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Chapter 3: BIOS Setup
Installation
The BIOS is the basic input/output system, required by the computer to perform functions such as
CPU and hard drive support. This chapter describes different settings for the BIOS that can be
used to configure your system.
The BIOS section of the manual is subject to change without notice and is provided here for
reference purposes only. The settings and configurations of the BIOS are current at the time of
print, and therefore they may not be exactly the same as that displayed on your screen.
This manual describes the BIOS setup program. The setup program lets you modify basic
configuration settings. The settings are then stored in a dedicated battery-backed memory called
NVRAM, that retains the information when the power is turned off.
The BIOS in your motherboard is customized version of industry-standard BIOS for IBM PC AT-
compatible personal computers. It supports the AMD Athlon MP family of processors, and other
compatible processors. The BIOS provides critical low-level support for the system central
processing component, memory, and I/O subsystems.
The BIOS has been customized by adding important, but non-standard 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 this BIOS setup program.
Starting Setup
The BIOS is immediately activated when you turn on the computer. The BIOS reads system
configuration in CMOS RAM and begins the process of checking out the system and configuring it
through the Power-On Self Tests (POST).
When these preliminary tests are complete, the BIOS seeks an operating system on one of the
data storage devices (hard drive, CD-ROM, etc) which you can define. If one is found, the BIOS
will launch that operating system and hand control over to it. You can enter the BIOS setup by
pressing the [
F2
] key when the machine first starts and shows the memory count.
