SATA Detect Time Out/BIOS flash

martian_aphid · 15 Aug 2008 at 11:41

I recently completed my first build with the Asus Maximus Formula and been trying to familiarise myself with the BIOS before I attempt any overclocking.

I am using a sata optical drive and hdd and configured sata as AHCI mainly for using external hdds. In the sata configuration menu it has a setting for 'SATA Detect Time Out (Sec)'. The default is 35 seconds. However, after setting sata as AHCI another menu became available with a further option for 'AHCI CD/DVD Boot Time Out' (set at 15 seconds). Does anyone know what exactly the difference between these two are and if changing either one or both to lower values is safe and will speed up my boot times? I've been through the manual twice to make sure I know as much as possible without having to ask a load of questions but you guys probably know that they aren't always very comprehensive and often don't expand on many of the settings in the BIOS.

Just one other thing BIOS related. Before I attempt any overclocking I think it is best to flash my BIOS to the latest version. This is something I have never done before and I have read the stories of bad flashes. Just wondered if anyone could give any advice on the best way to approach this?

Any help is much appreciated

MA

pastymuncher · 15 Aug 2008 at 16:43

martian_aphid said:
I recently completed my first build with the Asus Maximus Formula and been trying to familiarise myself with the BIOS before I attempt any overclocking.

I am using a sata optical drive and hdd and configured sata as AHCI mainly for using external hdds. In the sata configuration menu it has a setting for 'SATA Detect Time Out (Sec)'. The default is 35 seconds. However, after setting sata as AHCI another menu became available with a further option for 'AHCI CD/DVD Boot Time Out' (set at 15 seconds). Does anyone know what exactly the difference between these two are and if changing either one or both to lower values is safe and will speed up my boot times? I've been through the manual twice to make sure I know as much as possible without having to ask a load of questions but you guys probably know that they aren't always very comprehensive and often don't expand on many of the settings in the BIOS.

Just one other thing BIOS related. Before I attempt any overclocking I think it is best to flash my BIOS to the latest version. This is something I have never done before and I have read the stories of bad flashes. Just wondered if anyone could give any advice on the best way to approach this?

Any help is much appreciated

MA

Mines a cut down version of your board and i have mine set to 0. Never had a problem and it should speed up the boot a bit.

For god's sake do not use Asus Windows flashing utility. Download the latest bios to a usb stick and then use EZ-Flash on boot-up. F2 if i remember right. I have gone through every bios as they became available for my board and using EZ-Flash have never had a problem. After the flash don't forget to clear cmos and re-enter all your settings.

martian_aphid · 15 Aug 2008 at 17:30

Thanks a lot for the insight pastymuncher, I have heard the horror stories about the asus update tool for windows so I will take your advice for sure and copy the bios onto a usb stick and use the ez flash utility from the bios. Thanks also for the tip regarding clearing cmos too, I hadn't thought to do that and don't remember the manual mentioning anything either.

I'm going to stick those time out values to 0 and see if it has a pronounced effect, but good to know it shouldn't have any adverse consequences.

IAmATeaf · 15 Aug 2008 at 20:00

Won't the first timeout value only really be used if you have a disk connected that is duff so it'll wait 35 seconds before skipping that disk, if all disks report back OK then it'll just continue with the boot.

The other timeout value is how long it'll wait for you to press a key to confirm booting from CD/DVD is 1 is found in the drive at boot time, lowering this value will help boot times if you have a CD/DVD in the drive.

martian_aphid · 17 Aug 2008 at 09:53

Thanks for the info IAmATeaf, I ended up putting them both at 5 and things seem about 5 seconds quicker but its still pretty quick overall so i'm not too concerned.