Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
install discs. See
www.driverpacks.net
for mass storage (and other) driverpacks that can easily be
slipstreamed into Windows XP install discs, eliminating the need to load them manually during the
installation process.
Switching SATA modes in the BIOS setup
after
the OS is installed can cause problems if a SATA
drive is the boot drive, and you have not loaded the proper drivers in advance. For example, if you
switch modes from IDE to AHCI or RAID on a system running Windows XP or later (including
Vista/7/8), on the next boot you will most likely have an immediate blue screen error, as follows:
STOP: 0x0000007B (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4)
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
In this case, changing the host adapter back to IDE mode should allow the system to boot again.
The hard disk predelay function is to delay accessing drives that are slow to spin up. Some drives
aren't ready when the system begins to look for them during boot time, causing the system to display
Fixed Disk Failure
messages and fail to boot. Setting this delay allows time for the drive to
become ready before continuing the boot process. Of course, this slows down the boot process, so if
your drives don't need this delay, disable this function.
Advanced Floppy Configuration
The Floppy Configuration menu is for configuring the floppy drive and interface.
Table 5.14
shows
the options in a typical BIOS Setup.
Table 5.14. Advanced Floppy Configuration Menu
By enabling the write-protect feature, you can disallow writing to floppy disks. This can help prevent
the theft of data as well as help to prevent infecting disks with viruses should they be on the system.
Advanced Event Log Configuration
The Event Logging menu is for configuring the System Management (SMBIOS) and AMT (Active
Management Technology) event-logging features. SMBIOS is a DMI-compliant method for managing
computers on a managed network. DMI stands for
Desktop Management Interface
, a special
protocol that software can use to communicate with the motherboard. AMT allows for powerful
remote access and troubleshooting capabilities, including hardware and software inventory, proactive
altering, and remote troubleshooting and recovery.
Using SMBIOS and AMT, a system administrator can remotely obtain information about a system.
System management applications run by network administrators can use SMBIOS and AMT to report
the following DMI information:
