I just built my computer and played around with the BIOS

[fishstickz]

OK, it's working again, though it says something about the CMOS being errored and reseting to defaults or something. It still saves whatever changes I make to the BIOS now, though. Anyway, I get the same problem when I changed these things in the BIOS now and my "reasons" (which ones should I change, etc. to make it work?):

Date, Time, etc.
Drive A [None] (Since I don't have a floppy drive)
Quick Power On Self Test [Disabled] (It says in the manual it's safer this way"
First Boot Device [CD-ROM] (OS, and, after I install the OS, should I change this to hard disk or what?)
Second Boot Device [Hard Disk] (Obvious)
Third and Fourth Boot Devices [Disabled] (The other choices are Removable and Network, what should I do here?)
Boot Up Floppy Seek [Disabled] (No floppy drive)
Internal Video Memory [UMA+SidePort] (It's suppossed to be faster...? Anything else I should change for the video?)
UMA Frame Buffer Size [128MB] (Best video)
Init Display First [Onboard] (The other choices are PCIEx and I think AGP...This might be what's screwing it up...?)

Are there any changes I should make here, and are there any other changes I should make in the BIOS? I'd prefer an answer from someone who owns this board, like fishstickz.

Alright, well I am here for you man- sorry, I had to go home from work and go to the the gym and all that, I was really monitoring your progress before I had to go.

First, that error about defaults being restored means you effectively cleared the settings, good job.

First: don't mess with that AGP thing anymore. That is no doubt what caused your problem. That effects the amount of system memory reserved for video. If your performance lags, you can up this. Otherwise don't touch it.

Keep the floppy off and the quick POST off too.

You can screw around with the boot order if you like; it will boot marginally faster if you set the hard drive first. You will need to change it in case you ever boot from cd-rom again.

Just keep the internal video on UMA unless you plan on using one of the outputs, S-video or the such. Thats what "SidePort" is.

The InitDisplayFirst also effects boot time. Only set it too PCIe if you have a PCIe card. This isn't what borked your system. It just looks for whatever you have listed first before probing other devices for video output capability.

Also: don't worry about mean-hearted folk flaming you- but also be careful if you fsck around in the BIOS anymore. If you have anymore questions, PM me or post here, and I'll be happy to help you out.

 

[Josh7289]

I was changing settings one-by-one, and once I changed the video to UMA+SidePort, it died. SO that must be the problem. Since I increased UMA Frame Buffer Size to 128MB, should I change the AGP thing to 128MB, too? And you want me to boot HDD, then CD? OK. The default for Init Display First is PCIEx, but I guess I can change that to Onboard now, right? Having Quick POST disabled takes quite a while to boot, too ;;

Anyway, I have Windows and everything working properly now, so it's all good.

Finally, do you think that snap I heard earlier damaged anything?

Thanks so much!

 

[fishstickz]

Finally, do you think that snap I heard earlier damaged anything?

Well, it works, right? I doubt it. Don't worry.

 

[Josh7289]

Thanks.

I just changed the Init Display First to Onboard, and it's working fine.
I made First and Second Boot Device HDD and CD-ROM, respectively.
I might have done some other small things...

Anyway, my Internal Video Memory is UMA.
My UMA Frame Buffer Size is 128MB (that's the max).
My AGP Aperture Size is 64MB (hardly the max).

I want to know if I should increase my AGP Aperture Size in any way.

Thank you again very very much.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Increasing the AGP aperture size won't hurt anything, it'll just allow the onboard graphics access to more system memory when it runs out of local memory.

 

[Josh7289]

What do you recommend I set it to?

 

[agnitrate]

Put your first boot device as CD-ROM and second as IDE0 or hard drive (however your BIOS names it). This way if you want to boot from CD, you can just pop it in. There is no point in putting a second boot device if the hard drive is first because if you have windows installed on the drive, it's going to boot without giving you a chance to boot from any your other devices.

AGP aperature of 64MB should be fine.

 

[Josh7289]

If I keep AGP Aperture at 64MB, should I keep UMA Frame Buffer Size at 128MB (that's the max)?

Thank you very much.

 

[Bozo Galora]

AGP Video System Memory Access
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/buses/types/agpMemory-c.html
One of the key features of AGP is the ability to share the main system memory with the video chipset. The reason that this has been incorporated into the design is to allow the video subsystem to have access to larger amounts of memory for 3D and other processing, without requiring that large quantities of special video memory be put on the video card for this purpose. Right now the memory on the video card is shared between the frame buffer and the other uses that the video card has for memory. Since the frame buffer requires high-performance memory technologies, most cards use this better technology (such as VRAM) for all of the memory on the video card, which is usually overkill for the parts other than the frame buffer.

Note that AGP is not the same as the ill-fated unified memory architecture (UMA). Under UMA, all of the video card's memory, including the frame buffer, is taken from main system memory. Under AGP, the frame buffer remains on the video card, where it belongs. The frame buffer is the most important part of the video memory and it requires the highest performance, so it makes sense to leave it on the video card so special video-specific technologies like VRAM can be used.

What AGP does is to allow the video processor to access the system memory for other tasks that require memory, such as texturing and other 3D operations. The theory is that this memory isn't as crucial as the frame buffer, and doing this design means that higher-end video cards can be made more inexpensively by saving on the cost of dedicated video card memory that is only being used for
these operations.

+++++++++++++++
(Scarecrow)

If I Only Had a Brain
I could while away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head, I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.

I'd unravel ev'ry riddle
For any individ'le
In trouble or in pain

(Dorothy)

With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln,
If you only had a brain.

(Scarecrow)

Oh, I could tell you why
The ocean's near the shore,
I could think of things I never thunk before
And then I'd sit and think some more.

I would not be just a nuffin'
My head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry
If I only had a brain-