How can I find out the BIOS settings?

How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem
might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to
read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches
and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being
can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat
sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of
disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the
CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track
down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what
ALL the BIOS setting should be?

DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation.

Boot a linux live CD.

Puppy 5.0.1 is based on Ubuntu slimmed and needs very little resources.

It is a small download, boots fast, operates in ram.

When it comes up, the menu (bottom left) has System/ system status &
config/ Hardinfo - hardware information which will have lots and lots of
info for you.

In the processor section it will have the name of the processor, model,
stepping, cache, frequency, etc.

Apparently the current release is 5.1.1. I don't have that one; I
presume it is the same as my 5.0.1 described.
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm

--
Mike Easter

On Dec 24, 11:47*am, Mike Easter wrote:
DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation.

Boot a linux live CD.

Puppy 5.0.1 is based on Ubuntu slimmed and needs very little resources.

It is a small download, boots fast, operates in ram.

When it comes up, the menu (bottom left) has System/ system status &
config/ Hardinfo - hardware information which will have lots and lots of
info for you.

In the processor section it will have the name of the processor, model,
stepping, cache, frequency, etc.

Apparently the current release is 5.1.1. I don't have that one; I
presume it is the same as my 5.0.1 described.http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm

--
Mike Easter

will that show the correct specs even if my bios is set wrong? And is
it a floppy I will be makeing of the above puppylinux?

On 24 Dec 2010, DJW wrote in
alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:

How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built?

Can't you just get into the BIOS setup? You have to hit a certain key
combination as the computer start its boot process. Usually it tells
you what the key is in the visible POST messages, but if that's hidden,
you should be able to find that out from the motherboard manufacture.
Common keystrokes to enter the BIOS Setup are F1, F2, F10, and Del.

DJW wrote:
Mike Easter
DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation.
Boot a linux live CD.

Puppy 5.0.1 is based on Ubuntu slimmed and needs very little resources.

It is a small download, boots fast, operates in ram.

When it comes up, the menu (bottom left) has System/ system status &
config/ Hardinfo - hardware information which will have lots and lots of
info for you.

In the processor section it will have the name of the processor, model,
stepping, cache, frequency, etc.

Apparently the current release is 5.1.1. I don't have that one; I
presume it is the same as my 5.0.1 described. http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm

will that show the correct specs even if my bios is set wrong?

The first place to get information about your bios is from the bios POST
you (can) see when you power up the computer and from your ability to
access the bios setup.

I'm assuming that -1- the/your bios will post -2- you want more
information than you are getting from the bios POST and setup and that
-3- the puppy CD will boot

And is it a floppy I will be makeing of the above puppylinux?

No. Puppy is (generally) a CD you get from downloading the 130 meg .iso
and burning it to disk and booting from that CD requires that the
computer can be configured to boot from the optical drive.

If your drive has a floppy it can boot from but it can't boot from the
optical, then that can be rigged too.

--
Mike Easter

Nil rednoise REMOVETHIScomcast.net wrote:

DJW wrote

How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built?

Can't you just get into the BIOS setup? You have to hit a
certain key combination as the computer start its boot process.
Usually it tells you what the key is in the visible POST
messages, but if that's hidden, you should be able to find that
out from the motherboard manufacture. Common keystrokes to enter
the BIOS Setup are F1, F2, F10, and Del.

Might want to try Del first.

DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem
might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to
read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches
and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being
can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat
sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of
disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the
CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track
down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what
ALL the BIOS setting should be?

You might still be able to find a copy of the motherboard
manual floating around on the 'net. I'd try one of the
remaining Abit sites, but my batting average there hasn't
been too good.

http://www.motherboards.org/mobot/manuals/Abit/BE6/

http://www.motherboards.org/files/manuals/2/be6.pdf

"Press Del to enter setup"

The BE6 is a 440BX chipset motherboard. And according to the
manual, it doesn't use multiplier and FSB dip switches. (On
the 440BX based board I've still got, it has DIP switches
to play with.) The manual claims full control is available
via the BIOS screens. Normally, the processor "BSEL" pins,
communicate the desired clock, from the CPU to the motherboard.
Many motherboards have options to bypass that sensing (like
the DIP switches), so you can overclock. With my original
cacheless Celery 300, I could manually dial in 100MHz, to
get a 450MHz processor for free. On the BE6, you can do that
from a BIOS menu.

The canonical clock frequencies are 66, 100, 133, and the
reason those are preferred values, is the PCI bus runs at
33MHz when you use those values.

On 440BX, you have another setting, which sets the ratio
between the CPU clock and the AGP slot. If left at 1:1 for
example, it can result in the AGP slot clock being too high.
Options are 1/1 and 2/3. 100MHz times 2/3 = 66MHz would be a proper
AGP input frequency. If the processor actually ran at 133MHz,
then 133 * 2/3 = 89MHz, which can be met by at least some
video cards but not all. My motherboard couldn't go over
112MHz, so my AGP never got stressed at all. Some AGP video
cards were quite picky about input clock and would stop at
75MHz (perhaps a PLL issue of some sort). The older video cards,
may be able to go much higher, to as much as AGP 100MHz
(FSB 150MHz times 2/3).

The CPU multiplier option is usually bogus - on all the processors
I've had in my 440BX (about four of them), they were all locked,
and the multiplier setting did nothing. So that leaves CPU
input clock, and AGP slot ratio.

In the case of "bugged" CPU choices, with an old BIOS
that can't handle an 11x CPU, setting the FSB to 66MHz
is a workaround. That may get the system running long
enough, to do other kinds of testing, without taking
it all apart. With my Asus board, Asus released a final
BIOS, that supported the "bugged" choices, so even those
would run without trickery. And by doing a microcode
update, with CTMC, I was even able to avoid a microcode
error at startup. The last time I tested the machine
(within the last month), it still worked. I'd put a
new CMOS battery in it a couple years ago, which is why
it still works and boots immediately. The last time
the battery went flat, it took me a half hour to figure
out what some of the BIOS options did.

Intel makes utilities for identifying the processor.
For modern processors, there is a floppy version of
Intel PIU. But your processor is one of the older
ones, not handled by PIU. So you'd want the PFID
utility on the right.

http://www.intel.com/support/process.../cs-015472.htm

This one is self booting. I expect this writes over a blank
floppy, to prepare it with FreeDOS boot files and the like,
so you'd run this utility on another computer, and have it
prepare a blank floppy for you.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta... ng&iid=dc_rss

There is no guarantee the Intel utility will get the right
answer. For example, within a virtual machine, the Intel utilities
don't work right. And in cases where a Xeon is installed
in a desktop, the answer might not come out right. And
you aren't likely to get an "SLxxx" code from the tool.
It might report the frequencies currently in use, but
won't completely remove doubts from your mind. Which means,
running the above, won't tell you everything you might
want to know. I run stuff like that, more for fun than
anything else (like if I need to know, what an OS
thinks about my processor - if an OS is having trouble
identifying a processor, then the Intel utility may
report a similar issue).

HTH,
Paul

DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can’t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem
might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to
read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches
and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being
can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat
sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of
disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the
CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track
down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what
ALL the BIOS setting should be?


ABIT Motherboard Archives .
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_archives.php
(see '-Slot 1-' near bottom of page)

BE6 page
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=BE6&fMTYPE=Slot +1
(use links in righthand column headed 'Product Information')

Manual (suggest selecting ASIA to download from)
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...E6&fMTYPE=Slot
1&pPRODINFO=Manual

ABIT's site is very slow to move in, so I have put the BE6 manual (*.PDF) on
my Webspace here;
http://preview.tinyurl.com/35723el

Or same-said in a ZIP file here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/32gmrc5

On Dec 24, 5:19*pm, "Patrick" a.b@invalid wrote:
DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem
might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to
read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches
and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being
can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat
sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of
disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of the
CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me track
down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard find what
ALL the BIOS setting should be?

ABIT Motherboard Archives .
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_archives.php
(see '-Slot 1-' near bottom of page)

BE6 page
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMO...
(use links in righthand column headed 'Product Information')

Manual (suggest selecting ASIA to download from)
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...detail.php?pMO...
1&pPRODINFO=Manual

ABIT's site is very slow to move in, so I have put the BE6 manual (*.PDF) on
my Webspace here;
http://preview.tinyurl.com/35723el

Or same-said in a ZIP file here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/32gmrc5

Yes I can get into the Bios setup but the person I am trying to help
set and saved the bios to defaults one day! Why I have no idea that is
when the problems started. Also the time was not holding correctly
after it was unplugged and moved to my place for me to try and get
working. So I changed the battery with one that still had some juice
left that I cannibalized from a printer that broke. Right now I can’t
even get the windows 98SE CD installer disk to install without getting
a blue error screen telling me to “hit any key” to get back
installing. The hitting any key sometimes works and other times I need
to hit control alt delete. But sometimes that does nothing so I need
to hit the restart button on the computer. It happens even before it
gets to the date setting during installation. And then when it is gets
to the configuring the systems it happens more than once during the
installation process. Anyway after on average three or more error blue
screens I do get to a desktop. But when I try to start to install the
drivers for the PCI cards in the unit or even tried to copy the Win98
to folders I made as in C:\windows\options\cabs I get a blue “hit any
key” screen AGAIN! and only a few things from the installer CD win98
folder gets copied so the computer is working well like a pig on ****!
I figure the basic things are not correctly configured as in its BIOS

DJW wrote:
On Dec 24, 5:19 pm, "Patrick" a.b@invalid wrote:
DJW wrote:
How can I find out the bios setting for a computer that someone
basically home built? I can t even install windows 98SE without
getting blue error screens during installation. I think the problem
might be that the CPU speed is set wrong. Is there any way in DOS to
read the type of Pentium III that it is and how to set speed caches
and multiplier factors? Are there any setting that should work being
can a fast CPU run OK set slower than it can handle? There is a heat
sink and fan over the CPU chip. If I went to the trouble of
disconnecting an removing some stuff in order to get to the top of
the CPU chip would I find information that would tell me or let me
track down its speed and in conjunction with the BE6 motherboard
find what ALL the BIOS setting should be?

ABIT Motherboard Archives .
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_archives.php
(see '-Slot 1-' near bottom of page)

BE6 page
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMO...
(use links in righthand column headed 'Product Information')

Manual (suggest selecting ASIA to download from)
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...detail.php?pMO...
1&pPRODINFO=Manual

ABIT's site is very slow to move in, so I have put the BE6 manual
(*.PDF) on my Webspace here;
http://preview.tinyurl.com/35723el

Or same-said in a ZIP file here; http://preview.tinyurl.com/32gmrc5

Yes I can get into the Bios setup but the person I am trying to help
set and saved the bios to defaults one day! Why I have no idea that is
when the problems started. Also the time was not holding correctly
after it was unplugged and moved to my place for me to try and get
working. So I changed the battery with one that still had some juice
left that I cannibalized from a printer that broke.


When other person reset the BIOS to 'Default' it probably didn't 'take'
properly (dud-battery).
Thus the BIOS was probably left in an inconsistent-state (all over the
place).
Therefore the BIOS needs to be reset with the RESET-BIOS pins on the MoBo

Then go into the BIOS and in the 'CPU Soft Menu II' screen press F7 to 'Load
Setup Defaults'.
Press F10 to save settings and reboot.

As mentioned, the BIOS is probably in an inconsistant-state, so you have
nothing to lose!

And, by-the-way, are you sure the 'new battery' is good-enough!


Right now I can’t
even get the windows 98SE CD installer disk to install without getting
a blue error screen telling me to “hit any key” to get back
installing. The hitting any key sometimes works and other times I need
to hit control alt delete. But sometimes that does nothing so I need
to hit the restart button on the computer. It happens even before it
gets to the date setting during installation. And then when it is gets
to the configuring the systems it happens more than once during the
installation process. Anyway after on average three or more error blue
screens I do get to a desktop. But when I try to start to install the
drivers for the PCI cards in the unit or even tried to copy the Win98
to folders I made as in C:\windows\options\cabs I get a blue “hit any
key” screen AGAIN! and only a few things from the installer CD win98
folder gets copied so the computer is working well like a pig on ****!
I figure the basic things are not correctly configured as in its BIOS