PDM BIOS Setup Instructions For VIA (Module B599 and lower)

Scope

The original PDM I (now shipping as PDM II) had two versions, denoted by the Module Number.

  • Modules B599 and lower were original PDM units and have a VIA motherboard

  • Modules B600 and higher are the second revision PDM units and use a Jetway motherboard.

This document applies ONLY to the B599 and lower Module ID units with a VIA brand motherboard.

Version 1.1: September 3, 2009

BIOS Setup Instructions (for "Phoenix - AwardBIOS CMOS Setup Utility")

The BIOS Setup Utility presents a menu that lets you select from several screens, each of which has various parameters and perhaps some sub-screens.

The lists of BIOS parameters in this document show screen names and options with their values in square brackets. The indentation shows which screen or sub-screen an option or sub-screen name appears on.

Process to Change BIOS


To change the BIOS setting, connect a standard PC monitor and keyboard to the mainboard (it must be out of the chassis or in the chassis without the rear panel attached).

Press DEL during boot up to access BIOS on VIA motherboards

Critical BIOS Changes


The most important changes from the defaults are as follows. These changes MUST be made for the PDM to work correctly:

  • Standard CMOS Features

    • Halt On [No Errors]

  • Advanced BIOS Features

    • Quick Power On Self Test [Enabled]

    • First Boot Device [USB-HDD]

    • Display Full Screen Logo [Disabled]

  • Integrated Peripherals

    • Onboard LAN Boot ROM [Disabled]

  • Power Management Setup

    • AC Loss Auto restart [On]

  • PnP/PCI Configurations

    • PNP OS Installed [Yes]

  • Frequency/Voltage Control

    • Spread Spectrum [+/-0.35%]

Comments

  • Setting Halt On No Errors prevents the BIOS from complaining about the missing keyboard or floppy drive.

  • Enabling the Quick POST shorten the boot time.

  • The First Boot Device setting obviously is to boot from the IDE flash drive.

  • Disabling the Display Full Screen Logo shorten the boot time.

  • Disabling the Onboard LAN Boot ROM prevents system from attempting to use BOOTP to boot from network.

  • Setting the AC Loss Auto Restart option to On is critical to allow the system to start up when it is plugged in, as we do not have a power switch.

  • The Spread Spectrum setting lets the clock drift slightly to avoid producing a sine wave RF signal that could cause beats in the audio output.

  • PNO OS set Plug-and Play as used for ASI card

List of all settings that were changed from their defaults:

  • Standard CMOS Features

    • DE Primary Master [Auto detect IDE drive installed]

    • Halt On [No Errors]

  • Advanced BIOS Features

    • First Boot Device [HDD

    • Second Boot Device [Disabled]

    • Third Boot Device [Disabled]

    • Boot Other Device [Disabled]

    • Display Full Screen Logo [Disabled]

  • Advanced Chip Set Features

    • AGP & P2P Bridge Control

      • AGP Aperture Size [32M]

  • Integrated Peripherals

    • AC97 Audio [Disabled]

    • Onboard LAN Boot ROM [Disabled]

  • Power Management Setup 🡪

    • Video Off Option [Always On]

    • AC Loss Auto restart [On]

  • Peripherals Activities

    • VGA Event [On]

    • PCI Master Event [On]

    • Power On by PCI Card [Enabled]

    • Wake on LAN/Ring connector [Enabled]

  • IRQs Activities

    • IRQ5 (Reserved) [Enabled]

    • IRQ6 Floppy Disk [Enabled]

    • IRQ7 (Reserved) [Enabled]

  • PnP/PCI Configurations

    • PNP OS Installed [Yes]

  • Frequency/Voltage Control

    • Spread Spectrum [+/-0.5%]

Comments

The additional changes from the critical ones are disabling stuff we do not use, ensuring that if the system ever does go into low power mode that any activity on any device will wake it up, and a few performance tweaks.