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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 Award BIOS that can be used to con-
figure 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.
The manual describes the Award BIOS setup program. The setup program lets you modify basic configu-
ration 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 Award BIOS in your computer is a customized version of an industry-standard BIOS for IBM
PC AT-compatible 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 sub-
systems.
The BIOS has been customized by adding important, but non-standard, features such as virus and
password protection, power mangement, 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 the Award 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, FDD, etc.) and if one is found, the BIOS will launch that operating system and hand control
of system operations to it. During POST, you can start the setup program by pressing the [DEL] key when
the "Press DEL key to enter BIOS setup" message appears on the screen.
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