The Eee PC BIOS has five tabs: Main, Advanced, Security, Boot, and of course: Exit.
The main tab gives a general system overview. You can find out your BIOS revision, core version, Eee PC build date, firmware version, processor type, system memory. This is also where you can set the system time and date. Of course, since my sample Eee PC is a 4G, I have 512mb of RAM shown. The build date was 10/5/07.
The advanced tab has 3 sections: IDE Configuration, Onboard Devices Configuration, and OS Installation. The IDE configuration section allows you to choose the IDE master and IDE slave devices. My IDE master is the SSD hard drive, known as “SILICONMOTION SM223AC.” There is no IDE Slave. Onboard Device Configuration allows you to turn on and off: usb ports, onboard LAN, onboard Audio, onboard WLAN, onboard Camera, onboard Speaker, and the onboard CardReader. Interestingly, all are enabled with the exception of the onboard Camera- even though it works fine once booted. Finally, the OS installation feature has the option of “Finished.” The help text states: “Please switch the option back to finished once the OS installation is complete.” I initially wondered if it had to do with boot device order, but that setting is under the Boot tab. Anybody have any idea what it does?
The security tab allows you to set and change supervisor and user passwords.
The boot tab has sections for Boot Device Priority, Hard Disk Drives, Boot Settings Configuration, and OnBoard LAN Boot Rom. Boot device priority allows you to set the order in which your Eee PC will boot. The default is: Removable Dev., HDD, and ATAPI CD-ROM. Hard Disk Drives is the next option, and it shows that the 1st Drive is the HDD:SM-SILICONMOTI, while the second is the USB2.0 CardReader. Yes, you can boot from the SD card slot. Boot settings configuration has settings for Quick Boot and Quiet boot- both are enabled by default. Onboard LAN Boot ROM comes Disabled by default.
Exit allows you to save changes or quit without saving, as you would guess!
I hope this helps for those interested in the BIOS of the Eee PC. You can view the rest of the gallery right here.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 28 comments }
i want one NOW. Someone knows how is the camera? thanks
yeah, can somebody post a picture taken with the camera? i want to see if it’s worth the upgrade
I’m curious to hear how quickly it will load an OS off of an SD card.
Since it’s apparently on the USB bus, you’d need to do some hacks to Windows XP in order to keep it from resetting the bus during boot, but it would be nice if this worked (and worked reliably and with decent speed) so that you could have say a 4 or 8gig SD card with XP and a few apps on it.
Regarding to the OS installation feature has the option of “Finished.†I think it is used to protect the MBR area of SSD from the frequently writing which may permanently demage the disk. Need to verify with ASUS
The onboard camera is disabled, so the 2G can use the same bios without crashing after being flashed.
SILICONMOTION SM223AC –
http://www.siliconmotion.com.tw/en/en2/products.htm
This appears to be a CF card controller.
This means that SSD is most likely a CF card striped of it’s casing and soldered to the board (though I’ve yet to see a 4G disassembled).
There is a report that a reporter blew up the Eee PC on an XP test install, so they installed Ubuntu, but first had to delete SSD to boot from the external CD to install, finally got Wireless
going, and answered some questions too: So – Bios not totally flexible to user concerns, unless latest fix, changes it for the better? Can the Bios boot a CD on an external USB cd/dvd drive (or burner, and is the USB port able to supply power to many USB devices, HD, CD/DVD burner, etc)?
Funny how the eeepc was supposed to start at just over 200 us dollars but now its overpriced itself i can get a new laptop with 14 or 15 inch display 1 gb of ram and a much faster processor and a real hd with plenty of space for about 50 dollars more
“Me” seems to have missed the driving force behind the eee. If all you want is a cheap laptop, there certainly other choices. The eee represents the first concession from the manufacturers to a product that some of us desperately need and want, and would even pay MORE than the $500 to get.
Too bad that the Flash Storage is not service tech or user upgradeable. Then We could all buy the $259 version and play with it as much or as little as we want.
TO me.
1. eeepc is A FREAKING ULTRA PORTABLE. not a bulky 15″ laptop.
2. find me another ultra portable for 399 or even 600.
To me the driving force is having the portability, and utilizing a SSD aswell.
IMO, offering SSD makes this PC fantastic !!!
I have a question… If this device can be rumoured to boot XP in under 10 seconds, be it with a 70MHz bus, 720-900MHz processor, just how fast will my desktop be when I can afford a SSD for it ?
Currently, using a raptor, and this was a major speed upgrade.
what’s the voltage output on the charger, anyone know?
Ant: Could you install the video chat software from either http://www.ekiga.org or openwengo.org (or both) to see if the eeepc webcam works for video & audio chat? Skype is not an option because it does not support video in Linux. My fear is that the webcam is there for show, to show that they have it. But it might not work “in release 1″. A bullet point on their features & benefits page, not an actual working piece of hardware.
Everybody Would love a price reduction ($300maybe), but if portability is your game, the eeepc has no competition. The closest “real” laptop with 12inch display sells for around $1000. And it doesnt weight 900grams. EeePC really makes overpriced PDAs obsolete
The current model isn’t the bottom of the line. People need to quit pointing out the bottom of the line price when complaining about the price. We’ve been over this before, and the only place where ASUS announced both the $199 price and any sort of specs was with a 2GB Eee PC. THE 4GB WAS NEVER ANNOUNCED AT $199! Read and get a clue complainers.
Wait for the bottom-end 2G to come out and check the price and then start complaining if it’s not “around $199″ (direct ASUS quote – http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=7378). There never was a hard set price and spec for the $199 model.
So, is it possible to boot, say windows xp, from an external usb hdd too?
The external PSU plug pack is 9.5V 2.3A
Yes you can boot from a CDROM I have an IBM external DVD burner for a laptop, it works powered of any of the 3 USB ports.
I have tried to boot off the SD card and two external Hard drives, but have not got it to work yet.
In standby mode power is supplied to the USB ports, but at very low current. I found that in operating mode the USB port will charge my motorola cellphones, but not in standby, but the phone still says it is connected but does not charge.
Can you boot this thing off a USB flash drive? I’m confused as to what the “USB 2.0 CardReader” refers to. Is that not the USB slot? It is the SD card slot instead?
I wish to have the 4GB on the actual device with nothing on it but my documents etc, no OS. I want to instead boot the OS from this Mandriga linux flash drive:
http://mandriva.com/en/product/mandriva-flash-2008
Anyone know if this is possible? Thanks!
Glad to hear I can boot off SD. This means my plans to run PCLinuxOS on this device can be achieved. Oh, and apart from price and keyboard size, I have yet to hear a single complaint about this sweet little machine.
Is it possible to install Linspire instead of default xandros?
I was wondering if one can reformat the hard drive and install the normal version of Xandros on this. Does this cause problems?
I here the version that comes with it has been modified to impose certain limitations, for unknown reasons. Also, I’m wondering how to boot from an external hard drive on this, as well (preferably with some form of Linux)—I don’t want to know about booting from a CD.
how Can we find *sudo* command . when is not found?
dont know why people are complaining about the price. the 2gb is going for 300 right now. that means that in a year you’ll be getting one used off ebay for 100 bucks.
for someone like me who wants a portable device mostly for skype this is a great deal. i’ve tried the skype phones and they suck so i’ve been waiting for a cheap and small computer like this to come out.
“Operating System Installation – Finished” is almost certainly to protect the MBR as simon says. However, it’s not exactly to protect the disk itself, but more to stop accidental or malicious ‘enhancement’ of the MBR, without which your OS(s) won’t load.
I need to know which OS is better for EEE PC? Windows or the default Linux? I got my EEE PC last week and I plan to install Windows. Help me please..
To lynn:
Windows is probably your best bet, because if you want to expand the Eee PC beyond it’s stock capacity. i.e. overclocking, bios-os integration, etc.
Stone Gray – s.stone.gray@gmail.com
——
4G Eee Pc 701
1gb SD Card
8000 Series BIOS
Overclocked Stable to 1.0 gHz Using Eeectl
Comments on this entry are closed.