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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what ALL the BIOS setting should be? |
#2
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. Boot a linux live CD. Puppy 5.0.1 is based on Ubuntu slimmed and needs very little resources. It is a small download, boots fast, operates in ram. When it comes up, the menu (bottom left) has System/ system status & config/ Hardinfo - hardware information which will have lots and lots of info for you. In the processor section it will have the name of the processor, model, stepping, cache, frequency, etc. Apparently the current release is 5.1.1. I don't have that one; I presume it is the same as my 5.0.1 described. http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm -- Mike Easter |
#3
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
On Dec 24, 11:47*am, Mike Easter wrote:
DJW wrote: How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. Boot a linux live CD. Puppy 5.0.1 is based on Ubuntu slimmed and needs very little resources. It is a small download, boots fast, operates in ram. When it comes up, the menu (bottom left) has System/ system status & config/ Hardinfo - hardware information which will have lots and lots of info for you. In the processor section it will have the name of the processor, model, stepping, cache, frequency, etc. Apparently the current release is 5.1.1. I don't have that one; I presume it is the same as my 5.0.1 described.http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm -- Mike Easter will that show the correct specs even if my bios is set wrong? And is it a floppy I will be makeing of the above puppylinux? |
#4
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
On 24 Dec 2010, DJW wrote in
alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt: How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? Can't you just get into the BIOS setup? You have to hit a certain key combination as the computer start its boot process. Usually it tells you what the key is in the visible POST messages, but if that's hidden, you should be able to find that out from the motherboard manufacture. Common keystrokes to enter the BIOS Setup are F1, F2, F10, and Del. |
#5
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
DJW wrote:
Mike Easter DJW wrote: How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. Boot a linux live CD. Puppy 5.0.1 is based on Ubuntu slimmed and needs very little resources. It is a small download, boots fast, operates in ram. When it comes up, the menu (bottom left) has System/ system status & config/ Hardinfo - hardware information which will have lots and lots of info for you. In the processor section it will have the name of the processor, model, stepping, cache, frequency, etc. Apparently the current release is 5.1.1. I don't have that one; I presume it is the same as my 5.0.1 described. http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm will that show the correct specs even if my bios is set wrong? The first place to get information about your bios is from the bios POST you (can) see when you power up the computer and from your ability to access the bios setup. I'm assuming that -1- the/your bios will post -2- you want more information than you are getting from the bios POST and setup and that -3- the puppy CD will boot And is it a floppy I will be makeing of the above puppylinux? No. Puppy is (generally) a CD you get from downloading the 130 meg .iso and burning it to disk and booting from that CD requires that the computer can be configured to boot from the optical drive. If your drive has a floppy it can boot from but it can't boot from the optical, then that can be rigged too. -- Mike Easter |
#6
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
Nil rednoise REMOVETHIScomcast.net wrote:
DJW wrote How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? Can't you just get into the BIOS setup? You have to hit a certain key combination as the computer start its boot process. Usually it tells you what the key is in the visible POST messages, but if that's hidden, you should be able to find that out from the motherboard manufacture. Common keystrokes to enter the BIOS Setup are F1, F2, F10, and Del. Might want to try Del first. |
#7
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what ALL the BIOS setting should be? You might still be able to find a copy of the motherboard manual floating around on the 'net. I'd try one of the remaining Abit sites, but my batting average there hasn't been too good. http://www.motherboards.org/mobot/manuals/Abit/BE6/ http://www.motherboards.org/files/manuals/2/be6.pdf "Press Del to enter setup" The BE6 is a 440BX chipset motherboard. And according to the manual, it doesn't use multiplier and FSB dip switches. (On the 440BX based board I've still got, it has DIP switches to play with.) The manual claims full control is available via the BIOS screens. Normally, the processor "BSEL" pins, communicate the desired clock, from the CPU to the motherboard. Many motherboards have options to bypass that sensing (like the DIP switches), so you can overclock. With my original cacheless Celery 300, I could manually dial in 100MHz, to get a 450MHz processor for free. On the BE6, you can do that from a BIOS menu. The canonical clock frequencies are 66, 100, 133, and the reason those are preferred values, is the PCI bus runs at 33MHz when you use those values. On 440BX, you have another setting, which sets the ratio between the CPU clock and the AGP slot. If left at 1:1 for example, it can result in the AGP slot clock being too high. Options are 1/1 and 2/3. 100MHz times 2/3 = 66MHz would be a proper AGP input frequency. If the processor actually ran at 133MHz, then 133 * 2/3 = 89MHz, which can be met by at least some video cards but not all. My motherboard couldn't go over 112MHz, so my AGP never got stressed at all. Some AGP video cards were quite picky about input clock and would stop at 75MHz (perhaps a PLL issue of some sort). The older video cards, may be able to go much higher, to as much as AGP 100MHz (FSB 150MHz times 2/3). The CPU multiplier option is usually bogus - on all the processors I've had in my 440BX (about four of them), they were all locked, and the multiplier setting did nothing. So that leaves CPU input clock, and AGP slot ratio. In the case of "bugged" CPU choices, with an old BIOS that can't handle an 11x CPU, setting the FSB to 66MHz is a workaround. That may get the system running long enough, to do other kinds of testing, without taking it all apart. With my Asus board, Asus released a final BIOS, that supported the "bugged" choices, so even those would run without trickery. And by doing a microcode update, with CTMC, I was even able to avoid a microcode error at startup. The last time I tested the machine (within the last month), it still worked. I'd put a new CMOS battery in it a couple years ago, which is why it still works and boots immediately. The last time the battery went flat, it took me a half hour to figure out what some of the BIOS options did. Intel makes utilities for identifying the processor. For modern processors, there is a floppy version of Intel PIU. But your processor is one of the older ones, not handled by PIU. So you'd want the PFID utility on the right. http://www.intel.com/support/process.../cs-015472.htm This one is self booting. I expect this writes over a blank floppy, to prepare it with FreeDOS boot files and the like, so you'd run this utility on another computer, and have it prepare a blank floppy for you. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta... ng&iid=dc_rss There is no guarantee the Intel utility will get the right answer. For example, within a virtual machine, the Intel utilities don't work right. And in cases where a Xeon is installed in a desktop, the answer might not come out right. And you aren't likely to get an "SLxxx" code from the tool. It might report the frequencies currently in use, but won't completely remove doubts from your mind. Which means, running the above, won't tell you everything you might want to know. I run stuff like that, more for fun than anything else (like if I need to know, what an OS thinks about my processor - if an OS is having trouble identifying a processor, then the Intel utility may report a similar issue). HTH, Paul |
#8
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what ALL the BIOS setting should be? ABIT Motherboard Archives . http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_archives.php (see '-Slot 1-' near bottom of page) BE6 page http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=BE6&fMTYPE=Slot +1 (use links in righthand column headed 'Product Information') Manual (suggest selecting ASIA to download from) http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...E6&fMTYPE=Slot 1&pPRODINFO=Manual ABIT's site is very slow to move in, so I have put the BE6 manual (*.PDF) on my Webspace here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/35723el Or same-said in a ZIP file here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/32gmrc5 |
#9
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
On Dec 24, 5:19*pm, "Patrick" a.b@invalid wrote:
DJW wrote: How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? I can t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what ALL the BIOS setting should be? ABIT Motherboard Archives . http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_archives.php (see '-Slot 1-' near bottom of page) BE6 page http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMO... (use links in righthand column headed 'Product Information') Manual (suggest selecting ASIA to download from) http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...detail.php?pMO... 1&pPRODINFO=Manual ABIT's site is very slow to move in, so I have put the BE6 manual (*.PDF) on my Webspace here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/35723el Or same-said in a ZIP file here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/32gmrc5 Yes I can get into the Bios setup but the person I am trying to help set and saved the bios to defaults one day! Why I have no idea that is when the problems started. Also the time was not holding correctly after it was unplugged and moved to my place for me to try and get working. So I changed the battery with one that still had some juice left that I cannibalized from a printer that broke. Right now I can’t even get the windows 98SE CD installer disk to install without getting a blue error screen telling me to “hit any key” to get back installing. The hitting any key sometimes works and other times I need to hit control alt delete. But sometimes that does nothing so I need to hit the restart button on the computer. It happens even before it gets to the date setting during installation. And then when it is gets to the configuring the systems it happens more than once during the installation process. Anyway after on average three or more error blue screens I do get to a desktop. But when I try to start to install the drivers for the PCI cards in the unit or even tried to copy the Win98 to folders I made as in C:\windows\options\cabs I get a blue “hit any key” screen AGAIN! and only a few things from the installer CD win98 folder gets copied so the computer is working well like a pig on ****! I figure the basic things are not correctly configured as in its BIOS |
#10
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How can I find out the BIOS settings?
DJW wrote:
On Dec 24, 5:19 pm, "Patrick" a.b@invalid wrote: DJW wrote: How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone basically home built? I can t even install windows 98SE without getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what ALL the BIOS setting should be? ABIT Motherboard Archives . http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_archives.php (see '-Slot 1-' near bottom of page) BE6 page http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMO... (use links in righthand column headed 'Product Information') Manual (suggest selecting ASIA to download from) http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...detail.php?pMO... 1&pPRODINFO=Manual ABIT's site is very slow to move in, so I have put the BE6 manual (*.PDF) on my Webspace here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/35723el Or same-said in a ZIP file here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/32gmrc5 Yes I can get into the Bios setup but the person I am trying to help set and saved the bios to defaults one day! Why I have no idea that is when the problems started. Also the time was not holding correctly after it was unplugged and moved to my place for me to try and get working. So I changed the battery with one that still had some juice left that I cannibalized from a printer that broke. When other person reset the BIOS to 'Default' it probably didn't 'take' properly (dud-battery). Thus the BIOS was probably left in an inconsistent-state (all over the place). Therefore the BIOS needs to be reset with the RESET-BIOS pins on the MoBo Then go into the BIOS and in the 'CPU Soft Menu II' screen press F7 to 'Load Setup Defaults'. Press F10 to save settings and reboot. As mentioned, the BIOS is probably in an inconsistant-state, so you have nothing to lose! And, by-the-way, are you sure the 'new battery' is good-enough! Right now I can’t even get the windows 98SE CD installer disk to install without getting a blue error screen telling me to “hit any key” to get back installing. The hitting any key sometimes works and other times I need to hit control alt delete. But sometimes that does nothing so I need to hit the restart button on the computer. It happens even before it gets to the date setting during installation. And then when it is gets to the configuring the systems it happens more than once during the installation process. Anyway after on average three or more error blue screens I do get to a desktop. But when I try to start to install the drivers for the PCI cards in the unit or even tried to copy the Win98 to folders I made as in C:\windows\options\cabs I get a blue “hit any key” screen AGAIN! and only a few things from the installer CD win98 folder gets copied so the computer is working well like a pig on ****! I figure the basic things are not correctly configured as in its BIOS |
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