BIOS from A to Z

8. Fixing Problems With USB Devices

Some memory sticks, flash drives, MP3 players with memory stick functions, and USB hard drives draw their power from the USB port. If insufficient power is delivered, the device may not work. That’s why you need to make sure that the USB interface can deliver enough power to attached devices.

Check your BIOS to see if you can find an option named "USB 2.0 HS Reference Voltage". If that option is available, change the associated value from "Low" or "Medium" to "High" or "Maximum".

9. PC Reaction To Power Failure/Loss

Within the "Power Management" menu, the BIOS offers an option to determine how the computer will react to a power outage or failure. The "AC Power Loss Restart" or "Restore on AC Power Loss" option controls how the PC will behave once power is restored following a power outage (or other unexpected or ungraceful shutdown). The "Previous State" or "Last State" option returns the PC to the state in effect at the time the power outage or shutdown occurred. Assign this option the "On" or "Enabled" value to reboot automatically ; assign the "Off" or "Disabled" value to leave the machine powered down.

10. Monitor PC Health

The BIOS offers information and settings about the operational health of your PC. These tools let you monitor vital system components in real time, including the CPU, fans, power supply, and hard disks. For example, CPU temperature alarms or alerts can help you avoid overheating your system, and perhaps even foil an emergency shutdown.

In the "Health" or "H/W Control" menus you can track variations in input voltages as well as read actual temperatures inside your PC. Most BIOSes show at least the CPU and case temperatures, and many provide other temperature readings as well, such as for hard disks and the motherboard or CPU socket. Likewise, you can obtain fan speed readings (in RPM) for CPU and system fans.