Couple BIOS Setup questions

[macx]

Had to replace my crashed C drive and reload XP, added another
SATA drive to backup (I'm NOT going to lose anything again!),
and somehow lost my BIOS, I think while fiddling with the SATA
settings in 1 or 2 places in SETUP cuz of some info with the 250g
SATA drive I put in for backup. Next time, I VOW to review the
User Manual for BIOS settings! (During boot, it says BIOS not installed)

Have downloaded the BIOS off the ASUS site, and am ready to reinstall it,
going to use ASUS EZFlash to avoid having to mess with DOS.

Going thru my User Manual for setup, I don't understand a couple
of the settings:

ASUS P4C800-E Del board with hyper-threading, P4 2.8. 1GB RAM, XP.
IDE WD Caviar SE C drive & NEC IDE CD/DVD, 2 SATA drives, no RAID setup.

In IDE Device Setup, should I enable or disable 32 Bit Data Transfer?
What does this do or not do?

in Chipset, in Graphic Adapter Priority (described as "setting graphics
controller to use as primary boot device") should I set AGP/PCI or
PCI/AGP? I have an AGP 8X graphics card.
Again, what's the significance or result?

In Onboard LAN Controller, should I enable or disable? And if I enable
that, I have the option of enable or disable Onboard LAN Boot ROM
which is described as "option ROM in onboard LAN controller" - ???
My LAN connection is on the board, not on a card.

In PnP O/S, NO = BIOS config all devices in the system, YES =
BIOS only config's non-boot devices when a PnP system is
installed (i.e. XP). Which, why??

Last, should I enable or disable "Boot to OS/2" for OS/2 compatability?
I don't think I have any OS/2 devices, other than mouse and keyboard.

Thanks for helping me fine tune my setup so it works properly!!

 

[Ididmyc600]

In IDE Device Setup, should I enable or disable 32 Bit Data Transfer?
What does this do or not do?

Not a great deal and you can leave it set as disabled

in Chipset, in Graphic Adapter Priority (described as "setting graphics
controller to use as primary boot device") should I set AGP/PCI or
PCI/AGP? I have an AGP 8X graphics card.
Again, what's the significance or result?

Its a throwover from the old days, set it to AGP if thats what you have

In Onboard LAN Controller, should I enable or disable? And if I enable
that, I have the option of enable or disable Onboard LAN Boot ROM
which is described as "option ROM in onboard LAN controller" - ???
My LAN connection is on the board, not on a card.

If its an onboard LAN then enable it or you wont be able to use it, as for the LAN boot, you wont be using that, its mainly used for dumb terminals that dont have a Hard Disk

In PnP O/S, NO = BIOS config all devices in the system, YES =
BIOS only config's non-boot devices when a PnP system is
installed (i.e. XP). Which, why??

PNP should be Yes as XP is a PLug and PLay OS I wont go into it as its complicated


Last, should I enable or disable "Boot to OS/2" for OS/2 compatability?
I don't think I have any OS/2 devices, other than mouse and keyboard.

OS/2 is a form of OS like windows and Linux leave it disabled

Thanks for helping me fine tune my setup so it works properly

Changing a few piddly settings in the BIOS wont make much difference to how the PC operates, (well not that you would notice).


Regards

 

[macx]

Thanks very much!

I had some idea on those, but they weren't explained
in enuf detail in the book for me to know for sure.

Having taken only infrequent forays into the BIOS and
SETUP, in spite of having installed and config'd the board
originally, I am sure there is lots I'm not well informed on
or up to date on, and just like to have things "right."