[ Main Menu / Shuttle HOT-569 / Shuttle HOT-569 BIOS Settings ]

Shuttle HOT-569 BIOS Settings

Main Menu | Specifications | Installation | BIOS Setup | Links

All of the BIOS settings described in the manual are repeated here. I included some more commentary on what each item does. Some settings, however, are more cryptic than others.

Listed in each section are the motherboard default settings and the conservative settings for each item. The Default listing is what you get by choosing 'Load BIOS Defaults' in the main menu. Conservative will create the most compatible computer setup. Can be useful if there are problems and you don't know what's causing them.

For much more information about the computer's BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), see Wim's BIOS Page. Also check out The PC Guide's pages on the computer's BIOS and safe BIOS setup procedures. For beep codes, see: Computercraft, PC Mechanic, and The PC Guide.

System Optimization also has a page that describes what these settings do.

To enter the computer's BIOS configuration screen, hit the Del key or hold down Ctrl-Alt-Esc when it tells you to. If you miss it, you'll have to either press the Reset button (if you have one), hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, or turn off the computer and turn it back on.

BIOS Flashing Procedure
- See the links page for what features are added in each BIOS revision. Revision 0a and all revisions after it add support for hard drives larger than 8GB (it adds support for Int13 Extensions).
- You should get the system booting properly from the hard drive before bothering to update the BIOS. There may be other installation problems that need to be addressed first. And flashing the BIOS may just make things worse.
- Don't flash the BIOS just because there's a newer one available. In some cases, the new BIOS will have important new features (such as Int13 Extensions) or speed enhancements. But in many cases, they only offer fixes for obscure features that you never used and didn't even know existed. Post a message on one of the newsgroups to ask if you should bother. Flashing is a risky thing. Casually flashing every BIOS you can get your hands on may come back to bite you.
- NEVER flash the BIOS from within Windows 95 or with EMM386.EXE or QEMM running. It's best to use a bootable floppy disk with no extraneous programs in memory.
- Please note that this is the method I used to update my BIOS. If the procedure listed in your manual differs significantly from these instructions, then follow the manual and ignore what is here. This is a dangerous procedure. You don't want to screw this up.
- Flashing Procedure:
  1. RTFM. Read the procedures in the manual before you begin.
  2. Read the BIOS FAQ at Wim's BIOS page before beginning. Particularly the section on what to do if you get the Insufficient Memory message.
  3. Make a bootable floppy. Grab a blank disk that is compatible with the A: drive and type (from a DOS prompt):
    
    format a: /s
  4. Unzip the latest flash BIOS ZIP file to the floppy in drive A:
    (e.g. PKUNZIP 569WIQAA.ZIP A:\).
  5. Reboot the computer. Enter the BIOS (hit the Del key before the beep) and make sure that the Boot sequence in the BIOS will try the A: drive first (A: C:).
  6. While in the BIOS, disable both the L1 and L2 caches.
  7. While in the BIOS, write down (or print out) the BIOS settings (the flashing procedure will set them back to their defaults). If nothing else, be sure you know what your hard drive settings are (heads, cylinders, sectors per track). It never hurts to be cautious.
  8. Turn off the computer, unplug it, open it up, and ground yourself (preferrably with a wrist strap). Look at the writing on the BIOS chip (under the sticker that sparkles) and ask Shuttle what voltage to use. Make sure that the flash jumper (JP19 - between the ISA slots near the BIOS chip) is set for your particular BIOS chip. Mine is 12 volts (a jumper is on pins 1 and 2). You may have to move the jumper, but mine came jumpered on the 12 volt setting, and didn't need to be moved.
  9. Turn on the computer and boot the computer using the bootable floppy disk you made.
  10. At the DOS prompt (A:), type (all on one line):
    
    AWDFLASH.EXE 569WIQAA.BIN /Py OLDBIOS /Sy /CC
    - AWDFLASH.EXE - Flashing program. May be called AWDFLASH.EXE or FLASH533.EXE. For a list of the options available to the flashing program, type: AWDFLASH /?.
    - 569WIQAA.BIN - Name of BIOS revision you want to flash. You don't need to install every single BIOS revision in order to get the features in each update. Simply flashing the latest BIOS will give you all of the updates available. 569WIQAA is the latest BIOS revision. It adds some CPU ID support over 569WIQAA. See the Links page for more info. I probably won't flash this one until I need one of its new features. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :-)
    - /Py - Automatically answers 'Yes' to 'Program new BIOS?' question.
    - OLDBIOS - Name of file to save the old BIOS. You definitely want to save the old BIOS. Flashing the BIOS is a dangerous procedure. Take every precaution that you can.
    - /Sy - Automatically answers 'Yes' to 'Save the old BIOS?' question.
    - /CC - Automatically clears all of the CMOS settings (resets BIOS defaults). A good safety measure to take.
    - /CP - Automatically clears only the Plug n Play settings.
    - /CD - Automatically clears only the DMI (desktop management interface) settings.
  11. Restart the computer when prompted.
- If the flashing procedure fails (the computer is unbootable), use jumper JP40 to clear the CMOS. And try booting again. If you still get nothing, see if you can get as far as flashing the BIOS again. Flash the old BIOS back using the same method and then follow the procedures once more for flashing the new BIOS. Be sure to check that the Flash jumper (JP19) is set for the correct voltage. And check that the jumper actually has some metal inside of it (they sometimes don't). If the new BIOS simply won't take, go back to the old BIOS and contact Shuttle.
- Before giving up, see How to recover a corrupt BIOS.
- If after flashing, the computer is just dead (you can't even get the old BIOS back in), contact Shuttle about getting a new BIOS chip. They're cheap (around $10 plus shipping), but you have to wait for the thing to arrive.
- The AWDFLASH.EXE program included with 569WIQ0B.ZIP is version 6.14; the one included with 569WIQAA.ZIP is version 6.0a. FLASH533.EXE is version 5.33. AWDFLASH.EXE and FLASH533.EXE do precisely the same thing (I don't know of any differences between the programs). FLASH533.EXE is available from Shuttle's ftp site.
- To create a permanent save file with the current BIOS (for emergencies), you can tell the flashing program to save the old BIOS to disk and not flash a new one. From a pure DOS prompt, type:
  
  AWDFLASH.EXE 569WIQAA.BIN /Pn OLDBIOS /Sy
  
  The /Pn will not flash the new BIOS and the /Sy will save the old one. You can now write-protect this disk, tuck it away, and hope you never need it.
- Good luck. Don't trust this page to be 100% accurate. Read the manual carefully and do the steps exactly as outlined.
Main Menu Options
- Standard CMOS Setup - Standard setup stuff (hard drive parameters, etc.).
- BIOS Features Setup - Setup more advanced features (caches, boot sequence, BIOS shadow, etc.).
- Chipset Features Setup - Setup basic timings between the CPU and RAM. Very advanced section.
- Power Management Setup - Setup power management fluff (hard drive spindown, sleep modes, etc.).
- PnP / PCI Setup - Allow Plug-n-play features for the IRQs.
- Integrated Peripherals - Set speed settings for the onboard peripherals (hard drive, floppy, parallel, etc.).
- IDE HDD Autodetection - Automatically configure any IDE hard drives.
- Load BIOS defaults - Resets all the settings throughout the entire BIOS.
- Load Setup defaults - More conservative settings than Load BIOS Defaults. Resets all the settings throughout the entire BIOS.
- Supervisor Password - Set the password to make changes in the BIOS. The computer will boot normally, but entering the BIOS will require a password. Shorting jumper JP40 will clear this (and the rest of the BIOS).
- User Password - Set the password for allowing the computer to boot. If set, requires a login each session. Shorting jumper JP40 will clear this (and the rest of the BIOS).
- Save & Exit Setup - Exit the setup menu and save any changed settings.
- Exit Without Saving - Leave Setup without saving any changes.
Basic Options
- ESC - Quit to main menu.
- F1 - Help! If you highlight a setting, will provide details on what the default settings are.
- F5 - Restore old values.
- F6 - Load BIOS defaults. Resets the settings in that specific section.
- F7 - Load Setup defaults. More conservative settings than F6. Resets the settings in that specific section.
- Arrows - Move around between items.
- PgUp/PgDn/-/+ - Choose different settings for highlighted item.
- Shift-F2 - Change the screen colors.
Standard CMOS Setup
1. For more on Standard BIOS settings, see The PC Guide and Wim's BIOS Page.
1. Date - Set the current date on the computer.
2. Time - Set the current time on the computer.
3. Primary Master Hard Disk - Define type and size for the primary master IDE hard disk (usually the boot drive). [IRQ 14, Address 1F0-1F7]
  - Parameters:
    - Type - One of 47 different hard drive types (including User-Defined). This is almost always set to Auto. You must know exactly what type of hard disk you have if you're going to set this parameter by hand. Basically, leave this alone. If you choose to set the hard disk type, you'll have to set the other parameters too. If left on Auto, the other parameters (except Mode) are informational displays only, and can't be changed.
      1. Auto - Almost always the best choice.
      2. # - Select one of the predefined hard drive types. There are 46 predefined hard drives types ranging from as small as 10MB up to 152MB. These are old MFM and RLL drives.
      3. User - You have to set the parameters (size, cyls, heads, precomp, landz, sectors, mode) by hand. Only used in special circumstances with very old IDE drives. See Blue Planet's Tech Page for specs of all hard drives ever manufactured.
      4. None - Choose this if there is no IDE or ATAPI device on this channel. The 'None' setting will allow the BIOS to skip an attempt at autodetection of a non-existent drive, speeding up the boot process.
    - Size - Size of the hard drive in megabytes.
    - Cyls - Number of logical cylinders (tracks) that are on the drive.
    - Heads - Number of logical heads on the drive.
    - Precomp - Write precompensation. See The PC Guide for an explanation. Often (but not always) the same as or one more than the number of cylinders.
    - LandZ - Landing Zone. Where the heads are supposed to park themselves when the hard drive powers down. Often (but not always) the same as or one more than the number of cylinders.
    - Sectors - Number of logical sectors the hard drive is divided into.
    - Mode - What form of translation is used on the drive. See The PC Guide for more information on the various modes. These modes (Normal, Large, LBA) have nothing to do with the PIO modes (data transfer rate) on the hard drive.
      1. Auto - Usually the best choice.
      2. Normal - Normal drive translation mode (CHS). For drives under 500MB in size. This option is limited to 528MB (504MB) drive sizes.
      3. Large - Large drive translation mode. Also known as ECHS, this mode allows drives to break through the 528MB barrier. Has an upper drive size limit of 8.4GB (7.8GB).
      4. LBA - Logical Block Addressing allows (through Int13) hard drives up to 8.4GB (7.8GB) in size.
        
        An important feature that was added to later BIOS revisions is Int13 Extensions, which allows the BIOS to see hard drives up to 9.4 sextillion bytes in size (2⁶⁴ sectors × 512 bytes/sector). Though the IDE interface is actually limited to only 128GB per drive. Support for Int13 Extensions is not on all 569 BIOS revisions. It was added by BIOS revision 569WIQ0a. All subsequent BIOS revisions also support Int13h Extensions.
        Be aware that versions of Windows 95 earlier than OSR2 2.0 do not properly support Int13 Extensions, and therefore cannot see more than 8.4GB on a hard drive regardless of what the BIOS is capable of.
        The basic boot elements of Windows 95/98 (COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS) on the primary hard drive partition cannot reside above the 8.4GB (7.8GB) barrier.
  - Default - Auto
  - Conservative - Auto
  - Note 1 - Multiplying together the number of heads, cylinders, and sectors per track times the number of bytes per sector (512), you can get the number of unformatted bytes available to the hard drive. My WD AC32500 is 16 heads, 4960 cylinders, and 63 sectors per track. Multiply them together, and you get the number of user sectors (4,999,680). Multiply that by 512 (bytes per sector), and you get the unformatted hard drive size (2,559,836,160 bytes).
  - Note 2 - In nearly every case the Auto setting should configure your hard drive correctly. However, if you're transferring the hard drive from an older system which configured the hard drive in a different mode, then the old translation mode (Normal or Large) should be manually set. Or your data should be backed up and the hard drive should be repartitioned and reformatted. Changing modes on a hard drive with data on it may end up destroying that data. This procedure also applies if you removed any drive overlay software (such as Ontrack's Disk Manager or Microhouse/Western Digital's EZ Drive) because the mode on an old hard drive using the overlay would be set to 'Normal'; and the HOT-569 will likely choose LBA mode for it. Nuking the drive and starting over is no fun, but the data on the drive has a much greater chance of biting the dust if you don't. This is one of those things that seems to work fine if just left alone (and tons of people will tell you how well it worked for them). But you're playing Russian roulette with the information stored on the disk if you don't redo the drive after changing translation modes. Just be sure to back up your stuff before you begin.
  - Note 3 - Hard drives larger than 32GB can cause lockups in BIOSes that aren't compatible with drives this large. Unfortunately, its seems none of the 569's BIOSes (including the latest: 0E) fix this incompatibility. You'll have to settle with only partitioning the first 32GB, using a drive overlay program to access the full amount, or installing an IDE adapter card and using that instead of the on-board IDE ports.
  - Note 4 - If your hard drive won't auto-configure properly, contact the manufacturer. Don't start making up some numbers just to 'see if it works'.
  - Note 5 - Hard drives are a very complicated subject. The ATA FAQ and The PC Guide's section on Hard Drives are invaluable sources of information.
4. Primary Slave Hard Disk - Same as above except is for the primary slave IDE hard drive. The primary slave is the second device on the first IDE channel. [IRQ 14, Address 3F6-3F7]
5. Secondary Master Hard Disk - Same as above except is for the secondary master IDE hard drive. The secondary master is the first device on the second IDE channel. [IRQ 15, Address 170-177]
6. Secondary Slave Hard Disk - Same as above except is for the secondary slave IDE hard drive. The secondary slave is the second device on the second IDE channel. [IRQ 15, Address 376-377]
7. Drive A - Sets the type and size of the A: floppy drive.
  - Options:
    1. None
    2. 360K, 5.25 in.
    3. 1.2M, 5.25 in.
    4. 720K, 3.5 in.
    5. 1.44M, 3.5 in.
    6. 2.88M, 3.5 in.
  - Default - None
  - Conservative - None
8. Drive B - Same as above except for floppy drive B:.
9. Video - Sets the default video.
  - Options:
    1. EGA/VGA - EGA or VGA mode.
    2. CGA 40 - CGA (4-color graphic, 40-column text).
    3. CGA 80 - CGA (4-color graphic, 80-column text).
    4. Mono - Monochrome (2-color).
  - Default - EGA/VGA
  - Conservative - EGA/VGA
  - Note - Unless you have a monochrome or CGA monitor, this should be set at EGA/VGA.
10. Halt On - Stops the booting process if some pieces of the computer are missing or an error occurs.
  - Options:
    1. No Errors - Will not stop the booting process for any error.
    2. All Errors - Will halt the booting process if there is an error (such as a missing keyboard). Strangely enough, you have to press a key on the keyboard to continue if you get this error!
    3. All, But Keyboard - Will halt the boot process on all errors except the keyboard.
    4. All, But Diskette - Will halt the boot process on all errors except the disk drive.
    5. All, But Disk/Key - Will halt the boot process on all errors except the disk drive and keyboard.
  - Default - All Errors
  - Conservative - All Errors
  - Note - While it can let you know if something is wrong with the keyboard, this is more of an annoyance than anything.
11. Base Memory - Shows amount of base memory. This is automatically detected, and is simply a display (it can't be changed).
  - Options:
    1. 512KB
    2. 640KB
12. Extended Memory - Shows amount of memory above 1MB. This is automatically detected, and is simply a display (it can't be changed).
13. Other Memory - Shows amount of memory in Upper memory (the area between 640KB and 1MB). This is automatically detected, and is simply a display (it can't be changed).
14. Total Memory - Shows total amount of memory in the computer. This is automatically detected, and is simply a display (it can't be changed).
BIOS Features
1. For more on BIOS Features settings, see The PC Guide and Wim's BIOS Page.
1. Virus Warning - Alerts you if the BIOS detects that the boot sector on the primary boot drive has been altered. Usually this is just a royal pain in the neck, especially if you're trying to do something with FDisk or when installing Windows 95.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
2. CPU Internal Cache - Turn on or off the L1 cache on the processor. You take a large performance hit with this off. But it's a good idea to disable this before flashing the BIOS.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
3. External Cache - Turn on or off the L2 cache on the motherboard. You take a performance hit with this off. But it's a good idea to disable this before flashing the BIOS.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
4. Quick Power On Self Test - Normally, the mobo tests the system RAM three times. Enabling this will limit it to one RAM test, zooming through the POST. After your system is up and running stably, enable this feature for a faster boot. Although if your hard drive has trouble spinning up quickly, disabling this may give it time to get up to speed.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
5. Boot Sequence - Order to try the boot devices in the computer. Leave the A: drive booting first until everything is up and running properly, then switch to your main boot disk (C: or SCSI).
  - Options:
    1. A, C, SCSI
    2. C, A, SCSI
    3. D, A, SCSI
    4. E, A, SCSI
    5. F, A, SCSI
    6. C, CD-ROM, A
    7. CD-ROM, C, A
    8. SCSI, A, C
    9. SCSI, C, A
    10. C only
    11. LS/ZIP, C
  - Default - A, C, SCSI
  - Conservative - A, C, SCSI
  - Note 1 - For the CD-ROM to boot the computer, it must have the boot image of a floppy drive or hard drive that contains the system files (such as IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM) of the operating system it is trying to load.
  - Note 2 - The boot sequences that list the 'C', 'D', 'E', and 'F' drives aren't referring to drive letters, but actually indicate where the primary boot device is. If set to 'C', the HOT-569 will look at the master drive on the primary IDE port for the boot strap. If set to 'D', it will look at the slave drive on the primary IDE port. 'E' and 'F' are the master and slave drives (respectively) on the secondary IDE port. So you can actually boot from the slave on the secondary IDE channel if you really want to.
6. Swap Floppy Drive - Cool setting that allows you to boot from the 'B:' drive rather than the typical 'A:' drive (swaps the drives). Rarely useful, but is very handy when you need it.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disable
  - Conservative - Disable
  - Note - Be careful about using this option with Windows NT.
7. Boot Up Floppy Seek - Looks at A: drive to see if it has 40 or 80 tracks. Useless for 3½" drives since they always have 80 tracks. Although if you have a hard drive that is slow to spin up, you can enable this to slow down the boot process so the hard drive has time to get up to speed.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
8. Boot Up Numlock Status - Answers the eternal question: "Should the Numlock light be on or off at boot?"
  - Options:
    1. On
    2. Off
  - Default - On
  - Conservative - On
9. Boot Up System Speed - Sets the speed of the CPU at boot up. If set to 'Low', will boot up at the speed of the AT bus (ick!).
  - Options:
    1. High
    2. Low
  - Default - High
  - Conservative - Low
10. Typematic Rate Setting - Allows user to set typematic rate in BIOS.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
11. Typematic Rate (Chars/sec) - How fast characters may be written to the screen (characters per second). Higher numbers write characters to the screen faster.
  - Options:
    1. 6
    2. 8
    3. 10
    4. 12
    5. 15
    6. 20
    7. 24
    8. 30
  - Default - 6
  - Conservative - 6
12. Typematic Delay (Msec) - Length of delay in milliseconds between when key is pressed and when it begins to repeat. Lower is faster.
  - Options:
    1. 250
    2. 500
    3. 750
    4. 1000
  - Default - 250
  - Conservative - 1000
13. Security Option - Limits system access with password. The password may be cleared using the Clear CMOS jumper (JP40).
  - Options:
    1. System - System will not boot and setup is inaccessible until the password is given.
    2. Setup - System will boot but access to BIOS Setup is restricted by a password.
  - Default - Setup
  - Conservative - Setup
14. PCI/VGA Palette Snoop - Used if MPEG ISA card is present.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
15. OS Select For Dram > 64MB - Used if you are running IBM OS/2 with more than 64MB of RAM.
  - Options:
    1. OS/2
    2. Non-OS/2
  - Default - Non-OS/2
  - Conservative - Non-OS/2
16. Video BIOS Shadow - Whether or not to shadow (copy from ROM to RAM) the video BIOS. If run from RAM, will enhance performance, but will reduce the amount of upper memory available by 32KB (the C0000~C7FFF area of memory between 640KB and 1MB is used).
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
17. C8000-CBFFF - Should this 16KB area of upper memory (memory between 640KB and 1MB) be used to shadow ROM? If you enable this, and the computer locks up, one or more devices don't like this being shadowed to that particular 16KB segment of upper memory. Enabling this reduces the amount of available upper memory by 16KB.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - Note - Enabling any of the C8000~DFFFF segments allows components to move their firmware into these upper memory segments. In Windows 95, double click 'Computer' within Device Manager and select 'Memory'. This will tell you what segments (if any) are being shadowed to. You can also use DOS's MSD.EXE to see if the segments are taken (although if run under Windows, it will likely give an incorrect reading).
18. CC000-CFFFF - Same as above.
19. D0000-D3FFF - Same as above.
20. D4000-D7FFF - Same as above.
21. D8000-DBFFF - Same as above.
22. DC000-DFFFF - Same as above.
Chipset Features
1. This entire section concerns how the processor and main system memory talk to each other. This isn't exactly light reading. The various configurations that you can come up with are almost endless. It's a good idea to use a utility such as Wintune or ctcm16r) to test what improvement (if any) each change you make has on your computer's performance. See the section on tweaking to see what difference some settings make. But don't ignore the computer's stability. Some of the combinations won't necessarily work with your particular hardware setup. If it runs real fast but only part of the time, what's the point? You're going to have to experiment to find what works best for you. Further down are links to various sites that can describe more of what each of these settings do.
2. I also added another option called My Settings which gives what settings I used in my machine. On my Shuttle HOT-569, I'm running an AMD K6-233 (66x3.5) with two 32MB 10ns Micron SDRAM DIMMs and a Matrox Millennium II w/ 4MB. I replaced the Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 Pro with the Millennium, but it has no effect on these BIOS settings. Not all of the choices I made here were just for performance. I prefer a stable system to a faster one. Note that running the bus at higher than 66MHz may not allow for the most aggressive timings.
3. For more on Chipset Features BIOS settings, see The PC Guide, Wim's BIOS Page, and Tom's Hardware Guide.
1. Auto Configuration - Allows BIOS to automatically configure the DRAM timings below. This is the best setting for when you're first setting up the board or when flashing the BIOS. After the system is booting and running stably, then start to play.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
  - My Settings - Disabled
2. DRAM Timing - Manual setup of DRAM timings for FPM/EDO DRAM. Lower numbers (in nanoseconds) are faster, but this must match the speed of your slowest module. Higher numbers indicate a slower module.
  - Options:
    1. 60ns
    2. 70ns
  - Default - 70ns
  - Conservative - 70ns
  - My Settings - N/A
  - Note - When 'Auto Configuration' above is enabled, this setting for FPM and EDO RAM is automatically determined by the machine by looking at the first bank that contains a memory module (usually Bank 0). If you have 60ns modules in Bank 0 and slower 70ns modules in Bank 1, the computer probably won't boot since the computer will configure itself to run all the system memory at 60ns timings. The 70ns DRAM simply wouldn't be able to keep up.
  - Addendum - The Note above may actually be incorrect. The 430TX chipset has the ability to configure different timings for each bank of memory independently. So installing 60ns EDO into Bank 0 and 70ns into Bank 1 may not necessarily cause Bank 1 to run the memory outside of its specification. Unfortunately, I don't use the board anymore, and haven't bothered to experiment (I also always used SDRAM in it anyway).
3. DRAM Leadoff Timing - Sets number of CPU clocks before a DRAM read or write is performed. Lower numbers are faster.
  - Options:
    1. 11/7/3
    2. 10/6/3
    3. 11/7/4
    4. 10/6/4
  - Default - 10/6/4
  - Conservative - 11/7/4
  - My Settings - 10/6/3
  - Note 1 - This sets the 'x' in xyyy for DRAM burst timings. Lower numbers are better (5111 is faster than 7111). But be careful about the totals. 5222 is not faster than 6111. 5222 adds 11 total wait states to the CPU timings so that the RAM can catch up. 6111 only adds 9 wait states. Be careful about setting timings that are too aggressive (too low), the computer may not boot or may function erratically (random reboots, BSODs, etc.).
  - Note 2 - See The PC Guide's section on RAM timings for some basic background information on RAM timings.
4. DRAM Read Burst (EDO/FP) - For FPM/EDO DRAM only. Sets read timing on each successive DRAM row within a page following the initial leadoff for that page. Lower numbers are faster.
  - Options:
    1. x222/x333
    2. x333/x444
    3. x444/x444
  - Default - x222/x333
  - Conservative - x444/x444
  - My Settings - N/A
  - Note - The first number is for EDO and the second is for FPM (e.g. x222/x333 will set EDO to x222 or FPM to x333, depending on which type of RAM is in the system). SDRAM is not listed because its read burst is always x111.
5. DRAM Write Burst Timing - Applies to all DRAM types (FPM, EDO, SDRAM). Sets write timing on each bank of DRAM (same as above, except for writes). Lower numbers are faster.
  - Options:
    1. x222
    2. x333
    3. x444
  - Default - x222
  - Conservative - x444
  - My Settings - x222
6. Fast EDO Leadoff - Defines which fast path is selected for CPU to DRAM read cycles for the leadoff. Only use for EDO DRAM. Enabled is faster.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - My Settings - N/A
7. Refresh RAS# Assertion - Number of CPU clocks to wait for the DRAM to refresh. Lower is faster.
  - Options:
    1. 4 Clks
    2. 5 Clks
  - Default - 4 Clks
  - Conservative - 5 Clks
  - My Settings - 4 Clks
8. Fast RAS# to CAS# Delay - (t_rcd) - Number of CPU clocks between refreshing DRAM rows and columns. '2 Clks' is fastest, but allowing a longer delay may increase reliability if you have slower memory.
  - Options:
    1. 2 Clks
    2. 3 Clks
  - Default - 3 Clks
  - Conservative - 3 Clks
  - My Settings - 2 Clks
9. DRAM Page Idle Timer - Amount of time the 430TX DRAM controller will wait to close a DRAM page after the CPU becomes idle. Lower is faster.
  - Options:
    1. 2 Clks
    2. 4 Clks
    3. 6 Clks
    4. 8 Clks
  - Default - 2 Clks
  - Conservative - 8 Clks
  - My Settings - 2 Clks
10. DRAM Enhanced Paging - Allows the 430TX DRAM controller to keep a page open until a row or page miss occurs. Enabled is faster.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - My Settings - Enabled
11. Fast MA to RAS# Delay - Sets fast memory address to RAS# delay which control DRAM row miss timings. Lower is faster. This is set by the system board designer. Award advises not messing with this one.
  - Options:
    1. 1 Clk
    2. 2 Clks
  - Default - 2 Clks
  - Conservative - 2 Clks
  - My Settings - 1 Clks
12. SDRAM (CAS Lat/RAS-to-CAS) - Sets CAS Latency (CL) and RAS# to CAS# clock timings on SDRAM. Lower is faster. Award advises not messing with this one.
  - Options:
    1. 2/2
    2. 3/3
  - Default - 3/3
  - Conservative - 3/3
  - My Settings - 2/2
  - Note - Unless you have some of the better SDRAM, set this one to 3/3. The difference between 2/2 and 3/3 is about 2% according to the ctcm benchmark. Which translates into absolutely nothing in overall system performance. If you overclock the bus speed (especially to 83MHz), the best bet is 3/3. Most PC100 compliant SDRAM can run at 83MHz with a CAS Latency of 2, while PC66 SDRAM can only do 83MHz at CL3 (if at all). It depends on what you have. The only way to really know is to look at the PDF datasheets from the company that manufactured the memory chips. Honestly, it's not worth the effort.
13. SDRAM Speculative Read - Enables SDRAM speculative read (allows chipset to speculate on where the next read should occur). The manual recommends this be disabled all the time.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - My Settings - Enabled
14. System BIOS Cacheable - Allows the system's BIOS to be cached by the L2 cache. The HOT-569 automatically copies the BIOS out of ROM and shadows it into upper memory blocks F0000~FFFFF. Enable for faster performance.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - My Settings - Enabled
15. Video BIOS Cacheable - Allows the video BIOS (if it was shadowed into UMB) to be cached by the L2 cache chips. Enable for faster performance but if you don't have the video BIOS shadowed, this setting is ignored.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - My Settings - Enabled
16. 8-Bit I/O Recovery Time - Number of CPU clocks to delay after completing an 8-bit I/O request. Lower is faster, but some older ISA cards may need a longer delay.
  - Options:
    1. NA - 3.5 Clks delay.
    2. 1 Clk
    3. 2 Clks
    4. 3 Clks
    5. 4 Clks
    6. 5 Clks
    7. 6 Clks
    8. 7 Clks
    9. 8 Clks
  - Default - NA
  - Conservative - 8 Clks
  - My Settings - 1 Clk
17. 16-Bit I/O Recovery Time - Number of CPU clocks to delay after completing a 16-bit I/O request. Lower is faster, but some older ISA cards may need a longer delay.
  - Options:
    1. NA - 3.5 Clks delay.
    2. 1 Clk
    3. 2 Clks
    4. 3 Clks
    5. 4 Clks
  - Default - NA
  - Conservative - 4 Clks
  - My Settings - 1 Clk
18. Memory Hole at 15M~16M - Reserves space in memory between 15MB and 16MB for ISA card ROM. Can speed things up if enabled, but will also place a maximum 16MB limit of usable memory in DOS.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - My Settings - Disabled
19. PCI 2.1 Compliance - Version 2.1 of the PCI spec requires tighter timings. This makes PCI cycles to and from ISA take longer.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
  - My Settings - Enabled
  - Note - Some video cards (especially 3D cards) may require PCI 2.1 compliance.
20. Power Supply Type - Allows for the soft-off features of the ATX power supply. If set to ATX, this will automatically shut down the computer immediately after you exit Windows 95. Highly annoying.
  - Options:
    1. AT
    2. ATX
  - Default - ATX
  - Conservative - AT
  - My Settings - AT
  - Note - This does not choose between the two power supplies. It's simply a power management thing. Why this isn't in the Power Management section, I don't know.
21. Auto Detect DIMM/PCI Clk - Allows motherboard to read the EEPROM chip on SDRAM DIMMs for optimal timings between the system memory and PCI clocks.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - My Settings - Enabled
  - Note - After some testing using ctcm, enabling this seems to hold the faster settings better than if it is disabled. When disabled, the computer would sometimes boot into a slightly slower setting. Although the difference is only about 1%~2%. When enabled, the computer always boots at the faster settings. For a comparison, turning the 'CAS Lat/RAS-to-CAS' setting to 3/3 yields the same slower speed on my system.
22. Spread Spectrum Modulated - Reduces the amount of electromagnetic emissions by decreasing the signal amplitude of the clock oscillator.
  - Options:
    1. 1.5% Down
    2. 0.6% Down
    3. 1.5% Center
    4. Disabled
  - Default - 1.5% Down
  - Conservative - 0.6% Down
  - My Settings - 1.5% Down
  - Note - Shuttle says that '1.5% Down' is the best setting.
23. CPU Core Voltage - Enables the BIOS to select the appropriate core voltage for the processor. If the voltages are set manually using the jumpers on the board, this is not available.
  - Options:
    1. Auto
    2. User-Defined - 1.8v ~ 3.5v
  - Default - Auto
  - Conservative - Auto
  - My Settings - N/A
  - Note - The BIOS setting allows choices from 1.8v up through 2.05v in 0.05v increments. As well as 2.1v up through 3.5v in 0.1v increments.
Power Management
1. For more on Power Management BIOS settings, see The PC Guide and Wim's BIOS Page.
1. Power Management - Enables or disables all power management from the BIOS.
  - Options:
    1. User-Defined
    2. Min Saving - Powers down into Doze, Standby, or Suspend after 1 hour of inactivity (15 mins for hard drive).
    3. Max Saving - Powers down into Doze, Standby, or Suspend after 1 minute of inactivity (1 min for hard drive).
    4. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - Note 1 - I'm really not too fond of power management fluff. Having the computer go to sleep simply because I wasn't paying enough attention to it is highly annoying.
  - Note 2 - When set to 'Min Saving' or 'Max Saving', the settings below for Doze, Standby, Suspend, and HDD Power Down are no longer available.
2. PM Controlled by APM - Are the power management features controlled by APM (advanced power management) or not? 'Yes' yields more power savings.
  - Options:
    1. Yes
    2. No
  - Default - No
  - Conservative - No
  - Note - Advanced Power Management is built into Windows 95, but isn't available unless Win95 was installed onto a system that already had APM enabled in the BIOS. If you don't have APM installed (check in Control Panel | System | Device Manager | System Devices | Advanced Power Management), you can re-run SETUP.EXE from DOS to install the drivers. You'll then need to re-install many Win95 components (Service Pack 1, DirectX, etc.). Enabling APM in OSR2 is a bit easier. See article Q135136.
3. Video Off Method - Specifies what should be done with the monitor and video card signals while in a power down mode.
  - Options:
    1. V/H Sync + Blank - Shuts off the vertical and horizontal synch signals to the monitor and writes blanks to the video buffer while in a power down mode.
    2. DPMS Support - If your monitor supports Display Power Management Signaling, the monitor uses this to enter a power down mode.
    3. Blank Screen - Writes blanks to the video buffer and the monitor is black, but still active (not powered down).
  - Default - V/H Sync + Blank
  - Conservative - V/H Sync + Blank
4. Video Off After - Choose when the video should exercise the settings above.
  - Options:
    1. N/A - Never.
    2. Doze - Activate when enter 'Doze' mode.
    3. Standby - Activate when enter 'Standby' mode.
    4. Suspend - Activate when enter 'Suspend' mode.
  - Default - N/A
  - Conservative - N/A
5. Modem Use IRQ - Lets power management know which IRQ to monitor for modem wakeup.
  - Options:
    1. 3
    2. 4
    3. 5
    4. 7
    5. 9
    6. 10
    7. 11
  - Default - 3
  - Conservative - 3
6. Doze Mode - In Doze mode, the CPU powers down (according to the 'Throttle Duty Cycle' listed below), but the rest of the system stays active.
  - Options:
    1. # - After this period of idle time, the computer will enter Doze Mode.
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
7. Standby Mode - In Standby mode, the hard drive and video shutoff (if set to do so) and the CPU runs according to the 'Throttle Duty Cycle' listed below, but the rest of the system stays active.
  - Options:
    1. # - After this period of idle time, the computer will enter Standby Mode.
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
8. Suspend Mode - In Suspend mode, everything including the CPU shuts off.
  - Options:
    1. # - After this period of idle time, the computer will enter Suspend Mode.
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
9. HDD Power Down - Power down the hard drive after x minutes. Some hard drives may have trouble coming back up to speed if powered down.
  - Options:
    1. 1~15 - Number of minutes of inactivity to wait before powering down.
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - Note - I don't like allowing the hard drive to spin up and down constantly. The amount of energy savings is utterly irrelevant. I've always felt that hard drives were meant to run, and that frequent power-ups and power-downs will shorten the life of the drive. Though I'm certainly no expert.
10. Throttle Duty Cycle - Percent of time CPU runs while in power down mode. Higher numbers yield more power savings.
  - Options:
    1. 12.5%~75%
  - Default - 12.5%
  - Conservative - 12.5%
11. ZZ Active in Suspend - I have no idea.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
12. VGA Active monitor - Any VGA activity starts the global timer.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
13. Soft-Off by PWR-BTTN - Chooses what the momentary ATX power button on the front of the case does when it is pressed. This only applies to ATX cases and power supplies.
  - Options:
    1. Instant-Off - Pressing the momentary switch on the front of the case turns the system off instantly (just like an AT-style system).
    2. Delay 4 Sec. - Pressing the momentary switch on the front of the machine places the computer into Suspend mode. Holding it for more than 4 seconds shuts off the machine.
  - Default - Delay 4 Sec.
  - Conservative - Instant-Off
14. CPU Fan Off in Suspend - Shuts off the CPU fan when the computer enters Suspend mode.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
15. Resume by Ring - System will come out of a power down mode if the modem rings.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
16. Resume by Alarm - System will power up once a certain date and time are reached. This is an ATX feature only.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
17. IRQ8 Break Suspend - Enables or disables ability of system to resume when a certain date and time are reached.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled - Allows 'Resume By Alarm' to work, but only in a system that has an ATX power supply.
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
18. IRQ [3-7,9-15],NMI - Restarts global timer from Suspend mode if any activity is detected on the various IRQs.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
  - Note - If enabled, this will allow the computer to come out of Suspend mode whenever it detects activity on an IRQ.
19. Primary IDE 0 - Restarts global timer from Suspend mode if any activity is detected on the primary master hard drive.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
20. Primary IDE 1 - Same as above except for the primary slave hard drive.
21. Secondary IDE 0 - Same as above except for the secondary master hard drive.
22. Secondary IDE 1 - Same as above except for the secondary slave hard drive.
23. Floppy Disk - Restarts global timer from Suspend mode if any activity is detected on floppy drive A:.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
24. Serial Port - Restarts global timer from Suspend mode if any activity is detected on the serial ports.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
25. Parallel Port - Restarts global timer from Suspend mode if any activity is detected on the parallel port.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
PnP/PCI Configuration
1. Intel has an ISA Configuration Utility (ICU) that allows you to configure legacy devices that the Plug-n-Play BIOS can't handle. See Intel's site for the program. Be aware that it's two files, not just one. This utility is generally used only for DOS and Windows 3.11, and not for Windows 95.
2. For more on Plug-n-Play and PCI BIOS settings, see The PC Guide.
1. PnP OS Installed - Tells computer whether you have a Plug and Play operating system installed (such as Windows 95).
  - Options:
    1. Yes
    2. No
  - Default - No
  - Conservative - No
2. Resources Controlled By - Choose whether the system resources are controlled automatically or not. This item has no effect if 'PnP OS Installed' is set to 'No'.
  - Options:
    1. Auto - The BIOS configures the proper PnP settings automatically. This may cause the 'Updating ESCD' message to appear every time Windows 95 runs. See The PC Guide for an explanation.
    2. Manual - Allows user to manually allocate the system resources.
  - Default - Manual
  - Conservative - Manual
3. Reset Configuration - If after adding a new component, the operating system refuses to start, enable this to reset the ESCD when you exit Setup.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
4. IRQ-3 assigned to: - Defines each IRQ (hardware interrupt) as either Legacy or Plug-n-Play. IRQ 3 is often used for an internal modem (COM port 2 or 4).
  - Options:
    1. Legacy ISA
    2. PCI/ISA PnP
  - Default - PCI/ISA PnP
  - Conservative - PCI/ISA PnP
  - Note 1 - Most all peripheral devices need an IRQ to communicate with the computer. See The PC Guide and Atipa's page on typical IRQ assignments. Also see The PC Guide for some optimization tips on IRQ assignment.
  - Note 2 - IRQs 0, 1, 2, 6, 8, and 13 are used for the system timer, keyboard, IRQ cascade, floppy controller, real time clock, and math co-processor, respectively. These are generally not alterable by the user. Although you can assign a device to IRQ 2 (this will steal IRQ 9).
  - Note 3 - To see what IRQs are assigned under Windows 95, look in: Control Panel | System | Device Manager | Computer (double-click on Computer). Win95/98 often has extraneous devices on the same IRQ (such as IRQ Holding for PCI Steering). This is normal and won't interfere with the device on that channel.
5. IRQ-4 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 4. IRQ 4 is usually used for a serial mouse (COM port 1 or 3).
6. IRQ-5 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 5. IRQ 5 can be used for a sound card or a LAN card.
7. IRQ-7 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 7. IRQ 7 is almost always the first printer (LPT1).
8. IRQ-9 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 9. IRQ 9 is often used by a LAN or SCSI or sound card. Any device that is assigned to IRQ 2 (via a jumper on the device) will actually use IRQ 9 instead of IRQ 2. IRQ 2 is used by the computer to access IRQs 8 through 15.
9. IRQ-10 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 10. IRQ 10 is often used by a LAN or SCSI or sound card.
10. IRQ-11 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 11. IRQ 11 is often used by a video card, but isn't always needed. If your video card uses bus mastering (e.g. Matrox cards), it'll need the IRQ.
11. IRQ-12 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 12. IRQ 12 is often used by a PS/2 mouse if there is no serial mouse or by a LAN or SCSI or sound card.
12. IRQ-14 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 14. IRQ 14 is almost always used as the first IDE channel.
13. IRQ-15 assigned to: - Same as above except is for IRQ 15. IRQ 15 is often used as the second IDE channel. It could also be used for a sound card's IDE port or for a video card, but only if the secondary IDE channel is disabled in the BIOS.
14. DMA-0 assigned to: - Defines each DMA (direct memory access) channel as either Legacy or Plug-n-Play.
  - Options:
    1. Legacy ISA
    2. PCI/ISA PnP
  - Default - PCI/ISA PnP
  - Conservative - PCI/ISA PnP
  - Note 1 - By using a DMA channel, a device moves information back and forth directly into memory rather than passing it through the CPU first. This alleviates the burden on the processor and speeds up the machine.
  - Note 2 - DMA channel 2 is generally reserved for the floppy drive controller. A parallel port in ECP mode will use a DMA channel.
  - Note 3 - To see what DMA channels are assigned under Windows 95, look in: Control Panel | System | Device Manager | Computer (double-click on Computer). See The PC Guide for typical DMA channel assignments.
15. DMA-1 assigned to: - Same as above except is for DMA channel 1.
16. DMA-3 assigned to: - Same as above except is for DMA channel 3.
17. DMA-5 assigned to: - Same as above except is for DMA channel 5.
18. DMA-6 assigned to: - Same as above except is for DMA channel 6.
19. DMA-7 assigned to: - Same as above except is for DMA channel 7.
20. PCI IDE IRQ Map To: - Useful for older PCI cards that aren't fully PnP compatible. Allows user to set resources by hand.
  - Options:
    1. PCI-Auto - Maps PCI IDE IRQ to PCI slots automatically.
    2. ISA - Maps PCI IDE IRQ to ISA slots.
    3. PCI Slots 1~4 - Maps PCI IDE IRQ to PCI slots 1 through 4.
  - Default - PCI-Auto
  - Conservative - PCI-Auto
  - Note - This field lets you select PCI IDE IRQ mapping or PC AT (ISA) interrupts. If your system does not have one or two PCI IDE connectors on the system board, select values according to the type of IDE interface(s) installed in your system (PCI or ISA). Standard ISA interrupts for IDE channels are IRQ14 for primary and IRQ15 for secondary.
21. Primary IDE INT# - Assign the number of interrupts needed by the two IDE channels. Only one interrupt is normally needed.
  - Options:
    1. A - Assign one interrupt to the primary IDE channel
    2. B - Assign two interrupts to the primary IDE channel
    3. C - Assign three interrupts to the primary IDE channel
    4. D - Assign four interrupts to the primary IDE channel
  - Default - A
  - Conservative - A
22. Secondary IDE INT# - Same as above except for secondary IDE channel.
  - Default - B
  - Conservative - B
23. MS IRQ Routing Table - I have no idea.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
24. Assign IRQ for USB - Windows 95 will automatically give an IRQ to the USB port even if there is no USB peripheral connected. Disabling this will free an IRQ.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
Integrated Peripherals
1. The various peripherals in a system typically take up an IRQ and an I/O address. Unfortunately, there are only 16 IRQs in a PC, and only 10 can actually be reconfigured. Atipa has a nice page on the typical IRQ assignments and some tips on configuring your computer and The PC Guide has a great deal of information on system resources. Under Windows 95, you can see which peripherals use which IRQs by double-clicking on the Computer icon in Device Manager.
2. For more on Integrated Peripherals BIOS settings, see The PC Guide.
1. IDE HDD Block Mode - Allows hard drive to move data in larger blocks.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - Note - This mode, which reads data from the hard drive more efficiently (and is therefore faster), isn't supported by all hard drives. Although most newer drives support this, unless you're sure all of your hard drives support it, leave it disabled. This feature applies to all of the IDE hard drives in the system. If even one device doesn't support it, this must be turned off.
2. Primary Master IDE PIO Mode - Selects PIO mode (data transfer rate) for the primary master hard drive (usually the boot drive). [IRQ14, Address 1F0-1F7]
  - Options:
    1. 0 - PIO Mode 0. Theoretical maximum transfer rate of 3.3MB/sec.
    2. 1 - PIO Mode 1. Theoretical maximum transfer rate of 5.2MB/sec.
    3. 2 - PIO Mode 2. Theoretical maximum transfer rate of 8.3MB/sec.
    4. 3 - PIO Mode 3. Theoretical maximum transfer rate of 11.1MB/sec.
    5. 4 - PIO Mode 4. Theoretical maximum transfer rate of 16.6MB/sec.
    6. Auto - Allows the computer to choose the appropriate mode.
  - Default - Auto
  - Conservative - 0
  - Note 1 - The proper settings for older hard drives are not always accurately detected, so manual tweaking may be necessary. Although setting too high a mode for a drive that can't handle it can cause massive data corruption on the drive. Contact your drive manufacturer to find out what PIO mode your hard drive is capable of reaching. See the ATA FAQ for more on PIO modes.
  - Note 2 - The HOT-569 has separate settings for both the master and slave drives on the same channel. This allows for the master and slave drives to run at different PIO modes on the same channel. My Western Digital 2.5GB drive is capable of PIO mode 4. But my older 420MB WD drive can only go up to PIO mode 3. On my older motherboard, they both had to run at PIO mode 3 because the computer defaults to running at the highest common setting on both drives. Many older motherboards follow this scheme. This is why you will often hear people say not to put a CD-ROM device (many of which cannot exceed PIO mode 3) as a slave to your main hard drive because this would slow down the hard drive. The HOT-569 doesn't have this problem; although the ATA interface can still only move data to one device at a time. See The PC Guide's IDE performance page for more information.
3. Primary Slave IDE PIO Mode - Same as above except is for the primary slave hard drive. The primary slave is the second device on the first IDE channel. [IRQ 14, Address 3F6-3F7]
4. Secondary Master IDE PIO Mode - Same as above except is for the secondary master hard drive. The secondary master is the first device on the second IDE channel. [IRQ 15, Address 170-177]
5. Secondary Slave IDE PIO Mode - Same as above except is for the secondary slave hard drive. The secondary slave is the second device on the second IDE channel. [IRQ 15, Address 376-377]
6. Primary Master UDMA - Enables Ultra DMA mode (ATA-33) on the primary master hard drive.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
    3. Auto
  - Default - Auto
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - Note 1 - Also known as DMA mode 3, this mode allows for a theoretical data transfer of 33MB/sec. In reality, it's a touch faster than PIO mode 4 in overall performance. The drive must support UDMA mode for this option to be enabled.
  - Note 2 - If you're running Windows 95 OSR2, the computer may lock up if it encounters an error on the drive while using UDMA.
7. Primary Slave UDMA Mode - Same as above except is for the primary slave hard drive. The primary slave is the second device on the first IDE channel.
8. Secondary Master UDMA Mode - Same as above except is for the secondary master hard drive. The secondary master is the first device on the second IDE channel.
9. Secondary Slave UDMA Mode - Same as above except is for the secondary slave hard drive. The secondary slave is the second device on the second IDE channel.
10. On-Chip Primary PCI IDE - Tells motherboard whether or not to use the integrated primary IDE channel. Disable this if you use an IDE adapter card for your IDE hard drives.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
11. On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE - Same as above except is for the secondary IDE channel.
12. USB Keyboard Support - Allows the use of a USB keyboard.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Disabled
  - Conservative - Disabled
  - Note - Some people have reported that flashing the BIOS on other motherboards with a USB keyboard attached is impossible. You may need to use a regular AT or PS/2 keyboard when flashing. This may or may not apply to the HOT-569. I haven't tried it.
13. KBD Input Clock - Sets the keyboard clock speed.
  - Options:
    1. 8 MHz
    2. 12 MHz
  - Default - 8 MHz
  - Conservative - 8 MHz
14. On-Chip FDC Controller - Tells motherboard whether or not to use the integrated floppy drive controller. Disable this if you use an adapter card for your floppy drive(s) or if you have no floppies attached. If you don't have a floppy drive, you should also turn off the 'Halt On' error message in the 'Standard CMOS' section.
  - Options:
    1. Enabled
    2. Disabled
  - Default - Enabled
  - Conservative - Enabled
15. Onboard Serial Port 1 - Allows you to define what settings the first serial port uses. If you put an internal modem on COM port 2 (IRQ3, address 2F8), disable this serial port.
  - Options:
    1. Auto
    2. 3F8/IRQ4
    3. 2F8/IRQ3
    4. 3E8/IRQ4
    5. 2E8/IRQ3
    6. Disabled
  - Default - Auto
  - Conservative - Auto
  - Note - Serial port 1 usually takes up IRQ3 and contains COM ports 2 (address 2F8) and 4 (address 2E8). Serial port 2 usually takes up IRQ 4 and contains COM ports 1 (address 3F8) and 3 (address 3E8). On each serial port, only one COM channel may be used at a time. You can often have two different peripherals defined on the same serial port (but different COM channels), but the devices can not work at the same time.
16. Onboard Serial Port 2 - Same as above except is for COM ports 1 and 3. A serial mouse usually goes on COM port 1 (IRQ4, address 3F8). If instead you use a PS/2 mouse (which takes up IRQ12), you can disable this serial port to free up an IRQ.
17. UR2 Mode - Specifies which mode is used for an Infra Red device. When this is enabled, COM2 will be automatically disabled and the IR device will use COM2. 'Standard' mode means the IrDA port is disabled.
  - Options:
    1. Standard
    2. IrDA 1.0
    3. ASK IR
    4. MIR 0.57M
    5. MIR 1.15M
    6. FIR - Not currently supported.
  - Default - Standard
  - Conservative - Standard
18. Onboard Parallel Port - Specifies which IRQ and I/O address the parallel port gets (usually IRQ7, address 378). If you have an adapter with a parallel port, disable this.
  - Options:
    1. 378/IRQ7
    2. 278/IRQ5
    3. 3BC/IRQ7
    4. Disabled
  - Default - 378/IRQ7
  - Conservative - 378/IRQ7
19. Parallel Port Mode - If you're using the onboard parallel port, this chooses the mode.
  - Options:
    1. SPP - Standard mode. The slowest mode.
    2. EPP - Enhanced parallel port (bi-directional). Faster than standard mode. Usually the best choice.
    3. ECP - Enhanced capabilities port (buffered port). Faster than standard mode, but takes a DMA channel.
    4. ECP+EPP - Fast buffered, bi-directional port. Faster than standard mode, but takes a DMA channel.
  - Default - SPP
  - Conservative - SPP

Current URL: http://www.pchardwarelinks.com/569_bios.htm
Designed by: Chris Hare
© 1998-Present by Chris Hare
Legal Stuff
Last Updated: February/11/2004