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3-1 Standard CMOS Features
The Standard CMOS Features allows users to configure system components such as
hard disk drive, floppy disk drive and video display as well as date, time and boot-up
error signaling. This configuration menu should be changed when installing a
motherboard for the first time, changing hardware in your system such as the HDD,
FDD, video display, or when the CMOS data has been lost or contaminated. Choose
the Standard CMOS Features option from the CMOS Setup Utility menu (Figure 3-1)
to display the following screen.
Figure 3-2
Standard CMOS Feature Screen
Date/Time:
Set the date and time of the system. Do not skip this function as all of your timed
events such as power management, saving files, etc are based on this timer.
IDE (Primary/Secondary; Master/Slave):
This category identifies up to four IDE hard disk drives that have been installed in the
computer. This section does not show information on other IDE devices such as
CD-ROM drives or other hard drive type such as SCSI drives.
Drive A/B:
Select different Floppy device Model. Available options are [None], [360K, 5-1/4 in],
[1.2M, 5-1/4 in], [720k, 3-1/2 in], [1.44M, 3-1/2 in], and [2.88M, 3-1/2 in].
Video:
Select the type of video adapter present in your system. You can ignore this setting if
you are using a VGA monitor; VGA BIOS will automatically configure this setting.
Halt On:
When the system is powered on, BIOS performs a series of diagnostic tests called
POST (Power On Self Test). This function stops the computer if BIOS detects a
hardware error. You can tell BIOS to halt on all errors, no errors, or not to halt on
specific errors.
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3-2 Advanced BIOS Features
By choosing the Advanced BIOS Features option from the CMOS Setup Utility menu
(Figure 3-1), the screen below is displayed. This sample screen contains the
manufacturer's default values for the motherboard.
Figure 3-3 Advanced BIOS Feature Screen
Virus Warning:
When you set as 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.
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.
CPU Internal/External Cache:
Cache memory is much faster than conventional DRAM system memory. These fields
allow you to enable or disable the CPUs Level 1 built-in cache and Level 2 external
cache. Both settings are left enabled to significantly increase the performance of your
computer.
Quick Power On Self Test (POST):
Enable this function to reduce the amount of time required to run the POST (Power
On Self Test). BIOS will save time by skipping some items during POST. It is
recommended that you disable this setting. Discovering a problem during boot up is
better than loosing data during your work.
First/Second/Third/Boot Other Device:
This option sets the sequence of drives BIOS attempts to boot from after POST
