Chapter 3 AMI BIOS Utility This chapter tells how to configure the system by setting the BIOS parameters. 3.1 Entering the AMI BIOS Setup To enter the AMI BIOS Setup, press c. The AMI BIOS Setup Main Menu appears as shown below. The AMI BIOS is in Windows form. You can use either the keyboard or a mouse to move between the items. To select among the Setup menu groups, use v to highlight the selected group or simply click on the icon of the selected Setup menu.
AMI BIOS Utility To select among the options, you can either use the arrow keys to move the highlight bar or simply click on the icon of the desired option. After making your selection, press e or double-click on the icon to open the selected menu option. You can press h to enter the BIOS Setup screen. This also enables you to do the following: • Resolve an address conflict due to an IRQ address assigned to multiple slots. For more information on IRQ assignment, see the section 3.2.
AMI BIOS Utility You can input configuration values such as date, time and disk types in this menu. PRIMARY MASTER AND SLAVE/ SECONDARY MASTER AND SLAVE These parameters allow you to configure the hard disks and the IDE devices connected to your IDE connectors. To configure the hard disk connected to the master port of the primary IDE connector, select Primary Master and press e.
AMI BIOS Utility Installed. Select Auto to automatically configure the installed hard disk or IDE device. Select CD-ROM if you have a CD-ROM installed in your system. If you have an old type HDD installed, you may need to enter the HDD parameters manually. To do this, you must set this parameter to User. Set this to Not Installed to bypass the function. LBA/Large Mode This enhanced IDE feature allows the system to use a hard disk with a capacity of more than 504 MB.
AMI BIOS Utility Block Mode This function enhanced disk performance depending on the hard disk in use. If enabled, it allows data transfers in block (multiple sectors) by increasing the data transfer rate to 256 bytes/cycle. However, if your hard disk does not support this function, set this parameter to Off. This parameter becomes nonconfigurable when the HDD Type parameter is set to Auto. 32-bit Mode Enabling this parameter improves system performance by increasing the hard disk access to 32-bit mode.
AMI BIOS Utility HARD DISK TYPES After you have set all the necessary parameters, press e. A list of the HDD drive parameters appears: Select your hard disk type. Press the w or y to move among the selections. After you have made your selection, press e. If you cannot find your hard disk drive type on the list, select User. This allows you to enter the disk parameters manually. DATE/TIME To set the date and time, highlight Date/Time and press e.
AMI BIOS Utility FLOPPY DRIVES A AND B To configure the first floppy drive, select Floppy A. The following values appear on screen: After selecting the proper setting, press e. Select Floppy B and follow the same procedure to configure the second floppy drive. 3.2.2 Advanced CMOS Setup The following screen appears if you select the option Advanced from the Setup menu: The first screen does not show all the parameters of the Advanced Configuration menu. To scroll down the rest of the parameters, press }.
AMI BIOS Utility Do not change the settings of the Advanced Setup parameters if you are not a qualified technician. Doing so may cause fatal system failure. Quick Boot During boot-up, the system performs power-on self test (POST) routines. Enable the parameter if you want to skip some POST routines during the boot process. Set this to Disabled to let the system perform all the POST routines and follow the specified boot-up sequence.
AMI BIOS Utility Boot-up Sequence The boot-up sequence allows you to specify the system search sequence. The selections are C:, A:, CD-ROM / A:, CD-ROM, C: / A:, C:, CD-ROM / C:, CD-ROM, A: / CD-ROM, A:, C: and CD-ROM, C:, A:. If you have a bootable CD-ROM installed, you may set the CD-ROM as the first priority. The default is A:, C:, CD-ROM. Boot-up Numlock Setting this parameter to On enables the numeric function of the numeric keypad. Set this parameter to Off to disregard the function.
AMI BIOS Utility System Keyboard Set this parameter to Present if there is a keyboard connected to the system. Otherwise, select Absent. Primary Display This function detects the type of VGA in use. The selections are VGA/EGA, CGA 40 x 25, CGA 80 x 25, Mono, and Absent. The default setting is VGA/EGA. Password Check This parameter allows you to use the password feature. When set to Always, a user-password prompt appears every time you turn on the computer.
AMI BIOS Utility System BIOS Cacheable Enabling this parameter allows you to change the system BIOS from ROM to RAM. When the system boots, the BIOS routines are copied into the RAM area. This enhances system performance as information access is faster in RAM than in ROM. Disabling the parameter prevents the system BIOS from being cached. The default setting is Enabled. C000 ~ DC00, 16K Shadow These parameters are for shadowing expansion cards with ROM.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.2.3 Chipset Features Setup The Chipset Features Setup controls the board chipset settings. The controls for this menu are the same as for the previous screens. The Chipset Features Setup screen appears as follows. To scroll down the rest of the parameters, press }. Use w or y to highlight the desired parameter.
AMI BIOS Utility Memory Hole This option lets you assign the system memory area to avoid memory conflicts. The settings are 512~640K, 15~16M and Disabled. 8-bit I/O Recovery Time (Sysclk) This parameter allows you to set the response time of the 8-bit I/O devices connected to your system. The settings range from 1-7 SYSCLK and Disabled. 16-bit I/O Recovery Time (Sysclk) This parameter allows you to set the response time of the 16-bit I/O devices connected to your system.
AMI BIOS Utility cycles on four continues addresses from the DRAM cache. Therefore, it has four settings to adjust. The parameter settings are X-4-4-4, X-3-3-3, and X-2-2-2. Faster DRAMs require shorter wait states. The value of X depends on the DRAM Lead-off Timing parameter setting. The default is X-4-4-4. DRAM WRITE BURST TIMING This parameter adjusts the write wait state between L2 and DRAM cache.
AMI BIOS Utility Peer Concurrency Enable the parameter to allow the CPU to run secondary DRAM PCI master cycles to target PCI peer devices. Select Disabled to hold the CPU bus. The default setting is Disabled. Memory Error Check Mode BIOS automatically detects the memory error check mode supported by the secondary cache installed in your system. Therefore, this parameter is nonconfigurable and is for display only.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.2.4 Power Management Setup To take advantage of the power-management feature, select Power Management from the Setup menu. The following screen appears: To scroll down the rest of the parameters, press }. Use w or y to highlight the desired parameter.
AMI BIOS Utility Power Management/APM This parameter enables or disables the advanced power-management function. Instant On Timeout (Minutes) This parameter is configurable only if the Power Management/APM parameter is set to Instant On. This lets you specify when to resume system power after being in power-saving mode for a certain period of time. Green Monitor Power-down State This function lets you set when to power down your green PC monitor. The options are Standby, Suspend and Disabled.
AMI BIOS Utility Hard Disk Power-down Mode This option lets you set when to “spin down your IDE hard disk. The disk returns to full speed once the system resumes to normal mode. The available settings are Standby, Suspend and Disabled. The default setting is Suspend. Hard Disk Timeout (Minutes) This option lets you specify when to set the hard disk to the specified powerdown mode. Standby Timeout (Minutes) This function lets you set when to put the system into standby mode.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.2.5 PCI/PnP Setup The PCI/PNP Setup allows you to specify the setting for your PCI devices. The screen below appears on screen if you select PCI/PnP from the Setup menu. To scroll down the rest of the parameters, press }. Use w or y to highlight the desired parameter.
AMI BIOS Utility Plug and Play Aware O/S This parameter lets you enable or disable the Plug and Play feature. PCI VGA Palette Snoop PCI devices support the palette snooping technique that enables the device to control access to their palette registers. Enable this parameter to activate the palette snooping function in the PCI VGA devices installed in the system. Check your VGA card manual for more information about his function. The default setting is Disabled.
AMI BIOS Utility INTD, Hardwired and Disabled. If the PCI IDE Card parameter is set to Auto, this parameter becomes nonconfigurable. PCI IDE Secondary IRQ This parameter lets you assign an IRQ for the IDE device connected to your secondary IDE connector. The settings are INTA, INTB, INTC, INTD, Hardwired and Disabled. If the PCI IDE Card parameter is set to Auto, this parameter becomes nonconfigurable.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.2.6 Peripheral Setup Select Peripheral from the Setup menu and the following screen appears. Onboard FDC This parameter enables or disables the floppy drive controller. Onboard Serial Port 1 This parameter allows you to select the address for the first serial port. Selecting Disabled deactivates the port. Onboard Serial Port 2 This parameter allows you to select the address for the second serial port. Selecting Disabled deactivates the port.
AMI BIOS Utility Onboard Parallel Port This parameter allows you to select the address for the parallel port. Selecting Disabled deactivates the parallel port. PARALLEL PORT IRQ This parameter is configurable only if the Onboard Parallel Port is NOT set to Auto. This allows you to set an IRQ for the parallel port function. The available IRQ selections are 5 and 7. PARALLEL PORT ECP DMA This parameter is configurable only if the Onboard Parallel Port is NOT set to Auto.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.3 Security Setup The Security window contains the password and anti-virus features.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.3.1 Supervisor Password The use of password prevents unauthorized use of your computer. If you enabled the Supervisor password, the system prompts for the correct password before granting access to Setup. To set a Supervisor password, select Supervisor from the Security window. The following screen appears: Follow these steps to set up a password using the keyboard: 1. Type in a six-character password using letters, numbers, or a combination of both.
AMI BIOS Utility 3. Enter the password when a confirmation box appears. 3.3.2 User Password If you enabled the User password, it is impossible to boot the computer and enter Setup without entering the correct password. To set a User password, select User from the Security window. The following screen appears: For instructions on how to enter a password, follow the procedures listed in section 3.3.1. 3.3.3 Anti-virus Select Anti-Virus from the Security window to display the following option box.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.4 Utility Setup The Utility window lets you change WinBIOS Setup colors and language setting.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.4.1 Color Set Select Color Set from the Utility window to display the following screen. Use the arrow keys or simply click an option to select your desired background color for WinBIOS. 3.4.2 Language Select Language from the Utility window to display the following screen. The system language currently supported is only English. 3.5 Default Setup The Default window allows you to select a group of settings for all WinBIOS Setup options.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.5.1 Original When you select Original, a dialog box prompts you restore the old values. Select No to keep your current settings or Yes to restore the original values.
AMI BIOS Utility 3.5.2 Optimal When you select Optimal, a dialog box prompts you load the optimal values. Select No to keep your current settings or Yes to load the optimal values. 3.5.3 Fail-safe When you select Fail-safe, a dialog box prompts you load the fail-safe values. Select No to keep your current settings or Yes to load the fail-safe values. 3.6 Exiting Setup Carefully check your new settings when you have finished configuring the system.
AMI BIOS Utility Use the y or w key then press e or simply click on an option to select. Select Save changes and Exit to save the changes that you made. Select Do not save changes and Exit to leave setup without saving your changes. Select Continue if you want to make any more configuration changes. 3.7 NCR SCSI BIOS and Drivers The NCR 53C810 SCSI BIOS resides on the same flash memory chip as the system BIOS.
AMI BIOS Utility The system board also supports the AMI Flash Memory Writer Utility that allows you to upgrade the system BIOS. For more information on this utility, contact your local distributor.
