American Megatrends Megathon, User Manual

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Chapter 2 AMIBIOS Setup 29
2 AMIBIOS Setup
In ISA and PCI computers, the system parameters (such as amount of memory,
type of disk drives and video displays, and many other elements) are stored in
CMOS RAM. Unlike the DRAM (dynamic random access memory) that is used
for standard system memory, CMOS RAM requires very little power. When the
computer is turned off, a back-up battery provides power to CMOS RAM, which
retains the system parameters. Every time the computer is powered-on, the
computer is configured with the values stored in CMOS RAM by the system
BIOS, which gains control when the computer is powered on.
The system parameters are configured by a system BIOS Setup utility.
Historically, BIOS Setup utilities have been character-based, required keyboard
input, and have had user interfaces that were not very intuitive. The BIOS chips
acts as an interface between the processor and the rest of the motherboard’s
components. This chapter describes the parameters in the Setup program and
explains how to modify the settings for your system configuration.
Starting AMIBIOS Setup As POST executes, the following appears:
Hit DEL if you want to run SETUP
Press Delete to run AMIBIOS Setup.