Tricks For BIOS

* Standby BIOS: After you had just assembled or just bought your PC, make sure to take a copy of your BIOS in a floppy. Do not forget to copy the software program required to flash the BIOS with it. For instructions regarding this, refer to your motherboard manual or the manufacturer's website.

* Do not detect absent IDE drives: As mentioned earlier, you can connect 4 IDE devices to your MB. During bootup process, the BIOS will try to detect all of them. If you have just a hard disk and a CD drive, you can set the BIOS to detect just these devices and bypass checking the absent ones. This will save some precious microseconds when booting up.

* Supervisor password: To prevent your BIOS settings from being changed by anyone else, set a Supervisor password in the BIOS and do not set the user password.

* User password: If you want to prevent access to anyone else, then set the User password.

* Remote access: You can make a telephone call to your PC from outside or send a fax to it even when the machine is switched off. This is possible with ATX standard cabinets. In the power settings section of the BIOS, allow the PC to wake up on LAN or external modem act. Keep the power supply to the ATX and the modem on, while the system itself is powered off. When the modem receives a call, it will wake up the power supply and boot up the PC to handle the call.

* Boot sequence: After you have installed your OS, set your hard disk first in the boot-up sequence with the CD drive and the floppy following it in that order.

* Quick Power On Self Test: Keep this enabled and save on boot-up time.

* Boot Up Floppy Seek: Keep this disabled.

* BIOS updates: Check the motherboard's website or that of the BIOS manufacturer for BIOS updates and use the BIOS update program mentioned above to flash the BIOS. Many problems faced initially with hardware are likely to be solved after the updates.