Advanced CMOS Setup (Part I)
Remember…
May vary according to your system, BIOS version and brand. Some functions may not be present or the order and name may be different (particularly for different BIOS brand). Know EXACTLY what you are doing. Some configurations may keep your computer off from booting. If that's the case: Switch the power off. Turn your computer on WHILE keeping the DEL key pressed. This is supposed to erase the BIOS memory. If it still doesn't boot, consult your motherboard manual. Look for a "forget CMOS RAM" jumper. Set it. Try it again. If it still doesn't boot, ask a friend or post to a computer hardware newsgroup. You are permitted to panic.
•Typematic Rate Programming: Disabled recommended. It enables the typematic rate programming of the keyboard. Not all keyboards support this! The following two entries specify how the keyboard is programmed if enabled.
•Typematic Rate Delay (msec): 500 ns recommended. The initial delay before key auto-repeat starts, that is how long you've got to press a key before it starts repeating.
•Typematic Rate (Chars/Sec): 15. It is the frequency of the auto-repeat i.e. how fast a key repeats.
•Above 1 MB Memory Test: If you want the system to check the memory above 1 MB for errors. Disabled recommended for faster boot sequence. The HIMEM.SYS driver for DOS 6.2 verifies the XMS (Extended Memory Specification), so this test is redundant. It is thus preferable to use the XMS test provided by HIMEM.SYS since it is operating in the real environment (where user wait states and other are operational).
•Memory Test Tick Sound: Enabled recommended. It gives an audio record that the boot sequence is working properly. Plus, it is an aural confirmation of your CPU clock speed/Turbo switch setting. An experimented user can hear if something is wrong with the system just be the memory test tick sound. Since systems have now much more memory than before, this setting is not common anymore.
•Memory Parity Error Check: Enabled recommended. Additional feature to test bit errors in the memory. All (or almost all) PCs are checking their memory during operation.Every byte in memory has another ninth bit, that with every write access is set in such way that the parity of all bytes is odd. With every read access the parity of a byte is checked for this odd parity. If a parity error occurs, the NMI (Non Maskable Interrupt), an interrupt you mostly cannot switch off, so the computer stops his work and displays a RAM failure) becomes active and forces the CPU to enter an interrupt handler, mostly writing something like this on the screen: PARITY ERROR AT 0AB5:00BE SYSTEM HALTED. On some motherboards you can disable parity checking with standard memory. Enabled to be sure data from memory are correct. Disable only if you have 8-bit RAM, which some vendors use because it is 10% cheaper. Also, this setting is no longer necessary on recent computers since the quality and reliance of memory chips has greatly been improved.
