Help with building computer- BIOS?

Question

I haven't bought anything yet but I'm worried about BIOS. I have no clue how to set up the BIOS.
Do I have to worry about jumpers? I don't know anything about them, I will be using 1 SATA HDD and 1 IDE DVD burner.

Can anyone give me good links to BIOS help sites or tell me what to do?

the motherboard im buying is this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3059766&sku=MBM-NFM2S-5400

Answer 1

No need to tinker with BIOS. Once you plug everything in place, even if there is no OS yet, BIOS will just load safe defaults. You only need to adjust the time and date, that's it. You tinker with BIOS if you want to change boot device priority, optimize memory timings, overclock the fsb or if you really want some customized settings. BUT for most users the "Load fail-safe defaults" is best. You can even test your build and open BIOS while your build is halfway through. That means even WITHOUT HDD, FDD and CD/DVD drives yet.

Answer 2

It has been a long time since jumper settings were vital for a computer's set up, almost all of the functions once handled by jumpers are now handled through software.

A modern BIOS is very good at autodetecting the computer's components so you don't really need to worry. The only jumpers you are likely to find on the motherboard are ones that govern the activation of extra USB ports (although sometimes that is also done through software) and a jumper to reset the BIOS to factory defaults (if you are playing with some more vital settings and set something wrong, for example if you were overclocking and set things so unstably that it wouldn't even pass the power on self test).

If you want to mess around with settings in the BIOS you're going to be doing it all in software, in the screen that comes up after you hit delete (or sometimes F12, just watch for what it tells you to press to enter setup as it boots). It is, generally, a good idea not to mess with things you don't understand so if you don't know what a setting does don't alter it.

Other than that everything you need to know ought to be covered in the motherboard's user manual.

Answer 3

You shouldn't need to worry much on the jumpers maybe on the DVD burner, I always set them to cable select (a lot come pre - jumpered to slave). The hard drive should be jumpered to master by default, if you need any information on changing the jumper settings go to the manufactures website they should have a picture indicating the settings. And as for the BIOS you really don't need to do anything to it once your operating system is installed.

Answer 4

bois is simple and preset in xp and vista. These are the default setting for these os.