I bought a KVM switch so I could use the same mouse, large monitor & keyboard for either my laptop and desktop PC. The switch installation instructions say I have to make BIOS changes "for PC users." "1. In STANDARD CMOS, set HALT ON ERROR to ALL BUT KEYBOARD." "2. in PNP and PCI SETUP, set PNP OS INSTALLED to YES and set USB IRQ to ENABLED." Changing BIOS scares me. Can anything go wrong if I follow these instructions?

I don't see any problems with those instructions. Maybe you should make a practice run first. Go into the BIOS, check out the settings, but exit without saving any changes. It's also a common practice to make only one change at a time to make sure there's no adverse effect.

Don't worry about it- those are pretty standard settings. Even if it messes up, you can physically reset the BIOS (I know because I once turned off the on board video- without having a video card installed :) )

Sure, things can go wrong, but you can *always* boot to BIOS and change it back.

If I can do it, anyone can. Worst case, you can boot back into BIOS and do a "set all to factory defaults" to get the machine back to normal.The only thing that can bite you is if you accidentally set a password, but that will be quite obvious by being prompted twice for one.

I've never had to make any changes to BIOS settings when using a KVM switch. Have you tried it yet without making the BIOS changes? Won't hurt.

Changing BIOS settings? | Good Sam Community

mlts22
Explorer
Apr 02, 2014
If I can do it, anyone can. Worst case, you can boot back into BIOS and do a "set all to factory defaults" to get the machine back to normal.

The only thing that can bite you is if you accidentally set a password, but that will be quite obvious by being prompted twice for one.
2oldman
Explorer II
Apr 02, 2014
Sure, things can go wrong, but you can *always* boot to BIOS and change it back.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Apr 02, 2014
Don't worry about it- those are pretty standard settings. Even if it messes up, you can physically reset the BIOS (I know because I once turned off the on board video- without having a video card installed :) )
HappyKayakers
Explorer
Apr 02, 2014
I don't see any problems with those instructions. Maybe you should make a practice run first. Go into the BIOS, check out the settings, but exit without saving any changes. It's also a common practice to make only one change at a time to make sure there's no adverse effect.

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