Bios Settings For Windows Xp

[Eilene Balque]

Thismight simply be a coincidence, but after the most recent batch of updates to Windows 10 my "Password on boot" option flicked off in the BIOS - though the password still exists as I needed it to access the BIOS and revert the setting back to on.

Though I have never heard of it, maybe it is possible that Windows removes BIOS passwords on some devices before installing to ensure a silent install. BIOS settings can most certainly be read (and modified) by software, so this is a possibility. However, it is more likely that it simply happened as a malfunction (has happened with me before)

Took awhile to figure out why it suddenly wouldn't boot because during initial setup last summer, as with all 40 new PCS in this lab, the firmware had been set to enable the Legacy (BIOS) boot and disable the Secure (UEFI) boot.

Having ruled out all the usual possibilities,

I decided to check whether the firmware had been changed. I had to use the BIOS supervisor password to access the settings and found that the settings had indeed been reset to their defaults (Disable Legacy Boot and Enable Secure Boot).

I changed them back to enable the BIOS boot and disable the UEFI boot. Then I went through the HP firmware change validation process (type in a 4 digit number to match the randomly generated number that was presented to me) and then rebooted the PC.

This should not have happened because during PC setup the internal speaker had been disabled per our usual procedure to prevent random (or maybe not so random) tones and tunes from dozens of PCs from disrupting class.

I had logged into this machine several times since initial setup and it had never emitted the Windows startup or any other sound. So I restarted and again used the BIOS admin supervisor access -- discovered that the internal speaker was enabled -- disabled it and again went through the change validation process.

On 3/19/2018, changes were initiated to change KB4056887 from Installed to Absent for client id CbsTask and to change KB4056890 from superseded to Absent for client id CbsTask, but apparently no reboot was necessary for these changes to occur.

Then I found "How to access UEFI Firmware settings on Windows 10/8.1" on The Windows Club website. The article showed me how to change firmware settings via Settings > Update and Security > Recovery > Advanced startup > Troubleshoot > UEFI Firmware Settings.

BOTTOM LINE: It apparently is possible for a Windows Update (or combination thereof) to override the BIOS administrator password and reset PC firmware to its defaults -- without disabling or changing BIOS password.

FOLLOW UP: After Spring semester final exams, tested the low CMOS battery hypothesis by disconnecting the machine from electrical power for three weeks. (According to the Windows event log, there had been two weeks from the 3/21/2018 shutdown until 4/4/2018 when the issue was discovered, so two weeks would be the maximum time that the machine could have been disconnected from electrical power.) However, when the machine was reconnected to electrical power and turned on after three weeks, it booted in BIOS mode per usual. Accordingly, it still seems possible that a very unusual (and unknown at this time) combination of events somehow allowed a malfunctioning Windows Update process to use Windows 10's firmware change authority to reset the firmware to its default values.

The other day I was on the computer playing Elder Scrolls Online (awesome game) and before going to bed, shut it down, all normally. I suspect that at some point during that day, an update was applied since I have automatic updating enabled and because the next morning when I turn on my computer, after posting, it went to a bsod saying error code 0000225.

I try restarting a few times thinking it must be a glitch, but same thing keeps happening, and I'm thinking I may need to reformat or completely reset the OS. I restart again and while posting I enter the bios settings just to see if something else is wrong... and there it is... my bios has somehow been changed to look at the wrong SSD while booting.

I don't know if it'll help, but I put a pw on the bios now so maybe updates or whatever did it will now be prevented from doing so. I looked at maybe enabling the PCI Lock option in msconfig, but not sure about it yet. The big takeaway though, is that something other than me changed my bios settings.

OK, so Multi-Threadding/Hyper-Threadding is one of those features that will either work for you or it wont (cause problems or not). Many here swear by turning this off whilst others by leaving this on. Its one of those features where you need to test and see whats works for you.

My personal thoughts are, if you are experiencing a slower than usual experience then you should leave multi threading on.

Like @Phil_Pendlebury mentioned, your main concern should be to just disable the Onboard hardware you are NOT using. Such as OBS (if you have a dedicated sounndcard), If you have dual ethernet consider switching one off. If you have wifi and ethernet consider which is more valuable and switch the other off. Close off unused USB ports. Some boards still come with USB2 if you have no USB2 devices turn this off. These methods will help out on system resources. Every cycle counts right!

Switch on the performance mode in cubase, add exceptions for cubase to your firewall rules, Add a cubase profile into your gpu control panel and set this to Max/high performance. OR, Open windows settings panel and search GPU > Select Graphics settings > Add cubase and set the profile to High Performance.

Forgot to mention, when setting Cubase to you high perfomance mode what cubase is doing is activating windows high performance mode in the power settings and when you quit Cubase Windows returns to a balanced profile or user specific profile. The problem with this is when cubase crashes, windows will be stuck in High performance mode and you will have to then manully return windows to the Balanced performance mode else your system will sit idle running in high perfomance mode. Just something to note.

FWIW here is my complete list of BIOS adjustments that I make on every BIOS update. You can see the default states followed by the states that i set. It is nothing really, and absolutely no touching the cpu at all.:

There are some items that I disable manually. For example, my Camera capture cards where I do not use the audio, only the video. SoundID Reference, is completely removed including all services, (using a script which I am happy to share) as I only ever use the plugin version, (not Syetem-wide). Also, the nVidia HD Audio. I never use it.

This could also suggest there may be a timing issue with the Ram

When Gen 3 was released there were problems with RAM running above 3400mhz, If you occupy all 4 slots of RAM at the same time.

So if you use the suggested XMP profile or use default settings you still get RAM timing issues.

My friend had a problem with a new PC he got from a specialist PC retailer in the UK in 2019, He was having problems with FL Studio randomly crashing to desktop,

The web browser was also randomly crashing seemingly for no reason.

He was tinkering with graphics card drivers and settings for days. running the graphics card underclocked seemed to make the problem better.

I had heard about the gen3 problems so I set the MoBo setting to how they should be set. and long story short

The system runs perfectly with RAM underclocked to 3400mhz

using 4 slots 8 GB in each slot.

The fix is to buy 2 RAM sticks @ 16gb each using dual mode, for his motherboard slots 2 and 4 only

Then we could use the XMP profiles with no problems running a full 3600mhz

even with extreme settings turned on it now runs perfectly.

I gave up on this issue and purchased a replacement system board, which solved the problem of no video. My attempt to use a heat gun to reflow the solder on the NVIDIA Graphics Chip was an unsuccessful gambit.

Unplug from wall press the power switch 2-3 times then move both blue jumpers to adjacent pins on the right. After 10 seconds return the pins to original position an see if the you can get into the bios. Or remove battery, whatever is easier.

After I fully explored the HP driver download page for the HP Sprout, I subsequently tried to reinstall 80.13, the newest BIOS version for Windows 8.1. Eventually, I downloaded and tried every Windows 8.1 BIOS version and every Windows 10 BIOS version. The only version that would turn on the video was A0.09 (which subsequently provided the 8-Beep code). All the other BIOS versions installed silently and blindly (no video). I then looked up the AMI documentation to discover the meaning of the 8-Beep code which explained the no-video issue. That's when the original owner told me about the BIOS setting to bypass the built-in Video RAM for the NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M Graphics Chip. But with no video, there was no way to bring up the BIOS Setup to change the settings. As far as I know, the HP All-In-One series have no serial console and no way to hack the CMOS settings without a working video.

Last month, on a wonky Dell Latitude D630c laptop with a buggy NVIDIA NVS 735M Surface-Mounted Graphics Chip, I successfully reflowed that problematic chip by putting the bare motherboard in a 400 oven for 10 minutes. If I cannot find a way to resolve the issue with the HP Sprout, short of replacing the whole system board, I might as well try the same tactic, as I would have to disassemble the machine and remove the existing system board anyway. In other words, the issue could be the same as it was with the Dell Latitude. But first I might just try a 400 heat gun directly on the NVIDIA chip, without cooking the whole system board.

It looks like this issue is so arcane and so deeply technical, and so challenging, it's going to require a deity-level guru to devise a solution that I can employ. If there is anyone who knows of a cognizant deity-level guru who can be summoned here, please sound Gabriel's Trumpet on my behalf. I've just issued an "HP Friend" request to a dozen "Experts" on this HP Forum, in the hopes that someone here knows of a super-expert who can advise me on how to recover from the issue described above.

Since there is one (and only one) edition of the HP Sprout BIOS Update (namely the American Megatrends AMI CAM-A0.09 version) that can actually turn on the wonky surface-mounted NVIDIA GT 745 Graphics Chip, there must be a way to 1) turn on the video and 2) immediately get into the BIOS Settings to judiciously edit the flags in the CMOS to tell it to only use main system RAM (and not the wonky built-in NVIDIA VRAM) to bring this machine back to useful life.

So, once again ... "Calling All Experts! Calling all Super-Gurus!"

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