Main  DIY Computer  Site Map  Email:  Webmaster Setting Up The BIOS Before setting up the operating system on the computer, it is important that the BIOS settings are set correctly. To enter the BIOS, follow the instructions on the POST screen. On the POST screen below, it says "Press Del to enter Setup." Other computers may ask you to hit ctrl-alt-esc, or hit F1. After entering the BIOS, you should see a screen that looks like the picture below. On some computers, you have to specify the frequency of the Front Side Bus and the frequency that the RAM is running at. If you have PC133 SDRAM, then you will need to make sure that the "DRAM Frequency" field is set to 133Mhz, etc. The processor in this computer is a 1Ghz Thunderbird. Thunderbirds have a "CPU frequency" of 100 Mhz, while the newer Athlon-C's run at 133Mhz. In some computers (like the one pictured above), there is a setting called "System Performance Setting". It is usually set to "Optimal" by default. If you have problems with the computer locking up, change this setting to "Normal". If you want to boot off of the CD (as you would if you are going to proceed to boot off of the Windows 2000 Professional CD so that you can install it), you will need to make sure that the computer is allowed to boot off of the CD drive. You will want to change the boot order so that the computer will try to boot off of the CD drive first. The "Plug & Play O/S" field isn't always located on this screen. You will need to look for it. It is usually set to "no" by default. You will want to change this to "yes". Otherwise, the computer will try to make all of your PCI cards try to share the same IRQ (this isn't necessarily a problem, but it's usually not desired). Back   Index   Next Sections Introduction Selecting the Components Mounting the Motherboard Mounting the CPU Installing the RAM Case Connections Mounting the Floppy Drive Mounting Drives Installing Cards External Connections POST Screen BIOS Setup Windows 2000 Biorobots Home  Site Map      Server Project Main      FAQ      How To      New Account Copyright 2006 Case Western Reserve University, Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. All rights reserved.