Tyan Computer THUNDER N3600QX User Manual

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Chapter 3: BIOS Setup 
 
 
3.1   About the BIOS 
 
The BIOS is the basic input/output system, the firmware on the 
motherboard that enables your hardware to interface with your soft-
ware. The BIOS determines what a computer can do without 
accessing programs from a disk. The BIOS contains all the code 
required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial 
communications, and a number of miscellaneous functions. This 
chapter describes the various BIOS settings that can be used to 
configure your system. 
 
The BIOS section of this manual is subject to change without notice 
and is provided for reference purposes only. The settings and con-
figurations of the BIOS are current at the time of print and are sub-
ject to change, and therefore may not match exactly what is 
displayed on screen. 
 
This section describes the BIOS setup program. The setup program 
lets you modify basic configuration settings. The settings are then 
stored in a dedicated, battery-backed memory (called NVRAM) that 
retains the information even when the power is turned off. 
 
To start the BIOS setup utility: 
1. Turn on or reboot your system. 
2. Press <Del> during POST (<Tab> on remote console) to start the 
BIOS setup utility. 
 
3.2 – BIOS Menu Bar 
 
The menu bar at the top of the windows lists these selections: 
 
Main 
To configure basic system setups 
Advanced 
To configure the advanced chipset features 
PCI/PnP 
To configure legacy Plug & Play or PCI settings 
Boot 
To configure system boot order 
Security 
To configure user and supervisor passwords  
Chipset 
To configure chipset management features 
Exit 
To exit setup utility 
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