OS Plug & Play in BIOS

Where do I fing the OS Plug & Play disable option in BIOS. I looked everywhere for it, but couldn't find it.

What kind/brand/model motherboard do you have and what bios do you have. My bios doesn't have it.

Not all motherboards have it listed. I haven't had in the past 2 motherboards I got. Wouldn't worry about it if you can't find it.

Not there...

It's not listed in my BIOS.

Have you checked behind the sofa??

In any case, in my Award BIOS:

PnP/PCI Configuration Section, first option reads "PnP OS Installed?" with choice of either "Yes" or "No."

As other members have noticed, this option is not available in all BIOSes and some chipsets will turn control over Plug and Play to the operating system in all cases. In this case, you are pretty much snookered if you need to change this option.

I should image that the ACPI HAL in Windows 2000 and XP probably takes over and does pretty much whatever the hell it likes, turning control of system resources over to the software in the OS whether the BIOS says not to or not..... But its especially an issue during the hardware detection phase of Windows 2000 and XP installation where this can hang or crash if Plug and Play OS installed is not set to NO in some cases. I believe that this is an issue with the Plug and Play hardware detection conflicting with certain video adapters. Those video adapters that are integrated onto the chipset seem a particular problem.

If your BIOS DOES have this option, and you are installing Windows 2000 or XP, I recommend setting this to NO. As I said, when the installation is complete, if your machine is fully compatible with an ACPI HAL then the OS will control your resource allocation anyway, but it will revent the installation process itself from failing.