CMOS SETUP PROGRAM

Aim:

To changing the standard setting and advanced setting is COMS setup program.

Entering into BIOS Setup:

Access the BIOS utility at power-on. Just press F2 when the following prompt appears.

Ø  Press <F2> to run CMOS Setup or F12 to boot on network

Ø  When you press F2 to enter BIOS Setup, the system interrupts the Power-On Self-Test (POST) and displays the current CMOS RAM settings.

If the system detects an error during POST, it prompts you with a double beep and a message: "Press <F1> to resume." If you press F1, the system enters BIOS Setup automatically. If you want to fix the error, carefully read the error message that appears above the prompt (taking notes if you want), and press F2. You will see this message if your CMOS battery becomes fully discharged.

Procedure:

Set Standard Settings: 

Enter the Standard Settings menu and configure the following options:

Ø  Date: Make sure you enter this in the correct format, usually MM/DD/YY.

Ø  Time: This is normally entered in 24-hour clock format.

o   IDE Primary Master / Primary Slave / Secondary Master / Secondary Slave: These entries contain the parameters for your IDE/ATA devices. If you successfully auto detected your hard disk(s) in the previous step then you should see the hard disk parameters that the BIOS found displayed here. Type: This should normally be set to "User" for hard disks. If your system has it, set this to "CD-ROM" for your CD-ROM drive. 

o   Size: This is calculated and not something you can enter. Don't worry about it.

o   Cylinders / Heads / Sectors / Write Precompensation / Landing Zone: These should be left at the values that were auto detected.

o   Translation Mode: For most modern hard disks, this should be set to "LBA". Older hard disks below 504 binary megabytes (528 decimal megabytes) should be set to "Normal" or "CHS", depending on the BIOS. .

o   Block Mode: This is supported by most hard disks but should be disabled for maximum compatibility.

o   PIO Mode: This can normally be left at whatever the BIOS detected. However, if the BIOS set it to a value that you know exceeds the maximum for the drive, reset it to whatever the maximum is. You may want to try lowering this value if you experience problems with your system. CD-ROMs generally have a maximum PIO mode of 3.

o   32-Bit Transfer Mode: Disable this for maximum compatibility; you can re-enable it later.

o   Floppy Drive A / Floppy Drive B: Set these to the correct type for the floppy drive(s) in your system.

o   Video Display Type: Set to "VGA" or "VGA/EGA".

o   Halt On: Set to "All Errors" to make sure that all errors are trapped by the BIOS.

Ø  Set Advanced Features: Enter the Advanced Features menu and configure the following options:

Ø  Virus Protection / Virus Warning: I would strongly recommend disabling this while configuring or setting up a system, or it will drive you nuts interrupting you with warning messages when you partition and format your hard disk.

Ø  Internal Cache: This should be enabled. If you have to disable this to get the system to work then you have a motherboard or CPU problem that will undoubtedly manifest itself in other ways (as well as seriously degrading performance).

Ø  External Cache: This too, should be enabled at all times. If disabling this is required for stable operation, you probably have a motherboard hardware problem. It may also be a CPU problem, especially with processors that have integrated level 2 cache.

Ø  Quick Power On Self Test / Quick Boot: Disable this to ensure that all POST tests are performed at boot time.

Ø  Boot Sequence: The options for this parameter depend entirely on the system. You want to choose a sequence that has the floppy disk (A :) first, so that your boot disk will work properly.

Ø  Swap Floppy Drives: Make sure this is set correctly (normally you want it disabled) or you are going to be mighty confused about the behavior of your floppy disk drives.

Ø  Fast A20 / A20 Gate Option: Disable this for maximum compatibility.

Ø  Video BIOS Shadow: Disable for maximum compatibility.

Ø  System BIOS Shadow: Disable for maximum compatibility.

Ø  xx00-xxFF Shadow: There will be a number of options for shadowing various ranges of upper memory. Ensure that all of these are disabled.

Ø  Set Advanced Chipset Features: Enter the Advanced Chipset Features menu and configure the following options. Bear in mind that for the most part you will not want to move these values from their defaults:

Ø  Chipset Special Features / Global Features: Disable this for now.

Ø  Cache Timing: Leave this on "Auto" or whatever the appropriate setting is for your type of cache.

Ø  Level 2 Cache Size: If your system has this option, set it appropriately.

Ø  DRAM Parity Checking: Enable this if using parity or ECC memory.

Ø  DRAM Parity / ECC Mode: Leave this on "Parity" if using true parity memory. Set to "ECC" if using ECC memory. Parity mode is preferred for a new system or while debugging as it will tell you immediately if a problem situation is arising.

Ø  DRAM Speed / DRAM Timing / DRAM Auto Configuration: Set this to either "Auto" or to the correct speed of the memory you have installed. This should lock out most of the other options in this section.

Ø  DRAM Speculative Leadoff: If this option is not locked out, disable it.

Ø  Turn-Around Insertion: If this option is not locked out, disable it.

 Result:

Thus the standard settings and advanced settings are changed successfully using CMOS setup program.