BIOS Tweaking? - Tech Support Forums

william8mitchell · March 20th, 2003, 08:07 PM

Ok, hi thanks for looking at my thread. I bought a new mobo not so long ago because i wanted a faster CPU so i had to go all the way. I bought a mobo with what i believed to be a 800MHZ CPU, but for some reason when i start my PC up it only registers at about 564MHZ i think, even when playing games etc i see no difference (my old one was 333MHZ) and sometimes i think it is worse, ive been told i should tweak the BIOS but i dont have a clue how to, i know how to access it (i think) but im not sure what to change.

My mobo is a (Vega?) M6VCF with a Via 800MHZ CPU.

Beemer · March 20th, 2003, 08:21 PM

What company BIOS does it give you when you start your machine.
Award
Award Moduler
Phoenix
IBM
?

We might be able to send you to a page with your BIOS instruction manual.

Cheers!

william8mitchell · March 20th, 2003, 08:50 PM

Award Module, version 6 or something i think it said.

I got WinXP recently too and alot of the time i notice in the task manager my CPU is being 100% used and im not even doing much! My mouse pointer sometimes lag too, well quite alot actually. Plus game installers seem to take forever, alot longer than they ever did before, sometimes they even crash, never used to do that before.

william8mitchell · March 20th, 2003, 10:07 PM

Award Moduler i mean. (just incase 1 missing letter causes confusion lol....)

PyroSama · March 20th, 2003, 10:56 PM

For the in OS problems you may also want to check for spyware and viruses.

Download Ad-Aware from www.lavasoftusa.com run the update and scan.

PyroSama

Beemer · March 21st, 2003, 12:14 AM

Here is a page at Adrien's, rojakpot that will guide you through just about any bios setting.

http://www.rojakpot.com/bog.aspx

Cheers!

william8mitchell · March 21st, 2003, 06:42 AM

Errr.... i had a look at that page and stopped, i dont have a clue what i need to look at or change, i dont know what any of those things do really.... maybe a bit more help?

william8mitchell · March 21st, 2003, 08:39 AM

Oh yeah i shouldnt have any viruses or spyware, i formatted my hard drive before i installed winXP just over a week ago and i havent download many programs since then.

Beemer · March 21st, 2003, 10:49 AM

OK. You are a newbie with the BIOS then.
Here's a printable version. http://alphazero.hypermart.net/The%2...ide%20v5.8.pdf

The BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. The BIOS is where you can configure how, or what hardware is loaded upon startup. This is the first routine your computer completes before heading down the path to the software loading and then on to producing the pretty Microsoft Windows GUI. (Graphical User Interface)

Warning !
Don't screw up! Take a look around for a while at all the different settings and get familure with the various tabs and configuration options. Don't make any changes you aren't sure of. The BIOS isn't for the faint of heart.

The BIOS is accessed by a few different ways depending on your make and model. You have an Award Moduler so you use the Delete key on your keyboard. Press the "Delete" key as soon as your memory check has finished.

To navigate the BIOS, use your Up & Down keys for option selection & Left & Right keys for header selection.

Use your + & - keys for setting the option values.
E.G.
Select an option and then using the + & - keys you are able to set Disabled or Enabled. When you have the value you wish on the screen when togling between the 2, hit the Enter key to confirm your selection.

When you want to back out of the BIOS navigation screen, hit F10. A white panel will appear asking if you want to Exit and Save Changes.
Using your left or right keys select the answer.
If you are confident you have made competent changes to the BIOS, select Yes and hit the Enter key. The settings will be saved and off to Windows you go.

Have fun and remember that if you think you screwed something up or aren't quite sure if you did or not, JUST SAY NO when asked to Exit and Save Changes. F10 can be a friendly key or a mean key. It's all up to you.

Cheers!

jadison · March 21st, 2003, 11:01 AM

Just a tidbit of info here - Via CPUs are not nearly as powerful as their AMD / Intel counterparts. Mainly due to the lack of L1/L2 cache and a different processor design, these things hamper the CPU's peformance.

BTW, it seems you have a Biostar motherboard, the M6VCF and a Via C3 processor. You can download the mobo manual HERE.

From the processor chart HERE it looks like that mobo can only support up to a 700MHz Via C3 CPU. You might have gotten a lower-clocked CPU than what you thought, they might've ripped you off. Now, I could be wrong and I'm not sure of this...but it's worth checking out (look in the manual on how to remove the Heatsink / Fan and look at the CPU itself, tell us what you see).

If you want to know how to OC that CPU, refer to 1.6.2 and 1.6.3 in your mobo manual.

Good luck.