PC Repair and Maintenance: A Practical Guide (Charles River Media Networking/Security)

Some BIOS setup programs have settings for memory. Normally, most of these settings are to be left alone. In fact, manuals for Award BIOSs warn the technician never to alter the memory settings on the Chipset Features Setup page unless data is being lost. Data loss from memory is extraordinarily rare, so we also recommend leaving these settings alone unless directed to change them by support technicians from the computer/motherboard manufacturer or the BIOS manufacturer.

One memory setting you can change, as discussed earlier, is whether the memory should be ECC/parity or not. ECC/parity memory is not usually necessary except on file servers. An example of when you might change this setting is if you have some good non-parity memory from an otherwise irreparable computer and a computer that needs new memory of that type and speed, but that computer normally took ECC or parity memory. In the event that its BIOS has such a setting, change it to non-parity/ECC before removing all of the old parity/ECC memory and replacing it with the non-parity/ECC memory from the irreparable computer. Under normal circumstances, however, it is advisable to leave BIOS memory settings at their defaults.