HP 731179-151 User Manual

Select Intel-based 2013 HP Business Notebook PCs offer HP Sure Start, which provides hardware-

based assurance of the following:

●

HP-approved firmware is running on the HP Embedded Controller (EC) – EC Options in BIOS

found under “BIOS Integrity Checking”

●

An HP-approved BIOS is running on the host processor

HP Sure Start verifies the integrity of critical, non-executable platform data residing in the main flash

and provides selfhealing mechanisms to restore any code or critical platform data that has been lost or

is corrupted within the flash.

In conjunction with BIOS support, code running on the EC verifies the integrity of the following:

●

Subset of BIOS contents including the boot block portion and machine-unique data

●

Entire descriptor region

●

Entire Network Controller Configuration

The EC is responsible for power control/power cycle, thermal monitor/fan control, many LEDs, and

PS2 keyboard and mouse.

As the computer starts, the system attempts to boot from enabled devices. The MultiBoot utility, which is

enabled at the factory, controls the order in which the system selects a boot device. Boot devices can

include optical drives, diskette drives, a network interface card (NIC), hard drives, and USB devices.

Boot devices contain bootable media or files that the computer needs to start and operate properly.

Some boot devices must be enabled in Computer Setup before they can be included in the

boot order.

You can change the order in which the computer searches for a boot device by changing the boot

order in Computer Setup. You can also press 

esc

 while the “Press the ESC key for Startup Menu”

message is displayed at the bottom of the screen, and then press 

f9

. Pressing 

f9

 displays a menu that

shows the current boot devices and allows you to select a boot device. Or, you can use MultiBoot

Express to set the computer to prompt you for a boot location each time the computer turns on or

restarts.

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Chapter 7   Computer Setup (BIOS), MultiBoot, and System Diagnostics in Windows 8