Re: Access to BIOS


"Nel" <nelftm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:XeeMg.21683$DB3.7177@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was talking to a colleague about my PC's BIOS. The machine is a
Mediacenter machine that is more like a laptop in design than a desktop.

It has very limited functions (Hyperthread on/off, date & time, password
and
that's about it!), and he reckons it might be that there are 2 levels of
access. Has anyone ever heard of this?


I suppose it's possible, but you'd need to provide more details on the
machine before anyone could even attempt to provide specific information.

In general, PC manufacturers purposely limit access to BIOS functions to
prevent people screwing up their machine (thus saving them a warranty call).
Usually much greater access is provided to those purchasing high-end PCs, or
someone building their own machine and purchasing separate components. The
vast array of BIOS functionality available to such an individual is a major
selling point.

If I understand you correctly, essentially you just want to be able to boot
off the CD/DVD drive instead of the HD, correct? Unless the PC is very old
(e.g., pre CD era) or very unique, it's quite unusual to not at least have
the option in the BIOS to control the boot sequence, certainly to boot off a
CD/DVD. Heck, how would you install the OS (e.g., XP) that comes from
CD/DVD?!

If this is an XP CD, one thing you can do to circumvent this problem is to
use a bootable Win98 floppy, create a FAT32 partition on the HD, copy the XP
files (only need the i386 folder) from DVD to the partition, then run setup
from there. If you need specific instructions, let me know.

Jim


I get in to it by pressing F2, so I'm wondering if the are any other key
combinations might give me full access. I need to set up a new DVD drive
so
that I can boot from DVD, but currently the drive is only accessible after
the initial boot.

TIA




.

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