Computer Problem Solving - BIOS

Every time I shut down my computer it loses date, time, and other BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) settings.

Motherboards use a small battery that provides just enough power to retain hardware configuration data, as well as the date and time. In older PCs this battery is actually soldered to the motherboard and is difficult to replace without expert assistance. Many newer motherboards use a small battery that looks much like the ones you’d find in a calculator or watch, and if you research the specifications on your motherboard, you can determine the battery model and find a replacement. You may have to open your PC to find out what kind of battery your mother- board uses. You can open the case and look at the motherboard battery after you follow a few basic safety precautions, which you’ll want to use every time you open your computer. Disconnect the power cable and then move the computer to an area where you can work comfortably. Remove the case, and before you go poking around in- side, touch a doorknob or other grounded metal to prevent static electricity discharge, which can render your PC’s sensitive parts useless. Locating the battery is easy. Most batteries are about the size of a nickel, and you will see a plus sign (+) facing you. Different motherboards use different types of retaining clips, but these are pretty basic. Just undo the clip, remove the old battery, and pop in the new one. Replace the case, reconnect the power cable, and start up your PC. Motherboards respond differently to the battery replacement procedure. In some cases your PC may start up normally, but there’s also a chance that your computer will indicate that set- tings have changed and then load the BIOS menu. You may have to set some basic information in this menu and save your changes. Then exit the menu, and your PC should start up with no problems. To set the date and time in Windows, double-click the clock on the lower right of your screen.

My PC’s hard drive isn’t working properly. Can I fix it through BIOS?

You will not be able to repair a damaged or defective hard drive in your system’s BIOS, but you may be able to correct problems that prevent a hard drive from working properly in your computer. Today’s hard drives have capacities that were almost unimaginable a decade ago. With this rapid expansion in storage real estate, a few problems have tagged along, as well. If you have an older motherboard and, thus, an older set of BIOS instructions, you may encounter difficulty using today’s monster drives. They can fail to work at all; they may work but generate errors; or they may work but report an incorrect size in Windows or other operating systems. Here are some troubleshooting steps to follow when encountering hard drive woes: Go into your PC’s BIOS and find the Auto detect Hard Drive feature. Run the procedure. If Auto detect fails to properly identify the hard drive, find the hard drive’s BIOS entry, set its type to Manual, and manually enter the CHS (Cylinder-Heads-Sectors) settings from the hard drive’s label or the hard drive manufacturer’s Web site. Set the LBA (Logical Block Ad- dressing) setting to Auto. Most retail hard drives come with an installation disk. If the other steps have failed, use the disk.

Update your system’s BIOS to a newer version. Install a third-party hard drive controller that is compatible with the hard drive. Some hard drives come with a free controller card as part of a package deal. Look for a bundle like this to save cash and to ensure compatibility between hard drive and controller.

Increasing Memory - Speed Up PC

Adding computer memory is one of the most useful upgrades that you can perform and also one of the cheapest. especially if you just want to increase the capabilities of Microsoft Windows. In some cases, doubling your Computer memory can virtually double the speed of your Computer.

Memory chips comes in different types and sizes.

The old one’s were the EDO Ram used in 486 and Pentium 1 Computers The next is SDRAM, RDRAM, DDR and the latest is DDR2
DDR2 - Double data rate 2 - Is a new version of DDR which is twice as fast as original DDR.
DDR2 is the latest in high speed memory.

Format Computer Using FDISK

Primary partitions are the only one that are bootable. They’re always the C: drive when active. Normally you can only have one (more with some special tricks etc.) Extended partitions are needed when you want more than one partition. You can only have ONE Extended partition. Logical Drives come into the Extended partition. They are handy since you know that you can only have one Primary and one Extended so you can get more than only two partitions. They would be your D:, E:, etc. drives.

First you need to reboot your system with the Boot Disk inserted.

1. At the A: prompt start “FDISK.”

2. If asked to use Large Disc support say Yes.

3. The first screen looks like this:

Create Dos Partition or Logical Drive
Set Active Partition
Delete Partitions or Logical DOS Drives
Display Partition Information
Change current fixed drive. (In case you have two or more Hard Drives)
So, to prepare you hopefully did a backup from your data. You did, didn’t you ?!

4. Next you need to remove the existing partitions.

Then move to 3.

5. Next screen is like this:

Delete Primary DOS
Delete Extended DOS
Delete Logical Drives
Delete Non-DOS
Delete always in the following order

Logical (All) > Extended > Primary (Last)

6. Then Go back to first screen after all partitions have been removed.g
7. Now you need to setup your new partitions.

Go back to 1.

This screen will looks like this:

Create Primary DOS
Create Extended DOS
Create Logical DOS Drives

Here we create in the following order

Primary > Extended > Logical Drives.

8. First create the Primary. If asked to use all space say No and enter the amount you wish for the C: drive. It should be set automatically to be the (only) Active partition. If not it may ask you or you have to select “2. Set active partition” from the main menu.

9. Next create the Extended Partition. Use all space left.

It advances automatically to the next step, creating the Logical DOS Drives.

10. Enter the amount you wish for the D: partition and than the rest for the third partition.

Think first about the size for the partitions.

After you finished with FDISK just exit it.

Next you need to reboot, with the disc still inserted and Format all partitions (the C: partition might need to be formatted with "A:/format c: /s”, . Another reboot and you can go ahead and install Windows.

When your system support booting from CD just insert the Windows CD and reboot. The setup will start.