Basic Computer Operation Tutorial The BIOSOverview As I mentioned earlier, the computer without software or firmware is essentially useless.For most of our day to day use, the main operating system Windows, Linux.Before the computer can access the main OS, its going to need a little help.The basic instructions that a computer uses to get up and running are contained in the BIOS basic inputoutput system.How To Update Bios Before Installing Cpu' title='How To Update Bios Before Installing Cpu' />The information in the BIOS allows the computer to interface with the monitor, keyboard and mouse among other things until the OS can take over.The BIOS is stored on a small IC that has a small amount of flash memory.That memory is used to store the values entered when you set up the computers BIOS parameters.This page shows some of the various setting and will tell, briefly what the setting affect in the computers operation.Before I go any further, I should tell you that you should not go into the BIOS unless you either know what youre doing or youre working on a computer that is unimportant to you or anyone who may need it.While its relatively difficult to destroy data by changing values in the BIOS, it IS easy to make changes that would prevent the computer from booting.Power users routinely punch into the BIOS in order to fine tune their system, but it can be an intimidating place to go exploring if youve never before burrowed.Ground yourself. Before you begin working on the interior of your computer or handling the motherboard, make sure you discharge any electrostatic charge.Im trying to update my BIOS because of some error involving my RAM.But when I enter trhe Utility, it wont detect the.CAP file to update the BIOS.Motherboard ASUS.Book Title. Cisco UCS C240 M3 Server Installation and Service Guide.Chapter Title. Installing the Server.PDF Complete Book 13.MB PDF This. Generally, there is no mouse capability in the BIOS.Most all interaction uses the updown arrows, the page updown buttons and the ENTER key.Some of the newer motherboards have mouse capability but can be navigated with the arrow keys as well.If youre going to buy a motherboard and want to be able to use a mouse when working with the BIOS presets, look for one with a UEFI BIOS interface.To get to the BIOS screen, you have to follow the instructions when the computer just starts to boot.For many motherboards, you hit the delete key to enter the BIOS.Other BIOS use F1, F2 and F1.As you can see, this BIOS is for a motherboard purchased in 2.Both newer and older motherboards will have different optionsfeatures.This motherboard uses a Phoenix BIOS.Others may have a different type of BIOS and may look significantly different.For most motherboards, the owners manual is available online at the manufacturers web site.The BIOS section of the manual will tell you what you need to know about the BIOS settings.If youre unsure, you can almost always find help on one of the computer forums like the Major Geeks forum.This is the first page youll see when you get into this particular BIOS.The appearance and features of the various BIOS configurations from various manufacturers vary significantly.This is a PhoenixAward BIOS.Some computers use an AMI BIOS.Other computer manufacturers produce their own BIOS softwarefirmware.Above, you can see that the Standard CMOS Features is selected.If you hit the ENTER key, you get the screen below.This is the screen where you set the system clock and set several of the drive parameters.Luckily, most of the newer BIOS setread the drive parameters automatically.On the screen above, I scrolled down to the Primary IDE Drive and hit ENTER.The next screen is the result.In this machine, the primary IDE drive is a 4.GB Samsung drive.The screen shows the various drive parameters.Here, we want to let the BIOS set the parameters if the drive is capable.Some older drives dont have the capability to communicate that information to the BIOS and the parameters have to be set manually.Thankfully, most of the older drives have been taken out of service.Next, we scroll down to what is simply labeled BIOS Features and click ENTER.Here you can see some relatively newunique BIOS features.Super boot allows the computer to start faster by storing certain basic system information in memory.The Super BIOS protect protects the computers BIOS information from malicious software that tries to destroy the BIOS data.If the BIOS information is completely destroyed, the computer can not be booted and, if the BIOS IC isnt replaceable installed in a socket vs soldered in place, the motherboard has to be replaced.The Super. Recovery allows you to partition off the drive in a way that nothing can access it from the OS nothing not partitioning software or malware nothing.It is supposed to offer the highest level of protection for your data.The. This is an image of the initial Super.Recovery screen. The next feature is the Super.Speed feature. It allows you to increase the speed of the processor but you have to be careful.If you set it too high, your computer may become unstable, it may be unable to boot andor it could overheat.If you ever make a BIOS change that prevents the computer from booting, you can clear the CMOS memory with the clear CMOS jumper.Generally, this presents no serious problem except for all of the settings going back to the default settings.However, in some cases where a RAID array is set up in the BIOS, the recovery takes longer.If youre working with a RAID, it may take several trips through the BIOS and several reboots to get things back in order dont ask me how I know.Below is a picture of the clear CMOS jumper inside the dotted yellow line.Its generally very near the BIOS IC.If you ever need to clear the CMOS memory, you simply remove power from the computer, move the jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pins 2 and 3.After a second, return the jumper to pins 1 and 2 and restart the computer.The BIOS settings will now be as they were when you initially powered up the machine.In the following image, the green arrow points to the BIOS IC.On this board, its soldered directly to the board but these are often installed in sockets to allow quick replacement.The orange arrow points to the backup battery.This retains the CMOS settings when no power is applied to the motherboard.The battery rarely needs replacing but if youre working on an old machine, you should check it to confirm that its voltage is approximately the rated voltage generally 3v.The yellow arrow points to the clear CMOS header.As you can see, a shunt is installed across pins 1 and 2.If youre unsure about the pin numbering on a header, there are often indicators like the white triangle red arrow.On this board, there is also a number 3 but there arent always numbers.The image above is a Flash graphic so you can right click and zoom in on it.You can click HERE to open it in a new window.A couple more notes about the CMOS.As was stated previously, clearing the CMOS memory restores the system to what it was when the system was powered up for the first time.Generally, the computer will function after clearing the CMOS but for advanced systems there are some things you should know.Any over clocking settings will be lost.This wont cause any problems but could be annoying if you have to find the sweet spot for the system.If youre running a RAID hard drive configuration, clearing the CMOS will remove the RAID settings and the system will not boot until the RAID array has been reconfigured.If this happens and you dont know how to reconfigure the RAID array, try to find someone who does.If you were running a RAID array, it was likely done for a reason security against hard drive failure or for better performance.If you reload the operating system on one of the drives because you cant reonfigure the array, you will lose the benefit of the array and will lose all information on the drives.If you cant find the clear CMOS jumperheader, look for the battery.The header is almost always near the battery large silver coin cell battery.On some motherboards, there is an alternate way to clear the CMOS.On THIS motherboard, you can see that there is a switch on the back of the board.This is convenient but you have to be aware that its there if youre reaching around the back of the computer trying to plug something in.If you accidentally push the button, it will clear the CMOS.Here, we scrolled down to the Advanced BIOS Features and clicked enter.There are too many features here to cover them all but you should notice a few.At the top, you can see that the virus warning is ENABLED.The quick POST is enabled allowing even faster booting.Below that, you can see that you have options for the boot order of the various drives.Here, we have told the computer to boot to the CD ROM first and if you dont find a boot record, boot from the hard drive.ASRock AB3. 50. M Pro.Integrated AMD Radeon R Series Graphics in A series APU Direct.X 1. 2, Pixel Shader 5.Max. shared memory 2.GB Three graphics output options D Sub, DVI D and HDMI Supports Triple Monitor Supports HDMI with max.K x 2. K 4. 09. 6x.Hz 3. 84. 0x. 21.Hz Supports DVI D with max.Hz Supports D Sub with max.Hz Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color 1.YCC and HBR High Bit Rate Audio with HDMI Port Compliant HDMI monitor is required Supports HDCP with DVI D and HDMI Ports Supports Full HD 1. Garmin Mapsource Maps . Blu ray BD playback with DVI D and HDMI Portsctual support may vary by CPU.
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