Using all new components with no OS installed, How do I install the BIOS. Intrepid 64 at completion.

[Steven Vollom]

On Wednesday 11 February 2009 1:09:26 am Constantinos Maltezos wrote:
> I am quite a bit confused by what your manuals are telling you.  The
> following is what I know about putting together computer parts and making a
> computer.

Dear Constantinos, when I purchased the motherboard, I researched several 
motherboard possibilities.  Due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge, I 
chose the one I did based upon features that I do not even completely 
understand.  But where they appeared logical to make a better computer, these 
additional features did persuade me.

This motherboard, when it was first manufactured, was pretty much the cutting 
edge for gamers.  It has capabilities that are not offered in other 
motherboards.  Overclocking capabilities are quite interesting.  For instance 
the motherboard software has the ability to change my 667mhz RAM to 800mhz, 
or even 1000mhz  depending if the actual sticks are manufactured at that 
level.  I really don't understand it very much, however apparently the change 
from 667mhz to 800 is a pretty much sure capability without damaging the 
memory or the system.  There is a capability to fine tune the nVidia chip, in 
fact the ability to fine tune each of the chips on the board to make maximum 
efficiency out of the chips that ended up on the board.

The board has the ability to maintain multible BIOS settings with the ability 
to change easily from one to another depending upon your then needs.  

The heat pipe feature of the motherboard is a method to maintain cool chips on 
all parts of the motherboard including the RAM memory.  It is designed to 
extend life and maintain efficiency.  Although I don't understand why these 
features are such an advantage, it sounded like excellent features, so I 
focused my bid on them.  In the end, I was able to purchase this very 
excellent motherboard for about the same price as an economy board with less 
features.

I plan to use the overclocking feature for two reasons.  I would like all the 
chips to work most efficiently together, so not so much to increase speed, I 
intend to fine tune them for efficiency.  Additionally, I may reduce speeds 
for economy and efficiency sake, if I am able to maintain actual work speeds 
at lower levels of power use.  I think this may be possible, because I won't 
use the computer for gaming and high end graphic processing very often.  I 
will have the ability to make the changes easily, but most of the time, I 
will be using the computer most economically and efficiently.

I did not re-read the entire manual to find out the references, but I remember 
from a prior reading that one of the settings in the new BIOS allowed for 
selecting AMD Quad Core Processor.  I don't know of the importance of this 
particular choice, other than I have a Quad Core, but it is a choice in the 
BIOS.

Shoot, if I read right, the computer will verbally tell me when some things 
are amiss instead of beeps.  For me that would be a positive feature.

Most of the advice I have been getting has been to use and be satisfied with 
the default BIOS settings, but since there is a distinction between dual and 
quad core processors, I suspect that that will be a selection I should make.  
And because of the extra capabilities of this motherboard, I may want to use 
more than one BIOS, since switching is simply a mouse-click.

If you have the time and interest, look at the manual for an ASUS M3N-HT Delux 
Mempipe motherboard, or at least the features they advertise to entice 
purchasers.  Interestingly enough, when you look at it in pictures it looks 
quite impressive; when you are looking at while installing, it is much more 
impressive.  The quality if everything, including cosmetics is impressive.  
Additionally those little capacitors that are included all over the board are 
of a special quality.  They don't leak and last forever, according to experts 
I have talked to.  So maybe this board will last without failure longer than 
others I have used.  Still the one I purchased did contain a manufacturing 
defect, so maybe it is all glitz.  I won't know until I have owned it a 
while.  

And while DDR3 memory has become the new standard, perhaps this board is not 
such a good deal at the moment.  Nonetheless it is the one I have, so I will 
enjoy it anyway.
>
> You don't need to install a BIOS.  The BIOS is stored on an eeprom and
> comes included with the motherboard.  If it did not, you would need a
> special tool to install it - you would not be able to use any drive because
> the BIOS is what makes the drives work in the beginning.

Thanks for this part of your help.  I don't understand what a BIOS does, and 
this helps.
 
> Once it's all together, it should function fine - and by that, I mean it
> will boot up and you'll see a couple quick screens of text before it
> complains that no operating system is found on the disks.  If this happens,
> everything is good.

This is were I was when I first had problems.  After completion, the BIOS 
would not come onscreen, nothing appeared.  There were no warning beeps or 
audible recommendations either, so that is what I have been having to solve 
for the past 3 months.

> After that, you can pop whatever OS installation disk you want into the DVD
> drive (as long as the BIOS automatically puts the DVD drive first in order
> of booting, otherwise you have to change this part and be careful about
> messing around in the BIOS) and restart.  You don't need Windows at all. 
> Once the OS is installed, you're done (except for the unforeseen, which
> will arise so be ready to figure it out).

What site would you download the LiveCD from, if you want the most current 
issue of Intrepid and the most current stable KDE?  The one I have now is 3 
months old.  I understand many improvements have been included since then.

Thanks friend,

Steven