Print BIOS Windows

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

If I had a dime for every time this question was asked..... ;-)
Short answer is, I know of no way to accomplish what you want.

Long answer, there may be alternatives.
I have seen a number of utilities that claim to save your BIOS settings to a file,
but they all save them to a binary file which does not display as any intelligible
characters, and certainly not useful for printing either.

Some older printers (I mean at least 6 or 7 years old) were capable of printing
without any drivers loaded, and without Windows running. For example, on an older
system here, I have an Epson Stylus Color 640, and I can press the PrintScreen key
at each BIOS screen, and it will print out the screen contents, though not in a
formatted page.
Some BIOS (IIRC AMi BIOS from certain years) actually had a built-in option in the
BIOS to print the info, but I don't know if that worked with printers that required
Windows drivers to be loaded in order to print.

On alternative is to use a digital camera to take a snapshot of each BIOS screen,
and save the photos as image files on your hard drive of on a CD-R.

Hope this helps.....
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"b11_" <b11@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9BFE84B4-8C77-4C3B-B0DE-13F746B15683@microsoft.com...
> I'd like to print the BIOS windows I see on the screen. How could I do that
> using a printer that functions after I boot my computer?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

If you have a parallel port printer,
Try this:
Press the "Print Screen" key,
Wait about 30 seconds, then press the form-feed button on the printer.
even with most "parallel port" printers, this will give you a print out of
the BIOS window.
It works because the laser and inkjet printer wait for either a full page of
data or a form-feed command to start printing in the DOS mode.
Unfortunately, USB printers do not know any DOS commands, like lots of
computer techs today.

"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message
news:e3KBujSqFHA.1136@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> If I had a dime for every time this question was asked..... ;-)
> Short answer is, I know of no way to accomplish what you want.
>
> Long answer, there may be alternatives.
> I have seen a number of utilities that claim to save your BIOS settings to
> a file,
> but they all save them to a binary file which does not display as any
> intelligible
> characters, and certainly not useful for printing either.
>
> Some older printers (I mean at least 6 or 7 years old) were capable of
> printing
> without any drivers loaded, and without Windows running. For example, on
> an older
> system here, I have an Epson Stylus Color 640, and I can press the
> PrintScreen key
> at each BIOS screen, and it will print out the screen contents, though not
> in a
> formatted page.
> Some BIOS (IIRC AMi BIOS from certain years) actually had a built-in
> option in the
> BIOS to print the info, but I don't know if that worked with printers that
> required
> Windows drivers to be loaded in order to print.
>
> On alternative is to use a digital camera to take a snapshot of each BIOS
> screen,
> and save the photos as image files on your hard drive of on a CD-R.
>
> Hope this helps.....
> --
> Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
> http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
> "b11_" <b11@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:9BFE84B4-8C77-4C3B-B0DE-13F746B15683@microsoft.com...
>> I'd like to print the BIOS windows I see on the screen. How could I do
>> that
>> using a printer that functions after I boot my computer?
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

A bit labor time consuming, but when this was important to me, I copied each
page in a spiral notebook for future reference. Keep the same notebook
handy for many PC things like error codes for instance during
troubleshooting, passwords, POP email setup for my ISP etc. That is
everything that that may be vital, but rarely use and may lose if the PC
bites the dust.

"b11_" <b11@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9BFE84B4-8C77-4C3B-B0DE-13F746B15683@microsoft.com...
> I'd like to print the BIOS windows I see on the screen. How could I do
that
> using a printer that functions after I boot my computer?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

From: "b11_" <b11@discussions.microsoft.com>

| I'd like to print the BIOS windows I see on the screen. How could I do that
| using a printer that functions after I boot my computer?

Take a digital photograph. The BIOS screen is too low level to perform a print-screen.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

"David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote in message
news $mn3BYqFHA.2604@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> From: "b11_" <b11@discussions.microsoft.com>
>
> | I'd like to print the BIOS windows I see on the screen. How could I do that
> | using a printer that functions after I boot my computer?
>
> Take a digital photograph. The BIOS screen is too low level to perform a
print-screen.

No, actually it's not. I have printed out BIOS screens (generic Award BIOS) using
the PrintScreen button, to my Epson Stylus Color 640 on LPT1. As Richard in AZ
mentions, I had to hit the paper feed button to keep the paper going and print each
screen.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

From: "glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com>

| "David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote in message
| news $mn3BYqFHA.2604@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> From: "b11_" <b11@discussions.microsoft.com>
>>
|>> I'd like to print the BIOS windows I see on the screen. How could I do that
|>> using a printer that functions after I boot my computer?
>>
>> Take a digital photograph. The BIOS screen is too low level to perform a
| print-screen.
|
| No, actually it's not. I have printed out BIOS screens (generic Award BIOS) using
| the PrintScreen button, to my Epson Stylus Color 640 on LPT1. As Richard in AZ
| mentions, I had to hit the paper feed button to keep the paper going and print each
| screen.
| --
| Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
| http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Oh well... :-)

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

glee wrote:

> If I had a dime for every time this question was asked..... ;-)

What question was that again? :-(

> Short answer is, I know of no way to accomplish what you want.
>
> Long answer, there may be alternatives.
> I have seen a number of utilities that claim to save your BIOS settings to a file,
> but they all save them to a binary file which does not display as any intelligible
> characters, and certainly not useful for printing either.

Asustek has one DOS program (CMOS.exe) that outputs the settings
(current & possible) into a text-file. ( It can be found with downloads
of the AFlash utility from their german FTP site. )

It works on my Asustek motherboard as it should, but not on a
motherboard from Soltek (Error! Can't find System BIOS' Hook), so it
seems to be manufacture-specific.

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

"... et al." <
[snip]
> Asustek has one DOS program (CMOS.exe) that outputs the settings
> (current & possible) into a text-file. ( It can be found with downloads
> of the AFlash utility from their german FTP site. )
>
> It works on my Asustek motherboard as it should, but not on a
> motherboard from Soltek (Error! Can't find System BIOS' Hook), so it
> seems to be manufacture-specific.
>

Thanks for that.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Buffalo wrote:

> "... et al." <
> [snip]
>
>>Asustek has one DOS program (CMOS.exe) that outputs the settings
>>(current & possible) into a text-file. ( It can be found with downloads
>>of the AFlash utility from their german FTP site. )
>>
>>It works on my Asustek motherboard as it should, but not on a
>>motherboard from Soltek (Error! Can't find System BIOS' Hook), so it
>>seems to be manufacture-specific.
>
> Thanks for that.

:-)


Here's a snippet (2 of 185 items) of the output it produces, for anyone
curious. The asterisks indicates the BIOS's default values.

[Signature]
Usage=CMOS.EXE
MB_Model=A7V333
Built_Date=10/29/02

[Item 1]

<snip>

[Item 61]
Item_Name=Power On By PS/2 Keyboard
CMOS_Mask=0060
Location=58
CMOS_Value=02
Range=00 - 03
Description=As the followings
Current=Ctrl-Esc
00*=Disabled
01=Space Bar
02=Ctrl-Esc
03=Power Key

[Item 62]
Item_Name=Power On By PS/2 Mouse
CMOS_Mask=0080
Location=58
CMOS_Value=00
Range=00 - 01
Description=As the followings
Current=Disabled
00*=Disabled
01=Enabled


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