Posted 09/25/09 at 02:37:59 PM by Jason Barry

Phoenix is working on the latest in BIOS technology and what have they got to show for it? They can boot a Windows 7 computer in less than 10 seconds, and post in just under 1.5 seconds.

The new technology called UEFI has been a long time coming, but it looks to be worth the wait.  Steve Jones, chief scientist at Promise, showed off the new BIOS at IDF this week.  He booted up a Lenovo T400 that made it to the Windows 7 desktop in less than 10 seconds.  They also retrofitted a Dell Adamo that got there in under 20 seconds.

The guys at Engadget caught it all on video.  Check it out after the jump.

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Posted 08/05/09 at 04:04:23 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Windows 7’s XP Mode has attained RC status. The RC build of Windows XP Mode is available as a download on the Microsoft Windows website. Windows XP Mode is designed to work in concert with Windows Virtual PC (formerly Microsoft Virtual PC) “to help ease the migration process to Windows 7 by providing additional compatibility for their older productivity applications.”

Windows XP Mode ensures that applications designed for XP run seamlessly on Windows 7. Although legacy Windows XP apps run from within a virtualized environment, they can be accessed in exactly the same fashion as native Windows 7 apps.

Windows 7 users will have to ensure that their CPU supports Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V for Windows XP Mode to work. It is also important to check whether hardware virtualization, if supported by the CPU, is turned on or not. If this feature is disabled, it will have to be enabled in the BIOS settings.

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Posted 07/29/09 at 08:24:42 PM by Pulkit Chandna

A week after Microsoft released Windows 7 to OEMs, crackers have cracked Windows 7 RTM Ultimate. Tech website Softpedia was the first to report on the matter, though it stopped short of linking to websites and forums where the proof-of-concept of the crack can be found. You don’t mind, do you? 

The OEM copy of Windows 7 RTM Ultimate being blamed for the crack is said to have been stolen/leaked from Lenovo’s safekeeping (or un-safekeeping). The crackers also managed to get their hands on the OEM-SLP (System-Locked Preinstallation) product key and the OEM certificate for Windows 7 RTM Ultimate, both of which are enough to crack open Windows 7 RTM Ultimate on a system posing as an OEM machine.

 

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Posted 07/29/09 at 02:30:33 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

I bought a new motherboard, processor, and memory online and put it in a case. I was installing my original copy of Windows XP Pro and before the installation completed my motherboard just locked up. My power supply fan stayed on, and my hard drive LED stayed lit, but my power light was off and nothing would happen.

I exchanged the board for a duplicate.

I installed Windows XP Pro and it ran for almost a whole day, but then the same thing happened. I called the store and talked to tech support and was told that I must have a limited copy of XP Pro that will only work with components that were out around the time the OS disc was made, and because I tried to use it with more modern hardware, Windows put a BIOS lock on my mobo. I’d never heard of such a thing, and the only thing I can find online regarding “BIOS lock” is how to set up a password in the BIOS. Is this technician feeding me a line of bull?

Read on to see the answer to Lee's question.

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Posted 07/27/09 at 12:13:31 PM by Paul Lilly

Solid state drives continue to go through growing pains, and not even Intel can avoid having to beat back bugs in this relatively new market. After some customers reported slowdowns following extended use with the first generation of X25-M SSDs, Intel pushed out a firmware update to fix the problem. Now it appears the company's new 34nm X25-M G2 SSDs are also in need of a firmware update, but for a different problem.

According to OEM system builder Puget Systems, a defect exists in the new drives which causes data corruption if a password is set on the drive in the system BIOS and then is changed or disabled later.

"There was a lot of confusion, but it was clear that something was wrong with these first units - enough so that Newegg and other online vendors had also pulled them entirely from their sites," Puget wrote in a blog. "We too stopped listing them, and began contacting our customers who were expecting us to ship them out this afternoon."

Puget says Intel was able to work out a firmware fix for the problem rather than rework the drives, however the updated firmware won't be available for another two weeks. In the meantime, Intel has stopped shipping the new drives until the fix is fully implemented.

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Posted 06/15/09 at 04:21:31 PM by Paul Lilly

Good news for Gigabyte fans who like to tweak their systems but fear one bad move (or BIOS flash) could ruin the whole experience. The motherboard maker has begun offering its DualBIOS technology on its entire lineup of motherboards and not just the high-end boards.

Gigabyte refers to its DualBIOS as a "hot spare" for your system, and that's essentially what is. DualBIOS boards contain two BIOS chips. Should the primary chip fail for any reason -- say a power outage during a BIOS update, or a particularly nasty virus infection -- the secondary BIOS automatically kicks in the next time you boot your system.

Gigabyte initially only offered its DualBIOS technology on premium boards, but look to see it on both entry- and mid-level mobos going forward as the company tries to increase its market share.

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Posted 06/15/09 at 12:35:52 PM by Paul Lilly

Power users routinely punch into the BIOS in order to fine tune their system, but it can be an intimidating place to go exploring if you've never before burrowed beneath the surface. And just like in real life, poking around in unknown places can be a dangerous affair if you don't know what you're doing or where you're going. On the other hand, once you understand the inner workings of your PC's control center, a whole world of overclocking and troubleshooting suddenly opens up. But what exactly is the BIOS?

Every modern motherboard comes with an embedded Flash EEPROM module, otherwise known as the BIOS chip. Short for Basic Input Out System, this is the first bit of code executed when you boot your PC. The BIOS stores all kinds of essential information about your system, such as your CPU's clockspeed, the size and type of RAM you're running, the boot order of your media, what onboard devices are present, and much, much more. An improperly configured BIOS can prevent Windows (or Linux) from loading, while a finely tuned BIOS has the potential to significantly improve performance over that of a similarly spec'd machine.

Whatever your goal is, this is your go-to guide for everything you've ever wanted to know about the BIOS. We cover every setting -- even the obscure ones -- so you'll never feel lost or out of your element, no matter what motherboard you're rocking under the hood.

Hit the jump to get started!

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Posted 03/20/09 at 08:48:13 AM by Paul Lilly

If you're brand new to the DIY PC building scene, you may think Intel chipset-based motherboard owners have always been able to run multiple Nvidia videocards in SLI. You'd also be wrong. It was less than six months ago that Nvidia officially announced it was licensing its SLI technology to several top-tier motherboard makers for Intel's X58 chipset, in exchange for a fee. So we can't imagine anyone over at Nvidia doing cartwheels when end-users find a way to enable SLI on non-SLI certified boards with a relatively simple BIOS hack.

Citing an article in Taiwanese magazine PC Home Advance, TweakTown reports that not only is it possible, but it's been demonstrated on Gigabyte's EX58-UD4 motherboard. The magazine downloaded the latest F6 BIOS for a slightly different model, the EX58-UD4P, which comes with official SLI support, and slapped it on the less expensive non-SLI board.

Because the model numbers are different, the magazine noted the unsupported BIOS can't be installed using the built-in QFlash utility, and instead requires using the DOS-based SPIFLASH utility. Still a relatively easy hack considering no physical modifications to the board itself needs to be done.

It's unclear whether there were any undesirable side effects from using another board model's BIOS in place of the correct one. It's also unclear whether Nvidia will take measures to prevent this and future BIOS hacks from working with future driver releases.

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