Chapter 3: Bios Setup; Introduction To The Bios Setup; Starting Setup - TYAN TOMCAT I815T User Manual

Chapter 3: BIOS Setup

Introduction to the BIOS setup

The BIOS is the basic input/output system, required by the computer to perform functions such as CPU
and hard drive support. This chapter describes different settings for the BIOS that can be used to config-
ure your system.
The BIOS section of the manual is subject to change without notice and is provided here for refer-
ence purposes only. The settings and configurations of the BIOS are current at the time of print,
and therefore they may not be exactly the same as that displayed on your screen.
This manual describes the BIOS setup program. The setup program lets you modify basic configuration
settings. The settings are then stored in a dedicated battery-backed memory, called NVRAM, that retains
the information when the power is turned off.
The BIOS in your motherboard is a customized version of an industry-standard BIOS for IBM PC AT-com-
patible personal computers. It supports Intel x86 and compatible processors. The BIOS provides critical
low-level support for the system central processing, memory, and I/O subsystems.
The BIOS has been customized by adding important, but non-standard, features such as virus and pass-
word protection, power management, and detailed fine-tuning of the chipset controlling the system. The
rest of this manual is intended to guide you through the process of configuring your system using this
BIOS setup program.

Starting Setup

The BIOS is immediately activated when you first turn on the computer. The BIOS reads system configu-
ration information in CMOS RAM and begins the process of checking out the system and configuring it
through the Power-On Self Test (POST).
When these preliminaries are finished, the BIOS seeks an operating system on one of the data storage
devices (HDD, floppy drive, etc.) If one is found, the BIOS will launch that operating system and hand
control of system operations to it. You can start the setup program by pressing the [DEL] key while the
system is booting up.
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Tomcat i815T S2080