How do I get into CMOS?
CMOS - Abbreviation of Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. Pronounced see-moss, CMOS is a widely used type of semiconductor. CMOS semiconductors use both NMOS (negative polarity) and PMOS (positive polarity) circuits. Since only one of the circuit types is on at any given time, CMOS chips require less power than chips using just one type of transistor. This makes them particularly attractive for use in battery-powered devices, such as portable computers. Personal computers also contain a small amount of battery-powered CMOS memory to hold the date, time, and system setup parameters.
CMOS Setups: Setting Parameters for Hard Drives -referred to as the System Setup Program, is used to establish and store parameters for your system. You will need to access your CMOS program if you are installing a hard drive on your system, or if you notice that your system does not recognize the full capacity of the hard drive. CMOS setup programs vary according to manufacturer, each with its own way of accessing the CMOS setup. Many are accessed using hot-key combinations usually after rebooting the computer. For some systems, like IBM, the setup program is on a system diskette.
To enter your CMOS (SETUP) you need to boot the computer and when the 1st screen comes up, you will see an identification info screen that has your BIOS numbers on it, the kind of BIOS, and the Memory counter clicking away.
The screen should also tell you what HOT KEY(s) you need to envoke to enter SETUP. This again varies from computer to computer. Here is a list of the ones I could find:
The Delete key is the most common ways to enter CMOS (SETUP)
| AST Advantage, Award, Tandon | Ctrl Alt Esc |
| Compaq | Press F10 when logo screen is displayed |
| Compaq |
Press F10 when cursor jumps to top right-hand corner of screen Generally Compaq Setup can be entered by hitting the 'F10' key when booting up. As soon as you see the cursor go to the upper right hand side of the screen, hit 'F10'. Compaq setup program resides on a small partition on the hard drive and if you have fdisked and reformatted or installed a new hard drive you will need to use the Compaq setup program from here: Compaq Setup Download http://www5.compaq.com/support/files/wsdsfr.html |
| Emachine | Press Tab during boot |
| Dells (some) |
Press Reset button twice |
| Dell | Ctrl Alt Enter |
| EC Versa Notebooks | Hold down the F1 key upon startup/bootup |
| Hewlett Packard | Hold down the F1 key upon startup/bootup |
| IBM PS/2 with reference partition | Press Insert during boot |
| IBM ThinkPad using IBM BIOS (Early Models): | Press CTRL-ALT-INS when cursor is in upper-right corner of screen |
| IBM ThinkPad using IBM BIOS (Later Models): | Press and hold F1 key while powering-up laptop or Press CTRL-ALT-F11 from DOS prompt |
| Late model PS/1 Value Point and 330s | Ctrl Alt ? |
| Misc computers | Ctrl Alt + or Ctrl Esc |
| NEC | Press F2 during boot |
| NEC Versa Notebooks | Hold down the F1 key upon startup/bootup |
| Olivetti PC Pro | Ctrl Alt Shift + Num Pad Del |
| Packard Bell | Early models (386,486) require the sequence Ctrl-ALT-S at any time |
| PS/2s when pointer at top right of screen | Ctrl Ins |
| Phoenix | Ctrl Alt S |
| Toshiba | Press Esc during boot |
| Toshiba; Phoenix; | Press F1 during boot |
| Zenith, Phoenix | Ctrl Alt Ins |
Other
Common BIOS Key Sequences
CTRL-ALT-S
CTRL-ALT-Enter
CTRL-ALT-Insert
CTRL-ALT-Esc
F1
F10
Ctrl S =
Phoenix
Ctrl Shift Esc = Tandon 386
The
CMOS setup is stored in the BIOS ROM.
1.You are now in the CMOS SETUP. If you are prompted to choose Standard or Extended
setup,
choose Standard. Here a few example's of menu's in SETUP :
STANDARD CMOS SETUP
BIOS FEATURES SETUP
CHIPSET FEATURES SETUP
POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP
PNP AND PCI SETUP
LOAD BIOS DEFAULTS
LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS
SUPERVISOR PASSWORD
USER PASSWORD
IDE/HDD AUTO DETECTION
SAVE & EXIT SETUP
EXIT WITHOUT SAVING
OK you finally got into SETUP NOW what do I do.
Each BIOS Setup is different depanding on the the BIOS installed on which motherboard. The above menu item's are general in nature and are the most common. Rather then trying to show all the possible settings within a particular SETUP, I will provide links to different pages. Before you go to the links there is one thing to remember. When you Enter SETUP you may not see menu items but ICONS instead and you may not have a mouse. If you do not have use of your mouse, to get around within SETUP you can use the following:
Arrow Keys to navigate
EnterKey to get into a menu item
PageUp/Down or Space Bar to change a menu item
Escape Key to go from one menu to another
Here are some good links that will show you how to tweak/set your BIOS SETUP: