Chapter 4 Award BIOS This chapter tells how to configure the system parameters. You may update your BIOS via AWARD Flash Utility. Important: Because the BIOS code is the most often changed part of the mainboard design, the BIOS information contained in this chapter (especially the Chipset Setup parameters) may be a little different compared to the actual BIOS that came with your mainboard. 3-1 AWARD BIOS 4.1 Entering the Award BIOS Setup Menu The BIOS setup utility is a segment of codes/routines residing in the BIOS Flash ROM. This routine allows you to configure the system parameters and save the configuration into the 128 byte CMOS area, (normally in the RTC chip or directly in the main chipset). To enter the BIOS Setup, press during POST (Power-On Self Test). The BIOS Setup Main Menu appears as follows. Tip: Choose "Load Setup Defaults" for recommended optimal performance. Choose "Load Turbo Defaults" for best performance with light system loading. Refer to section 3.7. The section at the bottom of the screen tells how to control the screen. Use the arrow keys to move between items, F9 to change language, ESC to exit, and F10 to save the changes before exit. Another section at the bottom of the screen displays a brief description of the highlighted item. After selecting an item, press Enter to select or enter a submenu. 3-2 AWARD BIOS 4.2 Standard CMOS Setup The "Standard CMOS Setup" sets the basic system parameters such as the date, time, and the hard disk type. Use the arrow keys to highlight an item and or to select the value for each item. Standard CMOS à Date To set the date, highlight the Date parameter. Press current date. The date format is month, date, and year. or to set the Standard CMOS à Time To set the time, highlight the Time parameter. Press or to set the current time in hour, minute, and second format. The time is based on the 24 hour military clock. Standard CMOS à IDE Primary Master à Type Standard CMOS à IDE Primary Slave à Type Standard CMOS à IDE Secondary Master à Type Standard CMOS à IDE Secondary Slave à Type IDE Primary Master Auto Manual None This item lets you select the IDE hard disk parameters that your system supports. These parameters are Size, Number of Cylinder, Number of Head, Start Cylinder for Precompensation, Cylinder number of Head Landing Zone and Number of Sector per Track. The default setting is Auto, which enables BIOS to automatically detect the parameters of installed HDD at POST (Power-On Self Test). If you prefer to enter HDD parameters manually, select Manual. Select None if no HDD is connected to the system. The IDE CDROM is always automatically detected. 3-3 AWARD BIOS Tip: For an IDE hard disk, we recommend that you use the "IDE HDD Auto Detection" to enter the drive specifications automatically. See the section "IDE HDD Auto Detection". Standard CMOS à Drive A Standard CMOS à Drive B Drive A None 360KB 5.25" 1.2MB 5.25" 720KB 3.5" 1.44MB 3.5" 2.88MB 3.5" These items select floppy drive type. The available settings and types supported by the mainboard are listed on the left. Standard CMOS à Video Video EGA/VGA CGA40 CGA80 Mono This item specifies the type of video card in use. The default setting is VGA/EGA. Since current PCs use VGA only, this function is almost useless and may be disregarded in the future. Standard CMOS à Halt On Halt On No Errors All Errors All, But Keyboard All, But Diskette All, But Disk/Key This parameter enables you to control the system stops in case of Power-On Self Test (POST) error. 3-4 AWARD BIOS 4.3 Advanced BIOS Features This screen appears when you select the option "BIOS Features Setup" from the main menu. Advanced BIOS Features à Virus Warning Virus Warning Enabled Disabled Set this parameter to Enabled to activate the warning message. This feature protects the boot sector and partition table of your hard disk from virus intrusion. Any attempt during boot up to write to the boot sector of the hard disk drive stops the system and the following warning message appears on the screen. Run an anti-virus program to locate the problem. ! WARNING ! Disk Boot Sector is to be modified Type "Y" to accept write, or "N" to abort write Award Software, Inc. Advanced BIOS Features à CPU Internal Cache CPU Internal Cache Enabled Disabled Enabling this parameter activates the CPU internal cache. Disabling the parameter slows down the system. Therefore, we recommend that you leave it enabled unless you are troubleshooting a problem. Advanced BIOS Features à External Cache External Cache Enabled Disabled Enabling this parameter activates the secondary cache (currently, PBSRAM cache). Disabling the parameter slows down the system. Therefore, we recommend that you leave it enabled unless you are troubleshooting a problem. 3-5 AWARD BIOS Advanced BIOS Features à CPU L2 Cache ECC CPU L2 Cache ECC Enabled Disabled This item lets you enable or disable L2 Cache ECC checking. Advanced BIOS Features à Quick Power On Self Test Quick Power on Self test Enable Disabled This parameter speeds up POST by skipping some items that are normally checked. Advanced BIOS Features à First Boot Device First Boot Device A: LS/ZIP C: SCSI CDROM D: E: F: LAN Disabled This parameter allows you to specify the system boot up search sequence. The hard disk ID are listed below: C: Primary master D: Primary slave E: Secondary master F: Secondary slave LS: LS120 Zip: IOMEGA ZIP Drive Advanced BIOS Features à Second Boot Device Second Boot Device A: LS/ZIP C: SCSI CDROM D: E: F: LAN Disabled This parameter allows you to specify the system boot up search sequence. The hard disk ID are listed below: C: Primary master D: Primary slave E: Secondary master F: Secondary slave LS: LS120 Zip: IOMEGA ZIP Drive 3-6 AWARD BIOS Advanced BIOS Features à Third Boot Device Third Boot Device A: LS/ZIP C: SCSI CDROM D: E: F: LAN Disabled This parameter allows you to specify the system boot up search sequence. The hard disk ID are listed below: C: Primary master D: Primary slave E: Secondary master F: Secondary slave LS: LS120 Zip: IOMEGA ZIP Drive Advanced BIOS Features à Boot Other Device Boot Other Device Enabled Disabled This parameter allows you to specify the system boot up search sequence. The hard disk ID are listed below: Advanced BIOS Features à Swap Floppy Drive Swap Floppy Drive Enabled Disabled This item allows you to swap floppy drives. For example, if you have two floppy drives (A and B), you can assign the first drive as drive B and the second drive as drive A or vice-versa. Advanced BIOS Features à Boot Up NumLock Status Boot Up NumLock Status On Off Setting this parameter to On enables the numeric function of the numeric keypad. Set this parameter to Off to disregard the function. Disabling the numeric function allows you to use the numeric keypad for cursor control. Advanced BIOS Features à Typematic Rate Setting Typematic Rate Setting Enabled Disabled Set this parameter to Enable/Disable the keyboard repeat function. When enabled, continually holding down a key on the keyboard will generate repeatedly keystrokes. 3-7 AWARD BIOS Advanced BIOS Features à Typematic Rate (Chars/Sec) Typematic Rate 6 8 10 12 15 20 24 30 This item allows you to control the speed of repeated keystrokes. The default is 30 characters/sec. Advanced BIOS Features à Typematic Delay (Msec) Typematic Delay 250 500 750 1000 This parameter allows you to control the delay time between the first and the second keystroke (where the repeated keystrokes begin). The typematic delay settings are 250, 500, 750, and 1000 msec. Advanced BIOS Features à Security Option Security Option Setup System The System option limits access to both the System boot and BIOS setup. A prompt asking you to enter your password appears on the screen every time you boot the system. The Setup option limits access only to BIOS setup. To disable the security option, select Password Setting from the main menu, don't type anything and just press . Advanced BIOS Features à OS Select for DRAM > 64MB OS Select for DRAM > 64MB OS/2 Non-OS/2 Set to OS/2 if your system is utilizing an OS/2 operating system and has a memory size of more than 64 MB. 3-8 AWARD BIOS 4.4 Advanced Chipset Features The "Chipset Features Setup" includes settings for the chipset dependent features. These features are related to system performance. Caution: Make sure you fully understand the items contained in this menu before you try to change anything. You may change the parameter settings to improve system performance. However, it may cause system unstable if the setting is not correct for your system configuration. Advanced Chipset Features à SDRAM CAS Latency Time SDRAM CAS Latency Time 2 3 These are timing of SDRAM CAS Latency and RAS to CAS Delay, calculated by clocks. They are important parameters affects SDRAM performance, default is 2 clocks. If your SDRAM has unstable problem, change 2/2 to 3/3. Advanced Chipset Features à SDRAM Cycle Time SDRAM Cycle Time 5/7 6/8 This item will affect SDRAM performance. If the system fails to bootup, please set this item to 6/8. Advanced Chipset Features à SDRAM RAS-to-CAS Delay SDRAM RAS-to-CAS Delay 3 2 SDRAM RAS-to-CAS Delay is an important parameter that affects SDRAM performance. If the system fails to bootup, please set this item to 3. 3-9 AWARD BIOS Advanced Chipset Features à SDRAM RAS Precharge Time SDRAM RAS Precharge Time 3 2 The RAS Precharge means the timing to inactive RAS and the timing for DRAM to do precharge before next RAS can be issued. RAS is the address latch control signal of DRAM row address. The default setting is 3 clocks. Advanced Chipset Features à Video BIOS Cacheable Video BIOS Cacheable Enabled Disabled Allows the video BIOS to be cached to allow faster video performance. Advanced Chipset Features à Video RAM Cacheable Video RAM Cacheable Enabled Disabled This item lets you cache Video RAM A000 and B000. Advanced Chipset Features à Memory Hole At 15M-16M Memory Hole At 15M-16M Enabled Disabled This option lets you reserve system memory area for special ISA cards. The chipset accesses code/data of these areas from the ISA bus directly. Normally, these areas are reserved for memory mapped I/O card. Advanced Chipset Features à Delayed Transaction Delayed Transaction Enabled Disabled This item lets you control the Delayed Transaction function of the PIIX4 chipset (Intel PCI to ISA bridge). This function is used to meet latency of PCI cycles to or from ISA bus. Try to enable or disable it, if you have ISA card compatibility problem. 3-10 AWARD BIOS Advanced Chipset Features à On-Chip Video On-Chip Video Enabled Disabled This item is used to enable or disable the onchip AGP. Advanced Chipset Features à On-Chip Video Window Size On-Chip Video Window Size 64MB 32MB This item is used to select graphic display cache window size. Advanced Chipset Features à Cas# Latency Cas# Latency 2 3 Cas# Latency is an important parameter that affects SDRAM performance. If the system fails to bootup, please set this item to 3. Advanced Chipset Features à Paging Mode Control Paging Mode Control Slow Fast This item will affect SDRAM performance. If the system fails to bootup, please set this item to Slow. Advanced Chipset Features à RAS-to-CAS Override RAS-to-CAS Override Slow Fast This item will affect SDRAM performance. If the system fails to bootup, please set this item to Slow. Advanced Chipset Features à RAS# Timing RAS# Timing Slow Fast This item will affect SDRAM performance. If the system fails to bootup, please set this item to Slow. 3-11 AWARD BIOS Advanced Chipset Features à RAS# Precharge RAS# Precharge Slow Fast This item will affect SDRAM performance. If the system fails to bootup, please set this item to Slow. 3-12 AWARD BIOS 4.5 Integrated Peripherals The following screen appears if you select the option "Integrated Peripherals" from the main menu. This option allows you to configure the I/O features. Integrated Peripherals à On-Chip Primary PCI IDE Integrated Peripherals à On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE On-Chip Primary PCI IDE Enabled Disabled This parameter lets you enable or disable the IDE device connected to the primary IDE connector. Integrated Peripherals à IDE Primary Master PIO Integrated Peripherals à IDE Primary Slave PIO Integrated Peripherals à IDE Secondary Master PIO Integrated Peripherals à IDE Secondary Slave PIO IDE Primary Master PIO Auto Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Setting this item to Auto activates the HDD speed auto-detect function. The PIO mode specifies the data transfer rate of HDD. For example: mode 0 data transfer rate is 3.3MB/s, mode 1 is 5.2MB/s, mode 2 is 8.3MB/s, mode 3 is 11.1MB/s and mode 4 is 16.6MB/s. If your hard disk performance becomes unstable, you may manually try the slower mode. Caution: It is recommended that you connect the first IDE device of each channel to the endmost ...