AOpen P5TC-AWD User Manual

Chapter 3

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

3.1 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, to color scheme of the
display, to exit, and 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 to select or enter a submenu.

3-2

AWARD BIOS

3.2 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 or to set the
current date. The date format is month, date, and year.

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.

3-3

AWARD BIOS

Standard CMOS à Primary Master à Type
Standard CMOS à Primary Slave à Type
Standard CMOS à Secondary Master à Type
Standard CMOS à Secondary Slave à Type

Type

Auto
User
None
1
2
...
45

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
Pre-compensation, 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 (Power­On Self Test). If you prefer to enter HDD parameters
manually, select User. Select None if no HDD is
connected to the system.

The IDE CDROM is always automatically detected.

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 Primary Master à Mode
Standard CMOS à Primary Slave à Mode
Standard CMOS à Secondary Master à Mode
Standard CMOS à Secondary Slave à Mode

Mode

Auto
Normal
LBA
Large

The enhanced IDE feature allows the system to use a
hard disk with a capacity of more than 528MB. This is
made possible through the Logical Block Address (LBA)
mode translation. The LBA is now considered as a
standard feature of current IDE hard disk on the market
because of its capability to support capacity larger than
528MB. Note that if HDD is formatted with LBA On, it will
not be able to boot with LBA Off.

3-4

Standard CMOS à Drive A
Standard CMOS à Drive B

AWARD BIOS

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.

3-5

AWARD BIOS

3.3 BIOS Features Setup

This screen appears when you select the option "BIOS Features Setup" from
the main menu.

BIOS Features à Virus Warning

Virus Warning

Enabled
Disabled

Type "Y" to accept write, or "N" to abort write

3-6

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

Award Software, Inc.

BIOS Features à External Cache

AWARD BIOS

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.

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.

BIOS Features à Boot Sequence

Boot Sequence

A,C,SCSI
C,A,SCSI
C,CDROM,A
CDROM,C,A
D,A,SCSI
E,A,SCSI
F,A,SCSI
SCSI,A,C
SCSI,C,A
C only
LS/ZIP,C

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 drive
ZIP: IOMEGA ZIP drive

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.

3-7

AWARD BIOS

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.

BIOS Features à Boot Up System Speed

Boot Up System
Speed

High
Low

Select High or Low system speed after boot.

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.

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.

BIOS Features à Typematic Delay (Msec)

Typematic Delay

250
500
750
1000

3-8

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.

BIOS Features à Security Option

AWARD BIOS

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
<Enter>.

BIOS Features à PCI/VGA Palette Snoop

PCI/VGA Palette
Snoop

Enabled
Disabled

Enabling this item informs the PCI VGA card to keep
silent (and to prevent conflict) when palette register is
updated (i.e., accepts data without responding any
communication signals). This is useful only when two
display cards use the same palette address and plugged
in the PCI bus at the same time (such as MPEQ or Video
capture). In such case, PCI VGA is silent while
MPEQ/Video capture is set to function normally.

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.

BIOS Features à Video BIOS Shadow

Video BIOS
Shadow

Enabled
Disabled

VGA BIOS Shadowing means to copy video display
card BIOS into the DRAM area. This enhances system
performance because DRAM access time is faster than
ROM.

3-9

AWARD BIOS

BIOS Features à C800-CBFF Shadow
BIOS Features à CC00-CFFF Shadow
BIOS Features à D000-D3FF Shadow
BIOS Features à D400-D7FF Shadow
BIOS Features à D800-DBFF Shadow
BIOS Features à DC00-DFFF Shadow

C8000-CBFFF
Shadow

Enabled
Disabled

These six items are for shadowing ROM code on other
expansion cards. Before you set these parameters, you
need to know the specific addresses of that ROM code.
If you do not know this information, enable all the ROM
shadow settings.

Note: The F000 and E000 segments are
always shadowed because BIOS code
occupies these areas.

3-10

AWARD BIOS

3.4 Chipset Features Setup

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 are not correct for your
system configuration.

3-11