: enabled (Enabled) or disabled (disabled)
If you have two floppy disks that are started from a floppy disk and set this option to enabled, the system will start from drive B instead of drive. This project is intended for users with multiple floppy drives. Generally, you can close it.

Boot up floppy seek(Search for a floppy drive)
Option: enabled, Disabled
When this item is enabled, it will automatically detect the existence or absence of the drive. If you need to check the drive every time you start the drive, it will inevitably take a long time to start. We recommend that you select Disabled for this option.

Boot up numlock status(The status of the numeric keypad at startup)
Option: On, off
If this option is enabled, the digital keyboard is automatically enabled after the system is started. Select on to enable the keyboard.

Disable unused PCI clock(Disable the clock of unused PCI slots)
Option: Yes, no
This is a very new configuration item. When this option is enabled, the system will automatically detect the PCI slots of unconnected devices and stop sending data signals to these unused slots, the system always sends a clock signal to each PCI slot. We recommend that you select YES to save some system resources and power.

In addition, the "APIC mode" of the items below this page is the mode setting of advanced programmable interrupt control. Generally, it is set to the default mode enabled and does not need to be changed. APIC is generally used to expand the number of IRQ available, to avoid IRQ sharing and conflicts, "-MSP version CTRL for OS" is the running version of the multi-processor in the operating system, which is generally set to "1.4 ", if your dual-processor system runs in a very old operating system, you need to select "1.1" mode; "Report No FDD for OS", which is generally set to "yes ", the "delay ide initial" project supports some very old ide devices and sets the latency of the IDE, most users use relatively new hard disks and do not need to set the delay time to "0" seconds.

Explanation:

CPU L1 cache (CPU Level 1 cache)
Option: enabled, Disabled
This setting is used to control the first-and second-level cache Switches of the CPU. L1 and L2 cache have a great impact on the overall performance of the machine. After the CPU is disabled, the system performance will decrease significantly, therefore, we recommend that you open this project at any time.

CPU Level 2 Cache/external cache (CPU Level 2 Cache/external cache)
Option: enabled, Disabled
This setting is used to control whether the master cache of the CPU is enabled or disabled. The impact of this setting on the system and overclock is similar to that on the first-level cache. disabling the L2 cache can also overclock the success rate, but it will greatly reduce the processor performance.

Some boards also provide CPU L2 cache ECC checking (CPU Level 2 Cache ECC verification) Options
Option: enabled, Disabled
The system can enable ECC (error checking and correction, error checking and correction) detection in the second-level cache of the CPU. The default value is enable, which can detect and correct unit signal errors to ensure data accuracy, it is helpful for system stability. Enabling ECC detection will delay the system self-check time and reduce the system performance, and this function must be enabled by the memory.

Boot seq & floppy setup(Boot sequence). Some motherboard options are boot sequence.
This setting also determines the sequence of boot devices in the system. If you want to speed up system self-check, you can set it to (C only) and boot directly from the hard disk C. For some boards with raid functions, they have additional ide controllers. In this case, select SCSI/raid to start first.

Some motherboard also providesAssign IRQ for VGA(Assign IRQ: interrupt request to the VGA device to interrupt the request) Function
Option: enabled, Disabled
At present, many high-end graphics cards (required for the tnt2 series) need IRQ to increase the data exchange speed with the motherboard, which can greatly improve the overall performance after being enabled. On the contrary, there is no need to allocate IRQ to low-end graphics cards. In the video card user manual, it shows whether the calling is interrupted. The benefit of not occupying the interruption is to save system resources.

Hdd s. m.a. R. T. Capability(Hard Disk S. M. A. R. T. capability)
Option: enabled, Disabled
Smart (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology, automatic monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology) is a hard disk protection technology that enables real-time monitoring of the working status of hard disks, report potential risks. Opening this project will improve hard disk protection and system reliability.

Iv. Advanced chipset features (Advanced chipset feature settings)

First of all, the top part is "Dram timing selectable". We have already talked about memory optimization, but we will not repeat it here.

System BIOS cacheable(System BIOS buffer)
Option: enabled, Disabled
Open this project, you can map the system BIOS content to the main memory F0000H-FFFFFH, it can speed up the system to read the bios, however, the operating system to read BIOS information very low probability, it is also difficult to improve the overall system performance after enabling. In addition, many programs use this address to write data. We recommend disabled to release memory space and reduce the probability of conflict.

Video BIOS cacheable(Video BIOS buffer)
Option: enabled, Disabled
Start this project, the display card BIOS content is mapped to the main memory C0000H-C7FFFH, it can speed up access to the video bios, the same, the operating system rarely request display card BIOS content, therefore, enabled is difficult to improve video performance. We recommend that you disabled it to release memory space and reduce the probability of conflict.

The "memory hole at 15m-16m" is rarely used for the next two items, which are reserved for some old ISA cards, after it is enabled, the space of 15-16 m in the memory will be reserved for some ISA expansion cards with such requirements. Generally, you can set disabled by default. "Delay transaction" is also a setup option for ISA bus devices. On a motherboard with ISA and PCI co-existent, enabling this project can improve the operational efficiency and performance of PCI and ISA bus, however, the current motherboard has already abandoned the ISA interface, so this is generally set to the default disabled. The following options are important settings for adjusting the display card:

AGP aperture size (MB) (memory capacity in the AGP region, unit: MB)
Options: 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256
One of the features of AGP is that the system memory is divided into some areas for Display memory. Generally, different video cards have different memory capacities in the allocated AGP area, and the performance varies slightly, however, the current graphics card uses 64 MB of memory capacity, obviously this option has lost its meaning, but for some existing display cards with a small capacity, increasing this project can improve performance, however, the capacity of the AGP memory settings is too large to affect the operation of applications and games. Therefore, this value is usually set to half or 1/3 of the memory capacity, if the user uses MB memory, it is generally set to MB or 64 MB.

Init display first(Start the device first)
Option: AGP, PCI
In this project, you can set whether to use the PCI or AGP display card. Generally, all the display cards are now using the AGP interface, so you can select the AGP interface! If you are using an integrated motherboard, The AGP/onboard will be put together, so you can also select this item using the onboard display card.

AGP date Transfer Rate(AGP transmission speed)
Option: 2x, 4x, (8x)
This item is used to set the transmission mode of the Main Board's AGP bus. Some boards are displayed as the "AGP mode" option or "AGP Capability ". Currently, both the motherboard and the display card support The AGP 4x mode, but not all of them support the AGP 8x mode. You can enable the 8x mode only when both the motherboard and the display card support The AGP 8x mode. Some boards use automatic identification to detect the AGP interface, but cannot manually adjust the AGP bus mode, while some boards mask this function in the BIOS.

Some mainboards have a project list dedicated to the AGP settings. here we can see more functional options. "AGP fast write" is a very common option, which is to set the faster Features of The AGP, after the function is enabled, the transmission performance of The AGP is improved, and the CPU is directly written into the display card's memory without passing through the main memory, which improves the efficiency, in particular, the display card of one or two generations after geforce 256 can improve performance by a certain extent. We recommend that you enable this option to enabled.

Another important "AGP sideband address", the "AGP side band addressing" option, the so-called "Side Band addressing" refers to an independent address and command bus, the graphic control chip can be used to quickly obtain data without interrupting the continuous transmission of system memory data streams. In order to maximize the transmission efficiency and throughput of the AGP bus, the address bus is separated from the data bus separately by the AGP 2x protocol, theoretically, eight additional side bands are added to the AGP bus. The eight additional lines are called the sideband address port (SBA. Although SBA uses an 8-bit bandwidth transmission interface, it allows the graphics control chip to send new AGP data requests and transmission instructions to the system memory in parallel, at the same time, it does not interfere with other data transmission lines (AD) that continuously pass through the active 32 addresses of the AGP bus ). In fact, the graphic control chip can also send new AGP data requests to the system memory through the ad line. However, this will increase the load for normal data transmission of The AGP bus, therefore, we recommend that you enabled the eight additional lines for data and command requests.

V. Integrated perigherals (Comprehensive peripheral settings)

In this project, some peripheral devices and ports are set, which are generally divided into several word items for separate settings, the figure shows how to set the IDE port, PCI device, and onboard PCI device in three sub-projects. In addition, the project "onboard FDD controller" on this homepage is to set whether to enable the on-board soft Drive Controller. If this project is disabled, the soft drive is unavailable, the general mode is enabled. "Onboard serial port" is the parameter used to set the serial port of the onboard device. It is usually kept by default and does not need to be changed. "Onboard IR port" is the option to enable the onboard infrared port, and this requires an external infrared plug-in to achieve infrared transmission between the device and other devices. Generally, this project is not needed by ordinary users, you can disable it. "Onboard parallet port" is an on-board parallel port setting mode. You can select several modes in which the parallel port works or close the parallel port. However, you cannot use printers or other devices when the parallel port is closed, therefore, we recommend that you enable it and set it to the default value.

In the first "On Chip ide device", set the IDE port status of the motherboard, and set both IDE controllers to enabled, set all the modes to auto mode. Note that in the following "Serial ATA bridge", this is because the motherboard has a serial bus interface that can be connected to the hard disk of the serial port. If you do not use this port, you can disable it, set to "disabled ".

In the second "onchip PCI device"

Set the status of the motherboard USB controller. The default value is enabled. The status is enabled because the USB port is a commonly used port in the PC and must be enabled. The following two options are supported by the USB keyboard and USB mouse, which can be set to "OS" or "BIOS". The former indicates support through the operating system, and the latter indicates support through the BIOS, generally, you can use BIOS to support the use of the mouse and keyboard in almost all aspects. The following "onchip Audio Controller" is used to set the on-board audio status. Many boards contain sound cards or ac97 audio functions. If you plug in a sound card by yourself, you can disable the audio function provided by this motherboard. This project depends on the situation of different users.

In the third "onboard PCI device"

It sets the status of other devices that use the PCI bus on the motherboard. In this case, the onboard network function is enabled or disabled. If you want to enable broadband Internet access for residential areas or for commercial users in the office, enable this option if you need to enable the NIC function.

6. Power management setup)

The most important thing here is to set the ACPI suspend type (ACPI suspension mode ). Options include [S1 (POS)] and [S3 (STR)]. [S3 (STR)] can support the STR mode. STR is short for suspend to ram, which is also known as "suspending to memory ". Specifically, the data and system running status information are stored in the host memory. After the host is started (the power switch on the chassis is enabled), it does not pass complex system detection, reading the corresponding data from the memory directly causes the system to enter the state before suspension, which can greatly shorten the startup time. However, S3 functions must be implemented in combination with the operating system. Operating systems such as Windows 2000 and XP can automatically install S3 functions during installation, in the Win98 operating system, you need to enter the "setup/p j" command during installation to load the S3 function during installation.

Another "Power batton function" is used to set the shutdown time of the shutdown button. If you select "instant-off", the system will immediately shut down after you press the button, if you select "4 sec delay", You need to press the start button for four seconds to shut down. Keep the default settings for other projects.

VII. PNP/PCI configurations

Here is the configuration of plug-and-play and advanced configuration items of PCI. Generally, you do not need to change any items, so you can keep them by default. ,

8. PC health status

In this project, you can set and view the power supply and system temperature.

The first item is "fam fail alarm selectable". If you need to enable a monitoring fan port (which can be a CPU fan or another system FAN ), after the fan is stopped or abnormal, the system will warn you to prevent fan problems. Generally, you can start this project. Item 2 "shutdown when CPU fan fail": if this project is enabled, the system will automatically shut down after the CPU fan is stopped, so that the CPU will be burned out due to overheating, generally, this option can be enabled. The third item "CPU shutdown temperature" can be set to automatically shut down when the CPU temperature exceeds a certain value to protect the CPU from overheating, if enabled, it is recommended that the temperature be set to around 60 to 65 degrees. The fourth item "CPU warning temperature" is to set an alarm when the CPU temperature exceeds a certain temperature. If this temperature is set, it must be smaller than the CPU shutdown temperature "at more than 5 degrees Celsius, the recommended alarm temperature is about 5-60 degrees.

There is also a "smart fan speed control" that is unique to some motherboard smart fan functions. In common applications, because the CPU is not 100% full load, the CPU heat is not limited to the maximum value, enabling this option in BIOS allows the fan to rotate at a lower speed, which not only saves power, but also reduces noise. The percentage indicates that the fan speed can be rotated at the original speed of 70%, 80%, or 90% after the speed reduction. For the configured page, see

The following blue items are unselectable: system temperature, CPU