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View Full Version : bios windows and more!



alphaonias3
01-15-2008, 12:04 PM
After 4 months of buying 1 part at a time I finaly have everything I need to build my new computer. I have been following the online intructions provided by Rob and everything seems to be going well but I have a few questions. Here is a little bit about my system and where I am to date.

AMD 5200+
Biostar TF7025-M2 mother board
windows xp home edition

Assembly went without a hitch and I am trying to get everything installed and tweeked. I have installed windows and drivers. All tests run so far check out including the directx tests. These are not exactly "first boot" questions but I think that this is still the best place for them.

1) What I see in my bios is not too different from what I see in the instructions but there seems to be quite a bit missing. For example, there is no "load fail safe defaults". Also, the instructions detail settings in bios to maximize performence. I could only complete about 1/4 of these setting as the rest just were not there.

How big of a deal is this? I suspect this is just a condition of using a less expensive mobo. There is a bios update available from biostar that I thought may be a solution but I was hesitant to go that route yet.

2) This happens sometimes but not always when I am installing new drivers and software. (Mostly drivers) For example, I installed the cipset driver. When I restarted I got stuck on the splash screen. This is the screen diplayed just before windows kicks in. It has the biostar logo and the option to enter bios except that it won't let you enter bios, it just sits there. The way I have been getting around this is to power down, unplug the hard drive and try to boot into bios that way. It usually takes a few tries but once there I can reset the boot priority to the cd drive and boot into windows from the cd. Once that is accomplished I can reset the priority back to the hard drive, power down, hook the hard drive back up and start up into windows normally.

I suspect that this is either a bios setting or a windows issue, and I was thinking that a windows reinstall may be in order.

3) I installed the WCPUID utility and it is showing the the AGP is NOT enabled. I don't know what to do with this as I am sure I have installed the latest chipset drivers.

I am guessing that these things are all related somehow but it is beyond me. Thanks for reading and any help would be appreciated.