Weekly Subject -07- BIOS

Yes, it's a "mini-program" on the CMOS chip. When you turn on the system, the BIOS performs the POST (Power On Self Test). It initializes several key areas of the system:
Processes the CPU settings
Processes and initializes all the chipsets and hardware settings.
Tests the RAM.
Initializes the keyboard, mouse.
Tests all the ports.
Cranks up the hard drive and floppy controllers.
Then displays the system information and lets you know if there any problems (usually quite bluntly https://discussions.virtualdr.com/).

If all goes well, the OS takes over from that point.

Should an alarm or error come up at this point how is it represented on the screen of the monitor? Is this where people might make a mistake and think their BIOS has a problem?


------------------
Seek knowledge and all else will follow


Please post back results - Press Ctl D to bookmark

Information

BIOS's usually signal that there is a problem with a beep code that is unique to that version (i.e. AWARD, Phoenix, AMI, etc.). But there can be error messages on the screen also. There are probably a couple of dozen error messages that could come up. When they do occur, it will be during or at the end of the POST; BEFORE the message that it's starting the OS (i.e."Starting Windows 98..."). If the system hangs AFTER you see the OS start message, then the problem is not in the BIOS, but the OS; a startup program in the OS is the usual suspect (or could be a problem with a Registry initialization...or a problem with this or that....hey, we're talking Windows here, remember. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/)

[This message has been edited by bistro (edited 06-28-2001).]

If you have problems and as bistro stated pay attention for the "Starting Windows " because you will drive yourself crazy if you guess you are on the wrong side of it. I do not want a rerun of that mess. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

------------------
SMILE
and post back
[ Book mark this post to find it again]

[This message has been edited by Train (edited 06-28-2001).]

So what you have described probably gets a lot of BIOSes in trouble from their owners if you are not paying attention. But it can sure help on troubleshooting. If an error message came up after "Windows Strarting" then you could figure that the power supply and BIOS were OK. If this is true then you have a powerful troubleshooting tool.

Now what about the Bios settings. Would someone go into more detail on them. How are they set? Who determines the settings?

------------------
Seek knowledge and all else will follow


Please post back results - Press Ctl D to bookmark

Information

OH boy...we're wading into the deep part of the pool now. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/
BIOS's differ according to who made it, but there are some basic categories. These are usually set to "default", so for a new mobo, you have to go in there and make a few adjustments. Newer mobos will often have a MOBO Setup category that is particular to that mobo--there you determine the CPU mhz, multiplier and other settings particular to that board/CPU. But I'll start this off with the first general category: CMOS Setup.
This category is where you set the following:

Date and Time: clock is usually set to 24 hour clock.
Drive settings: hard drive settings for Primary/Secondary Master and Slave. Best to set for "AUTO" under Type and Mode; but can be set manually.
Floppy drive setting: Make sure it's set for "1.44M, 3.5 in. for a standard floppy drive. Drive B (if not there)--NONE. Floppy 3 Mode Support: DISABLED (that's for Japanese floppy drives...yes, they're different.)
Video: set for EGA/VGA for most systems.
Halt On: All Errors (you really want to know if a problem crops up).
The following may be included, but are not adjustablein the BIOS--simply displaying how the memory is divvied up:
Base Memory: 640K
Extended Memory: memory in the system beyond the 1 mb of main memory; as detected by the BIOS; measured in Kilobytes.
Total Memory: all of it https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

Taking a break......Next!



[This message has been edited by bistro (edited 06-28-2001).]

The stage is now set for some heavy "stuff" on BIOS. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/



------------------
Seek knowledge and all else will follow


Please post back results - Press Ctl D to bookmark

Information

Question:
As you all know I am planning to slap together one of these fancy addin' machines. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/ What should I expect in terms of BIOS with a new motherboard in a homebuilt. Any chance I can duct tape this critter together, install an OS and be off to the races? OR Should I expect to be going into BIOS? No need for details just yet. Just curious about how "ready-made" the boards and BIOS are. Thanks.

BTW, I've been following along with these weekly topics. You folks are doing a great job. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

------------------
I want my Win98 Emachine back !!!

MAXXIMILIAN'S

Hi all

[list=a][*]building a new machine from the ground up.
your motherboard may have a jumper to protect the BIOS against Flashing.
When you set it to protect it, you should realise that new hardware found while cold-booting cannot be permanently stored in the Extended System Configuration Data part of the CMOS, and the system will tell you it cannot flash the BIOS.
(***)

When it comes out of the retail box, the default setting is flash protect OFF, so you should not see that particular error (***).

while assembling the system, you should enter BIOS setup a few times to force ESCD update
ESCD can also be referred to as NVRAM (Non-Volatile-Random-Access-Memory)
I think of it in this way.
its the area of CMOS (a complementary semi condictor) that will be written to at cold boot, and it will retain the hardware detected once it has been updated.

When "permanent" storage of detected hardware data is not allowed, cold boot takes a bit longer.
But more important, you may get into a situation where windows finds or loses hardware after a cold boot and/or a warm reboot (or wake-up)

So therefore, after you added devices and cards, you should set
bios flashable,
reset configuration data (aka force NVRAM update, aka ESCD refresh)
clear event log
save, and do a cold boot

do this at least ONCE.
and do it AGAIN once you finished building -
--------------------
[*]Once building is finished, and all cards and devices are present.
you can set BIOS flashable to OFF
or put the cap on the jumper to protect BIOS

you will still leave virus protection in BIOS set to OFF
When ENABLED, it will attempt to protect the boot record of your hard disk.
Because of that, it may interfere with drivetools for partitioning and windows setup...
You should set virus protection ON once you are completely done with setup of windows.

btw, bios will not TRULY protect the boot record of a floppy, because the floppy can be used in another machine...
(it's not a virus shield)

---------------------[*]you may be upgrading hardware components.

or you may be moving, adding or removing hardware, or want to do some configuring to resolve a conflict.

Well, you should allow ESCD to refresh and store the update.
iow, you should go into BIOS setup and change the settings so it can.
And then do a cold boot,
You actually get a message ESCD UPDATE SUCCESFULL
A simple refresh may resolve the conflict.

When you do the next boot, set things back to normal.
[*]you may have just read this, and mulling it over you realise you always see "updating ESCD" when you boot up.
you just found out it was set so it could not store the things it found...
[*]notes;
* note 1
- FORCE NVRAM update
- FORCE ESCD update
- allow bios flashable
these settings don't change back to OFF by themselves after a reboot
When you are truly done adding and configuring the hardware, set these to OFF

* note 2
reset configuration data will autorevert to OFF after a reboot.
IMHO, it's best you set it to ON when you alter a hardware setting in BIOS, or you are jumpering something on a card, or when you are moving a card to another slot.

* note 3
do not forget to clear the event logging when building/upgrading is finished

* note 4
windows setup may find hardware conflicts it cannot resolve, and you want to move a card to a better spot.
first try to refresh ESCD
A simple refresh may resolve the conflict.
[/list=a]

=========


I reckon the following question is going to be a controversial one, but here goes...

what's the better setting?
plug and play OS on or off?
(OS stands for Operating System)
and why?

question 2 (an afterthought)
is it possible that it won't plug and play even if you wish it to?
what should you look for then?
========

(***) explanation, the way I understand it.

the protection can manifest itself as "invalid flash program"
when you first see it, you may panic, thinking you have a BIOS flash floppy in the drive, or some nasty is trying to write to BIOS.
OR, when you actually want to Flash the bios, and such a jumper is ON, you would have a hard time finding relevant info on the web...
I realise you may not know about that jumper, and when you do a search about this error message, you will find many posted messages saying you are using the wrong flash program... So keep it in mind. You heard it on VDr https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

However, the main assumption here is that
you are building a NEW clean machine.
IMHO, when you are finished, you should consider setting the jumper to protect the BIOS. And yes, it prevents writing to CMOS too.

NOT all motherboards have such a jumper.
A great many mobo do have a "allow bios flashable" setting in BIOS itself.
When you are done building and setting up, I think you had better enable this protection.

it's NOT the same as enable VIRUS protection.
And please, PLEASE, do not rely on BIOS virus protection alone.

install a good antivirus program.

------------------

Hey Folks, never take the written word at face value. Especially when it sounds right.
You better believe this, cuz I'm always right. Even when I am right. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/ https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

Kind regards, Jaak.

[This message has been edited by jtdoom (edited 07-02-2001).]

One suggestion, don't make to many changes to the BIOS settings at one time. If you happen to change something that has negative effects, it's easier to figure out what went wrong if you've only changed 1 or 2 things.

------------------
Keyboard error or no keyboard present

Press F1 to continue

My corner of the world

As a general rule most settings in BIOS can be left at their default value. Exceptions from this rule apply, fx. when older drives are installed in the system and not properly detected by the default settings in BIOS. You will find a lot of settings initially defined as "AUTO" - leave these alone until you encounter a specific problem that may be related to BIOS settings.

Take ceh383's advice - don't change more than 1 or two things in BIOS at a time. The different adjustable parameters in BIOS are very often interacting with each other, and changing a number of settings at a time will often blur the effect of each individual setting, simply because different settings may effect your system in different directions.

Upgrading BIOS is NOT something you do just because a newer version of your BIOS has been released. Any BIOS upgrade represents a hazard and should be avoided if at all possible. Before you decide to upgrade you should read the change protocol of the BIOS and evaluate, if this particular upgrade will benefit you in any way. If this is not the case then you should drop the upgrade. People making the changes to BIOSes are humans like all of us (well, most of us.. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/) and are prone to make mistakes.
I've encountered one such mistake myself once, where the BIOS was not based on the newest existing version, but on a version that was 2 or 3 versions old - a simple mistake of choosing the wrong version to work with and build on top of.
The result was that the improvements implemented in the later versions (of which I profitted by solving a problem) was lost again. It took me a while to realize this and in the end I had to downgrade my BIOS to the (meanwhile) older version again to regain the lost functionality.

In case you insist one experimenting with the bios settings (and it can be rather exiting to do, especially if it makes your system faster/more stable), I strongly advise you to do a lot of reading/studying on the subject first - it's quite important that you fully understand what you do. Not everything needs to be understood throughly, but you ought to be aware of the implications of changing this or that, fx. through some BIOS-adviser/guide like the one suggested by bistro above.

------------------
Karl, Denmark
---------
"..and may The Force be with you too..."

[This message has been edited by kallikru (edited 06-29-2001).]

Good Morning All, You have talked about jumpers. Is this a wire that you connect two pins together? Please explain what they look like and their function in general. Then what specifically they do in BIOS.



------------------
Seek knowledge and all else will follow


Please post back results - Press Ctl D to bookmark

Information

Hi kallikru
I can relate to that https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

it happened a couple years ago.
The newest BIOS had some implemementation of the PC99 standard built in which made my system totally inoperable when an ISA modem was plugged in.
it simply would not boot.
no screen, no nothing...

I had to go back to an older BIOS without the ISA "issue" which still had the fix I wanted.
(I went from version 3 to 14, and then back to ten. I was very lucky to find the older bioses (I had to find the FTP adress cuz it was not on the support site). And i was lucky in that I had another machine to get to the internet to find the solution.)
=========

please do not misinterpret the earlier post
if you are building/upgrading a machine you should at one time refresh the configuration data.

you should still heed all the warnings.
you should take notes so you will remember what you changed.
your system may run like molasses if you get things wrong.
it may not run at all, so take these notes...

it has been pointed out that a warm reboot and a cold boot can be VERY different.
You'll often find that when you change a setting and save it, it will reboot.
That's still a warm reboot.
the next cold boot may be a little different...or a total dud.

when you hear a beep and can get into BIOS, that's not a total dud.

when it hangs at "verifying DMI pool data" and hangs there, chances are you changed some drive parameters, or a new device you added (a drive) is getting in between.
and that's not a total dud.

a total dud is hairy.
no screen, no peep, no nothing is rather rare, though.
But they can happen even "out of the blue".

so, take my word for it.
you want a copy of the manuals
If you do not have it, get it
if you got it from the web, print it
the next best thing is to save it to a floppy so you can view it on another PC (its likely to be a PDF)
but you are better off with a printed copy.
You can pencil your notes on the hardcopy, see.

I don't know you heard or know about some version of Phenix bios is phoning home? That is a new spyware feature.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by greengoose1:
The stage is now set for some heavy "stuff" on BIOS. https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

---

Well...this article describes the situation with Phoenix ("Phoenix-Net"). Frankly, if it was offered to me as a feature in the BIOS of a new mobo, I'd say "Thanks, but No Thanks".