The CMOS Reloaded FAQ

[t_ski]

Thought I'd post this here in case it might help anyone:

 

What is CMOS Reloaded?

 

CMOS Reloaded is an addition to the DFI Infinity and Lan Party "B" boards that allows the user to save up to four "User Define Configs" or "profiles," each complete with its own individual BIOS settings. This feature was created by Oskar Wu, the engineer who designed these boards.

 

 

How does CMOS Reloaded work?

 

CMOS Reloaded saves these profiles into an SEEPROM chip, which keeps it completely separate from the BIOS.

 

 

How do I use CMOS Reloaded?

 

In order to use CMOS Reloaded you must first have one of the motherboards mentioned above. After booting the board, you should enter the BIOS and select whatever options are necessary for your system to run. Save these settings and exit the BIOS. When the computer reboots, enter the BIOS again, then go to the CMOS Reloaded section in the main BIOS screen. At this point you can save your settings as one of the four profiles by selecting "backup." You can then rename the profile to your liking with up to three lines of text. Example:

 

Basic Setting

133 FSB x 11.5

Default voltage

 

Then save and exit from the BIOS and CMOS Reloaded can be used at anytime by selecting "load" from the CMOS Reloaded section of the BIOS, or by pressing the numerical key (above the letters on your keyboard, not on the number pad) that corresponds to the profile you just saved (ie: pressing "1" will load profile one, pressing "2" will load profile two, etc.). (Note: this may not work with the 11-27 BIOS. Please read the post by AG about this further down in this thread.) To use the number keys to load a User Config without entering the BIOS, use the reset button on the front of the computer and press the corresponding Config number at the same time. You might even hold the number down for a second or two longer, but it should load for you.

 

 

What good is CMOS Reloaded?

 

Well, simply put, it allows you to have up to four different settings for your computer. One could be default settings, one as your "24/7" overclock, one as an extreme overclock, one with Firewire and LAN enabled, or whatever you like. This feature also comes in handy when tweaking the system, as it will allow you to load the previously saved settings should you need to clear the BIOS.

 

 

Speaking of which, I tried to clear my BIOS the other day, but I still had profiles saved in the CMOS Reloaded section of the BIOS. Why?

 

As I stated before, the CMOS Reloaded feature is separate from the BIOS. Clearing the BIOS has no effect on it because they are two separate things.

 

 

I noticed that there are some random "z's" in the profile names for CMOS Reloaded. I haven't saved anything to them yet. Why are they there?

 

These are simply place-holders present on some boards but not all. They have no effect on the computer's performance.

 

 

What other features are available in CMOS Reloaded?

 

When booting the computer, pressing the "pause" key will clear the CMOS on BIOS's after 10-15. Pressing the "Insert" key will load setup defaults.

 

 

When I exited from Memtest86, my system no longer had my saved settings in the BIOS. Why?

 

Ppressing the "Esc" key on the 10-15 and earlier BIOS's will clear the CMOS each time you exit from Memtest86. You should upgrade to the 11-27 BIOS or later to correct this problem.

 

 

I have some settings saved in CMOS Reloaded. I just tried to change some settings but now my computer won't boot. Can CMOS Reloaded help me?

 

If you already have saved the settings into the BIOS and rebooted sucessfully before changing any settings, you can use CMOS Reloaded to restore that setting during a "no POST" situation. Press the reset key on the front of your PC while pressing the number that corresponds to the profile you wish to load. After a moment the board should boot with those saved settings.

 

However, there is a possiblility that this won't work on your computer, especially if you are suffering from "cold boot" issues. Using this process has worked for me several times before, but failed to work on one occasion. If it fails to work you should be able to clear the CMOS and go from there like normal.

 

 

What is the "auto backup" feature?

 

Each time the computer boots sucessfully after BIOS settings have changed, CMOS Reloaded will automatically save those settings as the last known good settings. You can then reload them by selecting "load" next to "Last Auto Backup Config" at the top of the CMOS Reloaded screen.

 

 

I think my CMOS Reloaded SEEPROM chip is corrupted. Is it possible to test this or clear its contents?

 

Yes it is, but only by a special program used by DFI. Due to the risks that this program may have in the hands of the general public, it is not available on the DFI website and may only be obtained by your DFI Tech at his/her suggestion. (Do not spam me or Angry_Games for this.)

 

 

I just loaded a "blank" user config file and my computer isn't booting. What can I do?

 

Usually this won't happen, but clearing the CMOS should solve this problem. A suggestion has been made (by me) to include a prompt in the CMOS Reloaded feature that keeps the user from accidentally loading a bad or blank profile. This feature will hopefully be included in future releases.

 

 

I don't want to rename all of the lines in the CMOS Reloaded profile, only one or two. Can I rename it without typing everything over?

 

Yes you can. Select the "Rename" feature, then press the "Esc" key for each line that you do not wish to change.

 

 

So t_ski, you seem like you know a lot about this CMOS Reloaded thing. Do you have any advice about it?

 

OK, it's not really a frequently asked question, but of course I do. My best advice would be to save your most basic settings as "User Config 1," especially if you need to turn off some or all of the extra hardware on the board (ie: LAN, sound, Firewire, SATA, etc.). That way you can reload them in case of boot failures or CMOS clearing.

 

Also, I'm not sure if it's completely necessary, but I recommend that you save a new backup for each of your User Configs each time you upgrade the BIOS. There may be hidden features in the old BIOS that may not play well with the new BIOS.

 

UPDATE: Another suggestion - If you are using a BIOS Savior, you might want to have a User Config saved for the Official BIOS (or other BIOS) installed on the chip, and use the other COnfigs for the BETS file in the BIOS Savior. That way, if you have to access the original chip and the official BIOS, you have the hot-keys (1-4) available to load the User Config for that BIOS.

 

 

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Well, that's all I can think of for now. Please post all of your comments/advice/corrections/inclusions in this thread. I will update this post with the corrected or additional information as it is posted and verified.

 

Thanks for reading and enjoy!:nod:

[t_ski]

This is the post from AG referred to above:

 

the 11/27 BIOS has CMOS Reloaded bug, you can read here:

http://www.angrygames.com/CMOS_Reloaded_NFIIB.htm

 

NOTE: those two BIOSes for download are quite old, and the only thing the BIOS changes is the CMOS Reloaded features. There are no performance improvements or other fixes beyond CMOS Reloaded (so you can use basically the 11/27 bios with updated CMOS Reloaded features =)

[soundx98]

still a great read for n00bs and oldfahts alike.