BIOS, UEFI & Hardware Secrets
Lesser-known firmware options and hardware tricks.
im literally losing my mind here my Wi Fi kept dropping and someone said "check ur router admin page". I didnt even know routers had one. On Windows, I ran ipconfig and looked for "Default Gateway", it was 192.168.1.1. typed that into the browser and got a…
so i've been messing around with my workstation setup lately and i noticed something super weird... when i switch to the 'balanced' power profile in the bios, my idle 1c is basically non existent. like it stays at a constant temp even when the system is…
For anyone lost in their UEFI setup: 1. Enter the BIOS (usually Del or F2 during boot). 2 🤷 look for "Advanced Mode" or "EZ Mode" at the bottom or top. 3. On many ASUS and MSI boards its F7. 4. You can usually set Advanced Mode as the default in the…
im literally losing my mind here quick tip before you touch any BIOS setting: 1. Press Win+R. 2... type msinfo32. 3. read System Summary. youll see BIOS Version/Date, BIOS Mode, Secure Boot State, BaseBoard Manufacturer and Product, and whether…
i always assumed RAM just runs at whatever teh label says. nope. my DDR4 kit was sitting at 2133 cuz XMP was off. in the BIOS there was an option called XMP with Profile 1 and Profile 2. picked Profile 1, saved, and teh speed matched the box. games feel a…
ok so i read that modern GPUs support smth called Resizable BAR, which lets the CPU access the whole graphics memory instead of small chunks 😤 On my board it was off. To turn it on i had to: 1. make sure the BIOS is in UEFI mode with CSM disabled. 2. Enable…
im literally losing my mind here leanred something cool today: SSDs count how much data has been written to them over their lifetime 😅 in teh SMART data theres "Total Host Writes" or "Data Units Written" for NVMe. compare it to the TBW rating in the spec…
im literally losing my mind here two ways to get into teh BIOS from Windows without the boot key race: 1. admin terminal: shutdown /r /fw /t 0. 2. settings System Recovery Advanced startup Restart now, then Troubleshoot Advanced options UEFI Firmware…
hmmmm ok if your laptop mostly stays on the charger, check for a charge limit: 1. Look in the manufacturers utility app (Vantage, MyASUS, Dell Power Manager/Optimizer, HPs BIOS options, etc.). 2. Or check the BIOS under power or battery settings. 3... pick a…
ugh. old school admins used wmic for hardware queries. Microsoft deprecated it, and on Windows 11 24H2 it's an optional feature that's disabled by default. The replacement is PowerShell's CIM cmdlets. Examples i use now: Get CimInstance Win32 Processor…
long time lurker first post lol found the coolest built in Windows tool. powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\temp\battery.html" writes a detailed battery report wherever you like. it has reecnt usage, battery drain over the last few days, and a life estimate…
