BIOS setup. BIOS (CMOS) Setup program and its main features

In the last article we looked at what BIOS is, now let’s look at the main menu items.

In order to get to the settings menu on most motherboards, you must press the “DEL” or “F2” key during the first messages on the screen.
In each specific case, the menu may differ from others depending on the BIOS version and its manufacturer, but the basic principles of its configuration are very similar. In this lesson, I will look at the menu items using the example of the AMI BIOS installed on my motherboard.

In most cases, the BIOS does not have a graphical mode, so navigation through the settings is carried out using the keyboard, but versions are increasingly appearing on the market where you can even make settings and navigate using the mouse pointer.
Example BIOS with graphics mode on Asus motherboards.

In my case, the BIOS includes the following menu items:

Main - BIOS main menu;
Advanced - advanced settings menu;
Power- system power settings;
Boot - boot device management menu;
Tools - tools built into BIOS;
Exit - menu for saving settings and exit.

Navigation through menu items is carried out using the keyboard. Using the up-down arrows we move through the settings items, and using the left/right keys we move through the menu items. To select or change a parameter, press the “Enter” key. To return to the previous menu - “Esc”. You can see all control tips in the lower right corner of the screen.

MAIN

The main window provides information about the system and lists connected storage devices. In general, there are no settings that are important to us in this window.

In menu item System Information- You can view the model of the installed processor and the amount of RAM. As you can see, my computer has an Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 processor with a frequency of 2.8 MHz, and the amount of RAM is 4GB.

To return to the previous menu, press the “Esc” key (remember the tips :-)).

ADVANCED

This menu item provides many advanced settings. Most of them are never changed because there is no need to, but for the most inquisitive minds this menu item is of particular interest.

In point JumperFree Configuration You can increase your computer's performance (overclock).

If you switch the AI Overclock Tuner menu item from the mode to mode , additional items will appear in the settings menu where you can increase the processor bus frequency.

In general, the topic of overclocking a computer is very interesting, because overclocking is an opportunity to get a more powerful computer for less money. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to explain all the intricacies of this topic in one article. Later I will definitely devote time to this and try to sort out all the questions. But I want to give advice for the future, if you are not confident in your abilities and do not have sufficient knowledge, it is better not to touch anything, because incorrectly setting the parameters can lead to undesirable results.

Another important point in the section Advanced - this is the point USB Configuration. As the name implies, this item configures the operation of USB devices.

There are situations when, when you connect a brand new USB keyboard, it simply refuses to work. Don’t rush to scold the manufacturer and return it to the store. First make sure that the menu item U SB 2.0 Controller set to [ Enabled] (allowed).

One of the useful functions of this menu is to allow/prohibit booting from USB devices, such as a flash drive. This is done in the menu item USB Mass Storage Device Configuration.

POWER

This menu item allows you to monitor and configure temperature parameters. At this point we can configure the operation of the processor cooling system and view the voltage of the power supply. If you missed my article How to Test a Power Supply, I recommend reading it.

If you are tired of the noise of the CPU cooler or the noise of an additional fan, then you need to set the item CPU Fan Profile to mode (Quiet mode).

BOOT

It is this item that everyone who wants to install/reinstall the operating system or simply boot from a boot disk needs to find, as it allows you to set the sequence of boot devices.

You can set the loading order in the menu item Boot Device Priority.

Accordingly, in paragraph 1st Boot Device we need to select exactly the device from which we want to boot first. In my case, the first boot device is the hard drive ( HDD: PW-WDC WD5000AAKS), second CD-ROM ( CDROM: SM ASUS DRW-1814BL). I set the third boot device to (disabled), although it was possible to install other boot devices there, for example, a flash drive, usb-cdrom, etc.

Your system may have multiple hard drives installed. How then can you tell the system which disk to boot from? This is done very simply in the menu Hard Disk Drives.

If you have more than one hard drive, they will all be listed under this menu item. We just need to set the loading order in the same way as in the previous menu. In my case, the system detected 2 boot devices: a hard drive and a flash drive.

Security - allows you to set a password to enter the BIOS . I don’t know why the developers included it in the menu Boot ?

There are only two functions here:

Change Supervisor Password- set an administrator password;
Change User Password- set a user password.

One thing you need to know is that user rights only allow you to view BIOS settings and change only the simplest settings, such as time and date. The administrator password allows you to make any changes.
If you set only the administrator password, the computer will boot, and the password will only be requested when entering the BIOS. If you set both passwords, the computer will ask for a password when booting (either password can be used to log in).

TOOLS

This menu item is not available in all BIOS. Here the manufacturer presented the following tools:

ASUS EZ Flash 2 - allows you to update the BIOS directly through the setup menu;
ASUS O.C. Profile - allows you to save BIOS settings in a separate file, which allows users to exchange overclocking settings profiles;
ASUS Ai NET2 - tests network connections without loading the OS.

EXIT

After we have made a number of settings, we need to save them. This is exactly what this menu item is designed for.

Exit & Save Changes- exit and save changes;
Exit & Discard Changes- exit and cancel the changes made;
Discard Changes- cancel changes;
Load Setup Default s - load default settings.

Hooray! Conclusion

We have discussed only the main BIOS menu items, but they are quite sufficient to solve most problems. If we decided to study each point thoroughly, we would need a lot of time, and half of my readers would not even reach the middle of the article :-). You can’t immediately learn everything by jumping over basic knowledge, the main thing is that you have the desire. In addition, basically you always have to solve the same problems.

Here, as in many other areas of human activity, it works 20/80 rule. It means that 20% of your knowledge allows you to solve 80% of the problems. The remaining 80% of knowledge only details, deepens, and expands your knowledge.

It is on this philosophical note that I end writing this article. See you in the next lessons.

BIOS - DESCRIPTION, INSTALLATION, CONFIGURATION, OPTIONS

In our age of computer technology, a computer has no longer become a luxury, but an ordinary household item. Someone buys a computer for games, someone for study, someone for work...It doesn’t matter for what purpose you purchased the computer! Another thing is important, if you have it, then sooner or later you will have to reinstall it! This monster is designed in such a way that no matter how you handle it (installing few programs and uninstalling them, or vice versa), when using a computer, this result is inevitable. It’s just that some people have to do this operation earlier and more often, while others have to do it less often.So imagine that the day will come when your computer will need to be reinstalled.Of course, you can call a specialist (fortunately there are no problems with this now) and pay N amount of money.Or seriously save money and do everything yourself. But to do this, you need to study the BIOS of your computer a little. This is why this article was written.

BIOS: BRIEF EDUCATION OR STARTING STUDYING THE STRUCTURE AND PURPOSE OF BIOS

BIOS (basic input/output system) is software stored in the computer's permanent memory, the main task of which is to carry out the initial initialization (boot) of all computer components (POST - Power-On Self Test) and, depending on from the results obtained, loading the appropriate configuration. Initially, the main task of the BIOS was to handle the I/O operations necessary to control the keyboard, video card, disks, ports and other devices, but with the advent of new operating systems these functions have become less in demand.In addition, using the interface in the BIOS, the user can override some system configuration parameters, allowing you to disable equipment, enable technologies, change the voltage and frequency of the main components, thus changing the performance of the system.Without knowing the specific purpose of the BIOS items, I do not recommend reconfiguring the BIOS as this can lead to a complete system failure and the system will not start up.

HOW TO ENTER BIOS?

In order to enter the BIOS, you need to press a certain key when you turn on the computer, but before the operating system starts loading.
Depending on the BIOS, this can be the Del, F9, F1 or F2 key (most often it is the Del key, the remaining keys are mainly used to enter the BIOS on laptops) usually the system itself gives you a hint, although sometimes it is hidden by the logo or “slips through” very quickly. (be careful when starting the computer and try to read everything that is written on the monitor at that moment). It looks something like this. We need a string. which is the penultimate one from the bottom. (the rest doesn't matter to you right now)

Once the BIOS menu opens, it may look different depending on your BIOS.

Or so

You need to decide exactly what actions and settings you want to do in the BIOS! Under no circumstances should you touch or press anything unnecessary or something that you couldn’t figure out yourself. (in other words, to put it simply, a furry animal, popularly called the Scribe, will come for your BIOS).You navigate through your BIOS menu using the arrow keys (up, down, right and left). The mouse does not work in the BIOS. You may also need the plus and minus keys, Enter, and the key to return to the top menu from the submenu is the Esc key - exit.After completing the BIOS setup, in order to save the changed configuration, you must exit “saving the settings” (usually the Save & Exit Setup item) or press F10 and confirm your confidence in the correctness of your actions by pressing the key and selecting the OK or Y button and then pressing Enter ( it depends on your BIOS version).

BASIC CONCEPTS AND BIOS OPTIONS

They may differ slightly in different BIOSes.
1st Boot Device- first boot device [xxx Drive] - the device specified in this line will be the first from which the BIOS will try to load the operating system.
2nd Boot Device- second boot device [xxx Drive] - the device specified in this line will be the second one from which the BIOS will try to load the operating system.
3rd Boot Device- third boot device [xxx Drive]
— the device specified in this line will be the third from which the BIOS will try to load the operating system.
3.3V Voltage, 5V Voltage, 1 Voltage - displays the voltage on the +3.3 V, +5 +12 V power lines in the monitoring section.
C1E Support - Technology C - controls the “C1E Support” technology, which allows you to turn off (adjust) the processor unit during system inactivity in order to reduce its power consumption.
The Enablet option enables the technology.
Chasis Fan Ratio— Determination of the minimum rotation speed of case fans — In the “Chasis Fan Ratio” setting, the minimum rotation speed of case fans is determined in percentage, the value of which, when regulated by the Chasis Q-fan Control rotation speed control function, will correspond to the minimum processor temperature specified in the “Chassis” setting Target Temperature". Almost the minimum speed of case fans is determined by the value of the minimum supply voltage of the fans installed in the case and is calculated taking into account the fact that with a supply voltage of 12 V the speed reaches 100%.
Controller Mode— Selecting the operating mode of the SATA controller. In the “Controller Mode” setting you can determine the operating mode of the additional controller. The RAID option will allow you to create SATA RAID arrays, the IDE option will set the controller to emulate IDE devices. The AHCI option configures SATA ports to work using the AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) protocol, which implements hard drive optimization functions such as NCQ (Native Command Queuing), Hot Swap, Port Multiplier, Staggered Spin-Up.
CPU Host Frequency(MHz) — Processor reference frequency synonyms: CPU FSB Clock, FSB Frequency, External Clock. Manually setting the reference clock frequency (or system bus frequency), with which the clock frequencies of other system components are synchronized using multipliers and dividers. During normal operation, the PC is most often in the Auto position. The CPU Host Frequency value changes only when overclocking the processor and/or other components. But it should be remembered that an increase in operating frequencies for microcircuits leads to an increase in their power consumption, and, as a result, heat generation - without good cooling, overclocking is extremely dangerous.
North Bridge Voltage— Voltage on the north bridge... , The “North Bridge Voltage” setting determines the supply voltage of the north bridge. At the same time, the higher the voltage, the more the microcircuit will heat up - this circumstance should be taken into account so as not to “burn” the motherboard. Increasing the supply voltage on the North Bridge is most often required during overclocking to ensure stable operation at high frequencies, and in normal mode it is better to leave it in the Auto position. (To be honest, I don’t recommend overclocking in any case)
System Date— The system date consists of information about the year, month, day and even day of the week. It is easier to set the date, like the time, through the operating system, but it is also possible from the BIOS.
System Time[xx:xx:xx] - System time. This setting allows you to set the hours, minutes and seconds of the system time. Although, this setting is easier to perform in the operating system itself. It must be said that the system clock operates and stores current readings using the battery supply voltage on the motherboard. (therefore, the easiest way to return the BIOS settings to a working state, that is, factory settings, if you have configured something incorrectly yourself, is to simply remove the battery on the motherboard from the socket for a while).
USB 2.0 Controller— USB 2.0 controller,
The Disabled option excludes USB bus support for the USB 2.0 protocol, leaving only the slower USB 1.1 mode active.
USB 2.0 Controller Mode— USB bus speed mode. The “USB 2.0 Controller Mode” setting switches the speed modes of USB buses. The Full-Speed mode corresponds to a speed of 0.5-12 Mbit/s, and the Hi-Speed mode corresponds to a speed of 25-480 Mbit/s.
USB Functions— USB functions. The Disabled option will disable USB buses. Disabling the USB buses will free up the hardware IRQ lines that were allocated to USB.
VGA Core Clock— embedded video frequency. Acceleration (overclocking) function of the built-in video card, which operates in the mode of manually setting the clock frequency or its relative increase by [+1%]... [+50%]. Typically, overclocking a built-in video card does not bring noticeable acceleration, but is a reason for increasing the heating of the chipset.
Wireless LAN— wireless network. The Disabled option disables the wireless LAN module installed on the motherboard (ASUS).
PnP/PCI BIOS(PnP/PCI Configurations). This area of the BIOS exists primarily to resolve compatibility issues with older hardware. Most users do not need

And finally, briefly about overclocking (although I am not a supporter of this method, one might even say I’m an opponent, since there are facts of disastrous consequences for the computer.

If problems still arise in the operation of the hardware, the BIOS signals them with special signals. About decoding these read here.

OVERCLOCKING OPTIONS IN ADVANCED BIOS SETTINGS

Some users, trying to increase system performance, often increase the bus and processor core frequencies. In addition, they often increase the voltage of the components, since this can achieve higher clock speeds, but also generates more heat. Overclocking no longer results in the kind of performance difference we might have seen a few years ago. In addition, overclocking voids the user's warranty, can lead to component failure, and the system may become unstable. For this reason, most frequency and voltage settings in this section of the BIOS should be left at "AUTO". If you want to adjust the settings, click on the “Advanced” tab of the BIOS screen, and then select the “Advanced Chipset Features” section. Remember that incorrectly setting BIOS settings can lead to unstable PC operation. If this does happen, then you will have to reset the BIOS settings to the factory default (that is, to non-optimized ones). This is usually done using a jumper on the motherboard (it’s easier to remove the battery from the motherboard for a while than to look for it than to find a place where the jumper is installed for a short time, of course, without turning on the computer to the network.

Material provided by A. Kulibin

If previously you could enter the BIOS on any computer by pressing the Del button, today there are many more options. And this depends on the BIOS manufacturers, as well as on the motherboard on the computer and the brand of the laptop. This does not depend on the version of Windows (although there are some nuances here, but more on that below).

When you turn on your PC or laptop, you must immediately press (constantly) a certain button. Why constantly? To be on time for sure. Time is given for 5 seconds, and if you miss this moment, you will have to reboot and try again.

Now the question is - which button should you press? This information is displayed immediately when you turn on your computer (the first thing you see when it starts).

Here you can see the BIOS manufacturer. For example, in the screenshot above, this is AMI (this is evidenced by the logo in the upper left corner + first line). And the login button is F2.

The most common buttons for entering BIOS are F2, Del, Esc. Try them first.

Below are the main login keys:

Opening BIOS on a laptop?

There are laptops from Samsung, Lenovo, HP Pavilion, Asus, Acer, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, etc. And each model has its own button to enable BIOS mode.

List of keys on major laptop models:

BIOS on Windows 8

Remember at the beginning of the article it was mentioned that entering the BIOS does not depend on the OS version? So: there is a small exception here, which concerns Windows 8.

The fact is that this OS has a fast boot function. PCs and laptops running this operating system boot so quickly that you simply won’t have time to turn on the BIOS. Especially if you have an SSD installed. This hard drive boots Windows in just 0.2 seconds. The result is, of course, amazing.

To do this, press the Win + C button combination (win is the button between Ctrl and Alt) and select the following items:

Options.
Changing PC settings
Update and recovery – Recovery (or “General” instead).
Then go to “Special boot options” and click “Restart”.

After turning it on, a new window will open where you need to select the following items:

Diagnostics.
Add. options.
UEFI Firmware Settings.
Reboot.

Ready. After this, the UEFI BIOS will load.

What is UEFI? This is a replacement for the old BIOS. Simply put, its new version. This BIOS is installed on all modern laptops and PCs.

And one more way - using Windows 10 as an example.

Here you need to perform approximately the same steps as in the case of Windows 8. In particular, you need to click on the notification icon and select the following items:

Options.
Update and security.
Recovery.
Special boot options – Reboot.

And then choose: Diagnostics – Additional. parameters – UEFI firmware parameters – and reboot again.

Today I will dwell in more detail on what types of BIOS there are, because it is difficult for a novice user to understand this. Although, in fact, everything is quite simple - you just need to understand it a little. Moreover, despite the differences in appearance, in terms of setting up functions and principles of operation, they are all similar. I will tell you what types there are and show it all in pictures.
Currently, there are 3 main types of BIOS, differing by manufacturer.

1.AMI BIOS

American Megatrends inc. - This is probably the oldest developer. AMI BIOS was running back in my childhood on ancient 286 and 386 computers. Then, for some time, this species disappeared. But in recent years it has reappeared, and AMI is the most common type of BIOS on ASUS, MSI, and Lenovo laptops. There are currently two main branches:
- version 2.XX. She looks like this:

This version of AMI BIOS differs from all others in the structure of the main menu and the gray-blue color scheme.

This branch is already externally and in its structure more reminiscent of the classic input-output system from AWARD.

2. Phoenix BIOS, aka Award

Previously, these were two different companies, each producing its own system. Avard's system has been the market leader for many years. But the Phoenix BIOS was not particularly popular among motherboard manufacturers. But then interesting events happen - AWARD Software was purchased by Phoenix. Now it is one company. Here are a few brands:
- Award BIOS

There are almost no differences between them - the interface is completely identical. There is, however, an exception - the Phoenix-Award version for laptops. She looks very similar to AMI:

Today, this type of BIOS is used on 90% of desktop computer motherboards.

Intel puts its own branded BIOS on its branded boards. Or rather, it’s not exactly theirs - it’s a modified version of AMI. For some time, motherboards had the Intel/AMI 6.0 version, and later, when it was even more significantly redesigned, the options were changed and the interface was redesigned - this type of BIOS began to be called Intel.

The latest versions generally became visually more similar to UEFI and were called “Intel Visual BIOS”:

4.UEFI

I’ll start, perhaps, with the most modern type of BIOS - UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). This is not even a variety, but an heir or successor, as you prefer to call it. UEFI is the next step in BIOS development. Now, in fact, it is no longer just an input-output system - it is more like an operating system, both externally and internally.

Finally added mouse support! Among the key features are an extensible set of capabilities, a pleasant visual interface, the ability to securely boot “Secure Boot”, ease of updating the firmware, and fast loading of the operating system.

Greetings, dear readers! You know, this probably wouldn’t be a blog with computer tips, if I hadn’t written anything about such a system as BIOS.

I'm sure search engines are asked this question every day, how to enter BIOS, and today I will try to tell you about this system and how to log into BIOS on different computers.

What is BIOS?

Let's first figure out what it is. In professional terms, this is:

(English basic input/output system - “basic input/output system”) is a part of system software implemented in the form of microprograms, which is intended to provide the operating system with API access to the computer hardware and devices connected to it.

Well, to put it simply, then BIOS this is a set of firmware written into the motherboard. Even before the operating system starts loading, BIOS Performs many useful and necessary functions. For example, the BIOS has such a very important task, it is checking all the components of the computer - POST.

As soon as you press the power button on your computer, the procedure starts POST, which checks for the serviceability and availability of all computer components (video card, RAM, hard drive, and so on) and if any of the components fails, it generates an error by which one can determine this or that failure. A sound signal is also issued, but it seems to me that this happens on older computers; I have not seen this on new ones.

The BIOS also controls the loading of the operating system and indicates which source to boot from (DVD/CD drive, hard drive, or connected flash device). This is especially true when installing an operating system; I’ll write about this below. The BIOS also stores a lot of different settings that can be changed. For example, I overclocked my processor a little through the BIOS by increasing the system bus frequency.

How to enter BIOS?

In order to enter the BIOS system, immediately after pressing the computer’s power button, you need to diligently press the key, but we’ll figure out which one now. The fact is that different manufacturers of motherboards or laptops have their own key combination for entering the BIOS. Usually these are keys Del , F2, or Esc , there may also be combinations of different keys, and this is why I will post a table in which you can see the keys for entering the BIOS from different manufacturers.

What to do in BIOS?

An interesting question with many answers. First of all, you need to go into the BIOS before installing Windows or another OS. The fact is that by default the computer boots from the hard drive, and to install the operating system we need to boot from a DVD/CD drive or flash drive, such settings can be set by going into the BIOS, more about this is written here