BIOS Setup Illustrated Tutorial

The BIOS (Basic input/output system) is a set of programs that are solidified in a computer's CMOS RAM chip to provide the first, most direct hardware control for the computer. There are two main types of BIOS: the award BIOS and the AMI BIOS. The correct setting of the BIOS can greatly improve system performance.

　　The first part, the award BIOS setup

　　First, enter the BIOS setup

The computer has just started, and appears as follows Figure 1 picture.

Figure 1

When the Figure 1 screen appears, press the Delete (or del) key until you enter the BIOS (basic input/output system) settings, as shown in Figure 2

Figure 2 (Main menu)

The image above is the main menu for the award BIOS setup. The top row marks the type of Setup program is award Software. The item is preceded by a triangular arrowhead indicating that the item contains a submenu. There are 13 items on the main menu, respectively:

　　Standard CMOS Features (Standard CMOS function setting)

Set date, time, soft disk size and display type.

　　Advanced BIOS Features (Advanced BIOS feature settings)

Set the advanced features of the system.

　　Advanced chipset Features (Advanced chipset feature settings)

Set parameters for the chipset used by the motherboard.

　　Integrated Peripherals (External device settings)

Make the settings menu include all peripherals settings. such as sound card, Modem, USB keyboard is open ...

　　Power Management Setup(source management settings)

Set the CPU, hard disk, monitor and other equipment power-saving function of the operation mode.

　　PNP/PCI Configurations(Plug and play/PCI parameter setting)

Sets the PNP Plug and Play interface for ISA and the parameters of the PCI interface, which is only valid when your system supports PNP/PCI.

　　frequency/voltageControl (frequency/voltage controls)

Set CPU frequency multiplier, set whether the automatic detection of CPU frequencies.

　　Load Fail-Safe Defaults(load the most secure default value)

Use this menu to load factory defaults for use as a stable system.

　　Load optimized Defaults(load high performance defaults)

Use this menu to load the best performance but may affect the stability of the default values.

　　Set supervisor Password(set Super user password)

Use this menu to set the password for a superuser.

　　Set User Password(password Set)

Use this menu to set the user password.

　　Save & Exit Setup(exit after Save)

Save the changes to the CMOS and exit the Setup program.

　　exit without saving(exit not saved)

Discard the changes to the CMOS and exit the Setup program.

　　Second, the award BIOS setup operation method

Press the direction key "↑, ↓, ←, →" Move to the item that needs to operate

Press the ' Enter ' key to select this option

Press ESC to go back to the previous menu from the submenu or skip to the Exit menu

Press the "+" or "PU" key to increase the value or change the selection

Press the "-" or "PD" key to reduce the number or change the selection

Press the "F1" key topic Help, only in the Status Display menu and select Settings menu is valid

Press the "F5" key to restore the previous CMOS settings from the CMOS, only available on the Select Settings menu

Press the "F6" key to load the CMOS value from the failsafe default table only if the Select Settings menu is valid

Press the "F7" key to load the optimization defaults

Press the "10" key to save the changed CMOS settings and exit

How to: Select the item you want to manipulate with the arrow keys on the main menu. Then press "Enter" to enter the Item submenu, in the submenu using the arrow keys to select the items to be operated, and then press "Enter" Enter enter the subkey, and then use the arrow keys to select, after the completion of press RETURN confirmation, and finally press "F10" Key to save the changed CMOS settings and exit (or press "ESC" key to return to the previous level menu, return to the main menu, select "Save & Exit Setup" After return, enter "Y" in the pop-up confirmation window and return, that is, save the BIOS changes and exit the Setup program.

　　Three, Standard CMOS Features (standard CMOS function set) submenu

Select the "Standard CMOS Features" entry in the main menu with the arrow keys and enter the "Standard CMOS Features" sub-menu below Figure 3

Figure 3

There are 13 subkeys in the Standard CMOS Features submenu:

　　Date (Mm:dd:yy )

Set the date on your computer in the form of "week, month, day/year". The week is defined by the BIOS and is read-only.

　　Time (Hh:mm:ss)

Set the time in the computer, in the form of "hour/minute/sec".

　　IDE Primary Master (first primary IDE Controller)

Set the main hard drive model. Press PgUp or PGDN to select the type of hard disk: Pressing Enter, Auto, or none. If the cursor is moved to the press Enter item, a submenu appears, displaying the current hard drive information; auto is set automatically; none is set to no connected device.

　　IDE Primary Slave (first from IDE controller)

Set from the hard drive model. Set the method reference to the previous device.

　　IDE Secondary Master (second primary IDE Controller)

Set the main optical drive model. Set the method reference to the previous device.

　　IDE Secondary Slave (second from IDE controller)

Set from the optical drive model. Set the method reference to the previous device.

　　Drive a (floppy disk drive a)

Set the primary floppy drive type. Available options are: none,360k,5.25in,1.2m,5.25 in,720k, 3.5 in,1.44m,3.5 in,2.88m,3.5 in. None is set to no connected device. 1.44m,3.5 in is a 3.5-inch floppy disk with a capacity of 1.44M (mostly for this specification)

　　Drive b (floppy disk drive B)

Set from the floppy disk drive type. (Very few people have two floppy drives attached)

　　Video (setting the computer's display mode)

Set the video card type of the system's main display. Available options: EGA/VGA, CGA40/80, and Mono.

EGA/VGA is the enhanced display mode, EGA/VGA/SVGA/PGA color display is selected;

CGA40/80 is a row display mode;

Mono is Black-and-white monochrome mode.

　　Halt on (Stop boot setting)

Sets whether the system stops booting when an error is encountered during the system boot process. Available options are:

All Errors detects any errors, the system stops running, waits for processing, this is the default value;

No Errors detect any errors, the system will not stop running;

All, But keyboard detects any errors except the keyboard error, the system stops running;

All, But diskette detects any errors other than disk errors, and the system stops running;

All, But Disk/key detects any errors except disk and keyboard errors, the system stops running.

　　Base Memory (basic memory capacity)

This entry is used to display basic memory capacity (read only). PCs typically retain 640KB capacity as the memory usage capacity of the MS-DOS operating system.

Extended Memory(extended memory)

This entry is used to display extended memory capacity (read-only).

　　Total Memory(gross memory)

This entry is used to display the total memory capacity (read only).