Setting the BIOSBIOS – Part 3

Richard L. Goldman

March 2000

Motherboard CMOS RAM Addresses

• Original AT CMOS had 64 – 8 Bit Bytes of RAM.– 10 Bytes for the digital clock– 54 Bytes for system configuration

• Current CMOS has 2-4 Kbytes of RAM or more.

• Contains a Diagnostic Status Byte that can be read by some diagnostic programs.

Accessing the CMOS Setup Program

• Do one of the following during POST:1. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen.2. AMI Delete3. Phoenix F2 (current versions)4. Award Ctrl+Alt+Esc5. Microid Esc6. IBM F17. Compaq F108. Follow the instructions in the motherboard/BIOS manual.9. Phoenix Ctrl+Alt+Esc or Ctrl+Alt+S (older

versions from a safe mode DOS prompt)

Maintenance MenuBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• May only be available by setting a jumper on the motherboard.

• Set processor speed (Do not over-clock without special cooling installed.)

• Clear setup password

Main MenuBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• View processor type and speed

• View BIOS type and version

• View type and size of RAM

• Set time and date

• Set ECC (Error Correction Code) if supported

Advanced MenuBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• For setting features that are specific to the chip set.

• PnP – Turn off for NT, on for Win 9x (overridden by OS)

• Reset Configuration Data – Clears PnP setting to allow system to reconfigure.

• Numlock – sets power on state• Other advanced setting should normally left in

“Auto”.

Peripheral ConfigurationBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)• Configures devices built into the motherboard such as

serial ports, parallel ports, and built in audio and USB ports.

• Disable ports not being used.• Allow PnP to configure IRQ’s and port addresses

unless there is an unworkable conflict that it can’t resolve. (Try clearing the PnP setting and reinstalling devices/peripherals one-at-a-time in a different order.)

• Enable “Legacy USB” support for USB keyboard and mice to work in DOS. (Don’t mix USB and PS-2 keyboards and mice.)

IDE Configuration MenuBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Configures IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) drives – Hard Drive, CD-ROM Drives, LS-120 Drives, Tape Drives, etc.

• Can enable/disable the primary or secondary drive controllers

• Can set delays to allow slow starting drives time to reach full speed before accessing.

IDE Hard Drive SetupBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Set Type to “Auto” and enable LBA (Logical Block Addressing) for most all modern drives

• Set Translation to “Auto” for all LBA drives. (Drives over 528MB)

• For smaller drives use “User Defined” or Type 48 and disable LBA. (or if you have an old BIOS that does not support the “Auto” type)

• If you use “User Defined” settings you will have to locate and enter each of the hard disk parameters.

Floppy Drive SettingsBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Select the setting that matches your drive.

• Enable write protect to keep people from copying information off the computer to floppies.

DMI (Desktop Management Interface) settingsBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Allows system administrators to remotely view some system resources and logged events.

• Can enable or disable Event Logging and/or ECC Event Logging.

Video ConfigurationBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Used to select the primary monitor when using a dual monitor configuration (Win 98 or Win 2000).

Resource ConfigurationBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Reserves resources for non PnP devices. (So that PnP won’t use resources that have been assigned to legacy devices by setting jumpers, etc.)

Security MenuBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Sets Supervisor and User passwords.

• Supervisor has access to CMOS configuration settings.

• User password allows access to the computer.

Power ManagementBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Allows the system to enter power management modes during periods of inactivity.

• APM (Advanced Power management) – Hardware controlled – Pre-1998

• ACPE (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) – Post 1998 – Software controlled – Better control and more sophisticated.

Boot MenuBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Allow you to:– Change the boot drive order– Control some Boot displays– Control some POST tests– Set power failure recovery options– LAN wakeup response

Exit MenuBIOS Setup Menus (Current Versions)

• Allows you to:– Save or discard changes– Load defaults– Save custom defaults

Additional BIOS Setup Features(May be found on some BIOS chips)

• Virus Warning – warns if something tries to write to the Boot Sector.

• L1 & L2 Cache disable – used for troubleshooting

• Floppy Drive Swap – switches A & B drive letters.

• RAM Shadowing – enable to improve performance

• HDD S.M.A.R.T. – enables Self Monitoring Analysis & Reporting on HDD with this feature.

Plug-and-Play BIOS

• A technology that automatically selects and sets IRQ’s, I/O ports, and DMA channels for expansion cards added to a system.

• PnP is composed of:– Plug-and-Play BIOS

• For installed boot cards - reads data form ESCD and boots the system• For new boot cards – reads cards, checks the ESCD and, assigns a Card

Select Number (CSN) and configures boot cards.

– Extended System Configuration Data (ESCD)• Stores PnP configuration data

– Plug-and-Play routines in the operating system• Configures non-boot cards (or boot cards that the PnP BIOS can’t

configure)

PnP Device ID’s

• All PnP devices have a unique ID.– A 3 letter vendor ID followed by a 4 number

product ID.– Example: ABC1234

• Many common devices have been assigned reserved ID by Microsoft with a vendor ID of “PNP”.

BIOS Error Messages

• Errors detected by the BIOS will be indicated by:– Text messages on the screen– Beep codes form the system speaker– Hexadecimal error codes to I/O port 80

• A hexadecimal code is displayed on a POST-code card of the POST test in progress

Installing a Hard Drive

1. Record Hard Drive DataManufacturer

Model

Serial Number

Vendor/Date of Purchase/PO Number

Hard drive parameters-Size, etc.

Installing a Hard Drive

2. Set JumpersMaster/Slave/Stand Alone - IDE Drive

SCSI #/Termination - SCSI Drive

Installing a Hard Drive

3. Physically install hard driveUse 4 screws

(Caution - do not switch metric/English screws)

(Caution – do not use long screws)

Connect Data Cable

Connect Power Cable

Installing a Hard Drive

4. Configure CMOS SettingSet to Auto/Auto if possible

Installing a Hard Drive

5. Partition Hard DriveUse Fdisk, PartitionMagic, etc.

(adds MBR)

Installing a Hard Drive

6. Format each partition with appropriate file system(adds Root Directory and 2 FAT’s)

Installing a Hard Drive

7. Install operation system

Installing a Hard Drive

8. Install applications