This manual describes the Award BIOS Setup program. The Setup program lets you modify basic system configuration settings. The settings are then stored in a dedicated battery-backed memory, called CMOS RAM, that retains the information when the power is turned off.
The Award BIOS in your computer is a customized version of an industry-standard BIOS for IBM PC AT-compatible personal computers. It supports Intel x86 and compatible processors. The BIOS provides critical low-level support for the system central processing, memory, and I/O subsystems.
The Award BIOS has been customized by adding important, but nonstandard, features such as virus and password protection, power management, and detailed fine-tuning of the chipset controlling the system.
The rest of this manual is intended to guide you through the process of configuring your system using Setup.
The Award BIOS is immediately activated when you first turn on the computer. The BIOS reads system configuration information in CMOS RAM and begins the process of checking out the system and configuring it through the power-on self test (POST).
When these preliminaries are finished, the BIOS seeks an operating system on one of the data storage devices (hard drive, floppy drive, etc.). The BIOS launches the operating system and hands control of system operations to it.
During POST, you can start the Setup program in one of two ways:
TO ENTER SETUP BEFORE BOOT PRESS CTRL-ALT-ESC OR DEL KEY
If the message disappears before you respond and you still wish to enter Setup, restart the system to try again by turning it OFF then ON or pressing the RESET button on the system case. You may also restart by simultaneously pressing Ctr-Alt-Del. If you do not press the keys at the correct time and the system does not boot, an error message appears and you are again asked to
PRESS F1 TO CONTINUE, CTRL-ALT-ESC OR DEL TO ENTER SETUP
These keys help you navigate in Setup:
| Up arrow
|
Move to previous item
|
| Down arrow
|
Move to next item
|
| Left arrow
|
Move to the item in the left hand
|
| Right arrow
|
Move to the item in the right hand
|
| Esc
|
Main Menu: Quit and not save changes into CMOS RAM.
Other pages: Exit current page and return to Main Menu |
| PgUp
|
Increase the numeric value or make changes
|
| PgDn
|
Decrease the numeric value or make changes
|
| +
|
Increase the numeric value or make changes
|
| -
|
Decrease the numeric value or make changes
|
| F1
|
General help, only for Status Page Setup Menu and Option Page Setup
Menu
|
| F2
|
Change color from total 16 colors. F2 to select Shift-F2 color forward,
Shift-F2 to select color backward
|
| F3
|
Calendar, only for Status Page Setup Menu
|
| F4
|
Reserved
|
| F5
|
Restore the previous CMOS value from CMOS, only for Option Page Setup
Menu
|
| F6
|
Load the default CMOS RAM value from BIOS default table, only for Option
Page Setup Menu
|
| F7
|
Load the default
|
| F8
|
Reserved
|
| F9
|
Reserved
|
| F10 | Save all the CMOS changes, only for Main Menu |
Press F1 to pop up a small help window that describes the appropriate keys to use and the possible selections for the highlighted item. To exit the Help Window press Esc or the F1 key again.
If, after making and saving system changes with Setup, you discover that your computer no longer is able to boot, the Award BIOS supports an override to the CMOS settings that resets your system to its default configuration.
You can invoke this override by immediately pressing Insert; when you restart your computer. You can restart by either using the ON/OFF switch, the RESET button or by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
The best advice is to alter only settings that you thoroughly understand. In particular, do not change settings in the Chipset screen without a good reason. The Chipset defaults have been carefully chosen by Award or your system manufacturer for the best performance and reliability. Even a seemingly small change to the Chipset setup may causing the system to become unstable.
Not all systems have the same Setup. While the basic look and function of the Setup program remains the same for all systems, your Setup screens may differ from the screens described here. Each system design and chipset combination require custom configurations. In addition, the final appearance of the Setup program depends on your system designer. Your system designer can decide that certain items should not be available for user configuration and remove them from the Setup program.
When you enter the Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility, a Main Menu appears on the screen. The Main Menu allows you to select from several Setup functions and two exit choices. Use the arrow keys to select among the items and press to accept and enter the sub-menu.
A brief description of each highlighted selection appears at the bottom of the screen.
Following is a brief summary of each Setup category.
| Standard CMOS | Options in the original PC AT-compatible BIOS. |
| BIOS Features | Award enhanced BIOS options. |
| Chipset Features | Options specific to your system chipset. |
| Power Management | Advanced Power Management (APM) options. |
| PnP/PCI Configuration | Plug and Play standard and PCI Local Bus configuration options. |
| Integrated Peripherals | I/O subsystems that depend on the integrated peripherals controller in your system. |
| Supervisor/User Password Setting | Change, set, or disable a password. In BIOS versions that allow separate user and supervisor passwords, only the supervisor password permits access to Setup. The user password generally allows only power-on access. |
| IDE HDD Auto Detection | Automatically detect and configure IDE hard disk parameters. |
| HDD Low Level Format | This option does not appear in many BIOS versions. Most manufacturers of IDE hard drives strongly recommend that you do not run a low-level format on their drives, because of the danger that the bad-track table may be over-written. Award supplies this utility for service personnel only. If you feel that you need to run a low-level format on your hard drive, contact your drive manufacturer for instructions! |
| Load BIOS Defaults | BIOS defaults are factory settings for the most stable, minimal-performance system operations. |
| Load Setup Defaults | Setup defaults are factory settings for optimal-performance system operations. |
| Save & Exit Setup | Save settings in nonvolatile CMOS RAM and exit Setup. |
| Exit Without Save | Abandon all changes and exit Setup. |
In the Standard CMOS menu you can set the system clock and calendar, record disk drive parameters and the video subsystem type, and select the type of errors that stop the BIOS POST.
The BIOS determines the day of the week from the other date information. This field is for information only.
Press the or key to move to the desired field (date, month, year). Press the PgUp or PgDn key to increment the setting, or type the desired value into the field.
The time format is based on the 24-hour military-time clock. For example, 1 p.m. is 13:00:00. Press the or key to move to the desired field. Press the PgUp or PgDn key to increment the setting, or type the desired value into the field.
This category may not be present in your Setup program. When enabled, it adds one hour to the clock when daylight-saving time begins. It also subtracts one hour when standard time returns.
The BIOS supports up to four IDE drives. This section does not show information about other IDE devices, such as a CD-ROM drive, or about other hard drive types, such as SCSI drives.
NOTE: We recommend that you select type AUTO for all drives.
The BIOS can automatically detect the specifications and optimal operating mode of almost all IDE hard drives. When you select type AUTO for a hard drive, the BIOS detects its specifications during POST, every time the system boots.
If you do not want to select drive type AUTO, other methods of selecting the drive type are available:
Here is a brief explanation of drive specifications:
Select the correct specifications for the diskette drive(s) installed in the computer.
None No diskette drive installed
360K, 5.25 in 5-1/4 inch PC-type standard drive; 360 kilobyte
capacity
1.2M, 5.25 in 5-1/4 inch AT-type high-density drive; 1.2
megabyte capacity
720K, 3.5 in 3-1/2 inch double-sided drive; 720 kilobyte
capacity
1.44M, 3.5 in 3-1/2 inch double-sided drive; 1.44 megabyte
capacity
2.88M, 3.5 in 3-1/2 inch double-sided drive; 2.88 megabyte
capacity
Select the type of primary video subsystem in your computer. The BIOS usually detects the correct video type automatically. The BIOS supports a secondary video subsystem, but you do not select it in Setup.
EGA/VGA Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Video Graphics Array.
For EGA, VGA, SEGA, SVGA or PGA monitor adapters.
CGA 40 Color Graphics Adapter, power up in 40 column mode
CGA 80 Color Graphics Adapter, power up in 80 column mode
MONO Monochrome adapter, includes high resolution
monochrome adapters
During the power-on self-test (POST), the computer stops if the BIOS detects a hardware error. You can tell the BIOS to ignore certain errors during POST and continue the boot-up process. These are the selections:
No errors POST does not stop for any errors.
All errors If the BIOS detects any non-fatal error, POST
stops and prompts you to take corrective
action.
All, POST does not stop for a keyboard error, but
But Keyboard stops for all other errors.
All, But POST does not stop for diskette drive errors,
Diskette but stops for all other errors.
All, But POST does not stop for a keyboard or disk
Disk/Key error, but stops for all other errors.
You cannot change any values in the Memory fields; they are only for your information. The fields show the total installed random access memory (RAM) and amounts allocated to base memory, extended memory, and other (high) memory. RAM is counted in kilobytes (KB: approximately one thousand bytes) and megabytes (MB: approximately one million bytes).
RAM is the computer's working memory, where the computer stores programs and data currently being used, so they are accessible to the CPU. Modern personal computers may contain up to 64 MB, 128 MB, or more.
This screen contains industry-standard options additional to the core PC AT BIOS. This section describes all fields offered by Award Software in this screen. Some fields may vary from those in your Setup program. Your system board designer may omit or modify some fields.
When enabled, you receive a warning message if a program (specifically, a virus) attempts to write to the boot sector or the partition table of the hard disk drive. You should then run an anti-virus program. Keep in mind that this feature protects only the boot sector, not the entire hard drive.
NOTE: Many disk diagnostic programs that access the boot sector table can trigger the virus warning message. If you plan to run such a program, we recommend that you first disable the virus warning.
Cache memory is additional memory that is much faster than conventional DRAM (system memory). CPUs from 486-type on up contain internal cache memory, and most, but not all, modern PCs have additional (external) cache memory. When the CPU requests data, the system transfers the requested data from the main DRAM into cache memory, for even faster access by the CPU.
The External Cache field may not appear if your system does not have external cache memory.
Select Enabled to reduce the amount of time required to run the power-on self-test (POST). A quick POST skips certain steps. We recommend that you normally disable quick POST. Better to find a problem during POST than lose data during your work.
The original IBM PCs loaded the DOS operating system from drive A (floppy disk), so IBM PC-compatible systems are designed to search for an operating system first on drive A, and then on drive C (hard disk). However, modern computers usually load the operating system from the hard drive, and may even load it from a CD-ROM drive.
This field is effective only in systems with two floppy drives. Selecting Enabled assigns physical drive B to logical drive A, and physical drive A to logical drive B.
When Enabled, the BIOS tests (seeks) floppy drives to determine whether they have 40 or 80 tracks. Only 360-KB floppy drives have 40 tracks; drives with 720 KB, 1.2 MB, and 1.44 MB capacity all have 80 tracks. Because very few modern PCs have 40-track floppy drives, we recommend that you set this field to Disabled to save time.
Toggle between On or Off to control the state of the NumLock key when the system boots. When toggled On, the numeric keypad generates numbers instead of controlling cursor operations.
Select High to boot at the default CPU speed; select Low to boot at the speed of the AT bus. Some add-in peripherals or old software (such as old games) may require a slow CPU speed. The default setting is High.
Gate A20 refers to the way the system addresses memory above 1 MB (extended memory). When set to Fast, the system chipset controls Gate A20. When set to Normal, a pin in the keyboard controller controls Gate A20. Setting Gate A20 to Fast improves system speed, particularly with OS/2 and Windows.
When Disabled, the following two items (Typematic Rate and Typematic Delay) are irrelevant. Keystrokes repeat at a rate determined by the keyboard controller in your system.
When Enabled, you can select a typematic rate and typematic delay.
When the typematic rate setting is enabled, you can select a typematic rate (the rate at which character repeats when you hold down a key) of 6, 8, 10,12, 15, 20, 24 or 30 characters per second.
When the typematic rate setting is enabled, you can select a typematic delay (the delay before key strokes begin to repeat) of 250, 500, 750 or 1000 milliseconds.
If you have set a password, select whether the password is required every time the System boots, or only when you enter Setup.
Your BIOS Setup many not contain this field. If the field is present, leave at Disabled.
Select OS2 only if you are running OS/2 operating system with greater than 64 MB of RAM on your system.
Software that resides in a read-only memory (ROM) chip on a device is called firmware. The Award BIOS permits shadowing of firmware such as the system BIOS, video BIOS, and similar operating instructions that come with some expansion peripherals, such as, for example, a SCSI adaptor.
Shadowing copies firmware from ROM into system RAM, where the CPU can read it through the 16-bit or 32-bit DRAM bus. Firmware not shadowed must be read by the system through the 8-bit X-bus. Shadowing improves the performance of the system BIOS and similar ROM firmware for expansion peripherals, but it also reduces the amount of high memory (640 KB to 1 MB) available for loading device drivers, etc.
Enable shadowing into each section of memory separately. Many system designers hardwire shadowing of the system BIOS and eliminate a System BIOS Shadow option.
Video BIOS shadows into memory area C0000-C7FFF. The remaining areas shown on the BIOS Features Setup screen may be occupied by other expansion card firmware. If an expansion peripheral in your system contains ROM-based firmware, you need to know the address range the ROM occupies to shadow it into the correct area of RAM.
You can select a delay from 1 to 15 seconds in the cold boot process. Certain hard disk drives require some extra time to spin up in a cold boot. If the system does not start after the memory test, try adding time in this field (start with 5 seconds).
This section describes features of the Intel 82430HX PCIset. If your system contains a different chipset, this section will bear little resemblance to what you see on your screen.
ADVANCED OPTIONS. The parameters in this screen are for system designers, service personnel, and technically competent users only. Do not reset these values unless you understand the consequences of your changes.
NOTE: This chapter describes all fields offered by Award Software in this screen. Your system board designer may omit or modify some fields.
Auto Configuration selects predetermined optimal values of chipset parameters. When Disabled, chipset parameters revert to setup information stored in CMOS. Many fields in this screen are not available when Auto Configuration is Enabled.
The value in this field depends on performance parameters of the installed memory chips (DRAM). Do not change the value from the factory setting unless you install new memory that has a different performance rating than the original DRAMs.
Select the number of CPU clocks allocated for the Row Address Strobe (RAS#) signal to accumulate its charge before the DRAM is refreshed. If insufficient time is allowed, refresh may be incomplete and data lost.
Select the combination of CPU clocks the DRAM on your board requires before each read from or write to the memory. Changing the value from the setting determined by the board designer for the installed DRAM may cause memory errors.
When DRAM is refreshed, both rows and columns are addressed separately. This setup item allows you to determine the timing of the transition from RAS to Column Address Strobe (CAS).
Sets the timing for reads from EDO (Extended Data Output) or FPM (Fast Page Mode) memory. The lower the timing numbers, the faster the system addresses memory. Selecting timing numbers lower than the installed DRAM is able to support can result in memory errors.
Sets the timing for writes to memory. The lower the timing numbers, the faster the system addresses memory. Selecting timing numbers lower than the installed DRAM is able to support can result in memory errors.
Select Enabled to shorten the leadoff cycles and optimize performance in cacheless, 50-60 MHz, or one-bank EDO DRAM systems.
A read request from the CPU to the DRAM controller includes the memory address of the desired data. When Enabled, Speculative Leadoff lets the DRAM controller pass the read command to memory slightly before it has fully decoded the address, thus speeding up the read process.
When Enabled, the chipset inserts one extra clock to the turn-around of back-to-back DRAM cycles.
You can set the speed of the AT bus at one-third or one-fourth of the CPU clock speed.
Selecting Enabled allows caching of the system BIOS ROM at F0000h-FFFFFh, resulting in better system performance. However, if any program writes to this memory area, a system error may result.
Selecting Enabled allows caching of the video BIOS ROM at C0000h to C7FFFh, resulting in better video performance. However, if any program writes to this memory area, a system error may result.
The I/O recovery mechanism adds bus clock cycles between PCI-originated I/O cycles to the ISA bus. This delay takes place because the PCI bus is so much faster than the ISA bus.
These two fields let you add recovery time (in bus clock cycles) for 16-bit and 8-bit I/O.
You can reserve this area of system memory for ISA adapter ROM. When this area is reserved, it cannot be cached. The user information of peripherals that need to use this area of system memory usually discusses their memory requirements.
Peer concurrency means that more than one PCI device can be active at a time.
When disabled, the chipset behaves as if it were the earlier Intel 82430FX chipset.
Set this option according to the type of DRAM installed in your system: error-correcting code (ECC) or parity (default).
Select Enabled, Disabled, or Auto. In Auto mode, the BIOS enables memory checking automatically when it detects the presence of ECC or parity DRAM.
If ECC is enabled (see the previous fields), selecting Enabled here tells the system to report an error when a correctable single-bit error occurs.
Select 512 MB only if your system RAM is greater than 64 MB.
Selecting Enabled permits pipelining, in which the chipset signals the CPU for a new memory address before all data transfers for the current cycle are complete, resulting in faster performance.
For a secondary cache of 256 KB (one bank), select Faster. For a secondary cache of 512 KB (two banks), the system designer must select Fast (3-1-1-1, 2-1-1-1) or Faster (3-1-1-1, 1-1-1-1). Cache timing 3-1-1-1 is at the CPU access speed. It requires special SRAMs because the 3-1-1-1 timing is at the CPU clock rate.
NOTE: This chapter describes all fields offered by Award Software in this screen. Your system board designer may omit or modify some fields.
This option allows you to select the type (or degree) of power saving for Doze, Standby, and Suspend modes. See the section PM Timers for a brief description of each mode.
This table describes each power management mode:
Max Saving Maximum power savings. Only Available for
SL CPUs. Inactivity period is 1 minute in
each mode.
User Define Set each mode individually. Select
time-out periods in the PM Timers section,
following.
Min Saving Minimum power savings. Inactivity period
is 1 hour in each mode (except the hard
drive).
If Advanced Power Management (APM) is installed on your system, selecting Yes gives better power savings.
Determines the manner in which the monitor is blanked.
V/H SYNC+Blank System turns off vertical and horizontal
synchronization ports and writes blanks to
the video buffer.
DPMS Support Select this option if your monitor supports
the Display Power Management Signaling
(DPMS) standard of the Video Electronics
Standards Association (VESA). Use the
software supplied for your video subsystem
to select video power management values.
Blank Screen System only writes blanks to the video
buffer.
Name the interrupt request (IRQ) line assigned to the modem (if any) on your system. Activity of the selected IRQ always awakens the system.
The following modes are Green PC power saving functions. They are user-configurable only during User Defined Power Management mode.
After the selected period of system inactivity (1 minute to 1 hour), the CPU clock runs at slower speed while all other devices still operate at full speed.
After the selected period of system inactivity (1 minute to 1 hour), the fixed disk drive and the video shut off while all other devices still operate at full speed.
After the selected period of system inactivity (1 minute to 1 hour), all devices except the CPU shut off.
After the selected period of drive inactivity (1 to 15 minutes), the hard disk drive powers down while all other devices remain active.
When the system is in Doze or Standby mode, you may disable activity monitoring of some common interrupt requests so they do not wake up the system.
The default wake-up event is keyboard activity. In these wake-up event fields, you can turn On or Off four commonly used interrupts. For example, if you have a modem on IRQ3, you can turn On IRQ3 as a wake-up event, so an interrupt from the modem can wake up the system. Or you may wish to turn Off IRQ12 (the PS/2) mouse as a wake-up event, so accidentally brushing the mouse does not awaken the system.
You may disable monitoring of common interrupt requests so they do not reset activity timers.
IRQ3 (COM 2 ) IRQ10 (Reserved) IRQ4 (COM 1) IRQ11 (Reserved) IRQ5 (LPT 2) IRQ12 (PS/2 Mouse) IRQ6 (Floppy Disk) IRQ13 (Coprocessor) IRQ7 (LPT 1) IRQ14 (Hard Disk) IRQ8 (RTC Alarm) IRQ15 (Reserved) IRQ9 (IRQ2 Redir)
NOTE: This chapter describes all fields offered by Award Software in this screen. Your system board designer may omit or modify some fields.
The Award Plug and Play BIOS can automatically configure all the boot and Plug and Play-compatible devices. If you select Auto, all the interrupt request (IRQ) and DMA assignment fields disappear, as the BIOS automatically assigns them.
Normally, you leave this field Disabled. Select Enabled to reset Extended System Configuration Data (ESCD) when you exit Setup if you have installed a new add-on and the system reconfiguration has caused such a serious conflict that the operating system cannot boot.
When resources are controlled manually, assign each system interrupt as one of the following types, depending on the type of device using the interrupt:
Legacy ISA Devices compliant with the original PC AT bus specification, requiring a specific interrupt (such as IRQ4 for serial port 1).
PCI/ISA PnP Devices compliant with the Plug and Play standard, whether designed for PCI or ISA bus architecture.
When resources are controlled manually, assign each system DMA channel as one of the following types, depending on the type of device using the interrupt:
Legacy ISA Devices compliant with the original PC AT bus specification, requiring a specific DMA channel
PCI/ISA PnP Devices compliant with the Plug and Play standard, whether designed for PCI or ISA bus architecture.
Leave the IRQ trigger set at Level unless the PCI device assigned to the interrupt specifies Edge-triggered interrupts.
This field lets you select PCI IDE IRQ mapping or PC AT (ISA) interrupts. If your system does not have one or two PCI IDE connectors on the system board, select values according to the type of IDE interface(s) installed in your system (PCI or ISA). Standard ISA interrupts for IDE channels are IRQ14 for primary and IRQ15 for secondary.
Each PCI peripheral connection is capable of activating up to four interrupts: INT# A, INT# B, INT# C and INT# D. By default, a PCI connection is assigned INT# A. Assigning INT# B has no meaning unless the peripheral device requires two interrupt services rather than just one. Because the PCI IDE interface in the chipset has two channels, it requires two interrupt services. The primary and secondary IDE INT# fields default to values appropriate for two PCI IDE channels, with the primary PCI IDE channel having a lower interrupt than the secondary.
NOTE: This chapter describes all fields offered by Award Software in this screen. Your system board designer may omit or modify some fields.
Block mode is also called block transfer, multiple commands, or multiple sector read/write. If your IDE hard drive supports block mode (most new drives do), select Enabled for automatic detection of the optimal number of block read/writes per sector the drive can support.
You may separately disable the second channel on an IDE interface installed in a PCI expansion slot.
The integrated peripheral controller contains an IDE interface with support for two IDE channels. Select Enabled to activate each channel separately.
The four IDE PIO (Programmed Input/Output) fields let you set a PIO mode (0-4) for each of the four IDE devices that the onboard IDE interface supports. Modes 0 through 4 provide successively increased performance. In Auto mode, the system automatically determines the best mode for each device.
Select Enabled if your system contains a Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller and you have USB peripherals.
Select Enabled if your system has a floppy disk controller (FDC) installed on the system board and you wish to use it. If you install an add-in FDC or the system has no floppy drive, select Disabled in this field.
Select a logical COM port name and matching address for the first and second serial ports.
Select a logical LPT port name and matching address for the physical parallel (printer) port.
Select an operating mode for the onboard parallel port. Select Compatible or Extended unless you are certain both your hardware and software support EPP or ECP mode.
Compatible PC AT parallel port
Extended PS/2-compatible, bidirectional
EPP (Enhanced Fast, bidirectional port used primarily by
Parallel Port) non-printer peripherals, CD ROM, tape, hard
drive, network adapters, etc.
ECP (Extended Fast, buffered port, used primarily by new
Capabilities generation of printers and scanners
Port)
Select a DMA channel for the port.
Select EPP port type 1.7 or 1.9.
Select the value required by the IR device connected to the IR port. Full-duplex mode permits simultaneous two-direction transmission. Half-duplex mode permits transmission in one direction only at a time. If no infrared port is present in the system, select Disabled.
When you select this function, a message appears at the center of the screen:
ENTER PASSWORD:
Type the password, up to eight characters, and press . Typing a password clears any previously entered password from CMOS memory.
Now the message changes:
CONFIRM PASSWORD:
Again, type the password and press .
To abort the process at any time, press Esc.
In the Security Option item in the BIOS Features Setup screen, select System or Setup:
System Enter a password each time the system boots and when
ever you enter Setup.
Setup Enter a password when ever you enter Setup.
NOTE: To clear the password, simply press Enter when asked to enter a password. Then the password function is disabled.
Unless otherwise noted, this document and the information herein disclosed are proprietary to AWARD Software International, Inc. (Award). Any person or entity to whom this document is furnished or who otherwise has possession thereof, by acceptance agrees that it will not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part, nor used in any manner except to meet the purposes for which it was delivered.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice, and should not be considered as a commitment by Award. Although Award will make every effort to inform users of substantive errors, Award disclaims all liability for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this document or any hardware or software described herein, including without limitation contingent, special, or incidental liability.
EliteBIOS is a trademark of Award Software International Inc.
Award Software International and the Award logo are registered trademarks
of Award Software International Inc.
All other products and brand names are trademarks and registered trademarks
of their respective companies.
Document Revision 1.3; August 1996. This document updated 25 September 96.