BIOS Settings (English Version)

This section describes most of the BIOS settings that you will find in a typical Pentium-class or higher PC. Some BIOS settings are quite universal, while others can be found on only the systems made with one type of BIOS or made by one manufacturer. This section lists the most common settings that are used in modern PCs, with full explanations as to what they are and how to set them. This includes the more common advanced settings, but does not attempt a "shotgun" coverage of every setting I've ever seen on a machine. Some are very atypical and usually not something you need to worry about. The less common a setting is, the more often it is the case that you really will want to leave it on its default setting anyway. Not always, but usually.

By the nature of how I designed this section, it should cover 95%+ of the settings in your BIOS that you will ever want to change. If you find a setting in your BIOS that isn't covered here, you may find it in the BIOS Survival Guide, which has a more complete list of the settings found on various types of PCs.

For each setting I describe the most common options and what they mean. In addition, I indicate which options are usually the default. I also describe what the implications are of using the different settings, and provide general recommendations on how to configure most of the parameters. The settings themselves are organized based on the names of the settings groups you will find in a typical BIOS setup program.

BIOS setup program.

Tip: It is a good idea to "back up" (record on paper) all of your BIOS settings once your PC is running and stable, and especially before you make any changes to them.

Tip: Reference this procedure for specific instructions on configuring the most important BIOS settings to safe values, to maximize the chances of booting a new or problematic system.

Note: Every setup program is slightly different from every other one. Even if two BIOSes are both on Pentium motherboards and are made by Award, they may have different settings. The commands as shown here might be different on your PC, or they might be in a different place. Use care when modifying these parameters, and refer to your motherboard manual if it is accurate.

Warning: The highly prudent will have a backup of their hard disk before fiddling with their BIOS settings.

Warning: Changing advanced parameters can lead to system instability and data loss. It is recommended that only users who really understand what they are doing change these settings. Proceed at your own risk.

Warning: If your BIOS contains a "hard disk utility" that includes items like setting interleave ratios, low level formatting, or "media analysis", do not use it on an IDE/ATA or SCSI drive (which includes virtually every PC hard drive made in at least the last 5 years). These old utilities are designed for the MFM and RLL drives from the 1980s and can in theory damage a modern drive, for which they are unnecessary. I wish they'd just take them out of the setup program entirely (and on many newer PCs they have).

BIOS Settings - Standard Settings

This settings group contains basic parameters that you will normally need to set (or adjust) for your system to work properly. Most of these are present on virtually every PC.

Date

The system date. Make sure that you enter it in the correct format; normally this is mm/dd/yy in North America, but may vary elsewhere.

Newer versions of Windows will let you change the date within the built-in "Date/Time Properties" feature, and the BIOS date will be updated automatically by the system.

Time

The system time. Most systems require this to be entered using a 24-hour clock (1:00 pm = 13:00, etc.)

Newer versions of Windows will let you change the time within the built-in "Date/Time Properties" feature, and the BIOS time will be updated automatically by the system.

Daylight Savings

If your BIOS has this setting, enabling it will forward the time by one hour on the first Sunday in April, and drop it back by one hour on the last Sunday in October. The default value is usually "Enabled".

This setting is not present on most PCs; however, some operating systems, such as Windows 95, will do this for you automatically if you enable the daylight savings time option in their control settings.

Note: The date when daylight savings time "kicks in" can change in some cases; for example, a few years ago the spring date changed from the last Sunday in April to the first. If this happens again your BIOS will change the time on the wrong date so you will want to disable this unless a flash BIOS upgrade is made available to you that compensates.

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