right i know what S.m.a.r.t. i just wonder what the bios setting does? i dont have a specific mobo so im a bit in the dark here. but does it open an interfaces for the programs to get the reports or is it something that has been built into the mobo to flag up errors in the hardwear. all text needs typos. There there for the reader to find,to distract them from the total lack of content. google it! wasnt the answer to the question i asked so dont be dense and give me that repl

Did you google? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-M... i_Xp/VistaUser

yes i googled. as i said i know what smart is i want to know what the dickens the setting in the bios does. is it a hardwear monitor native to the mother board or does it open up and interface so that programs can access it. all text needs typos. There there for the reader to find,to distract them from the total lack of content. google it! wasnt the answer to the question i asked so dont be dense and give me that repl

SMART is a technology built into some M/Bs that constantly monitor the H/W connected to them. If, for example, something unusual happens such that the HDD is about to fail and starts to draw higher amounts of current than usual because the platter motor spindle is worn, then SMART technology notices this high amperage condition beyond a threshold level and warns the PC user by, say, beeping. The link provided by PC guru XP/VistaUser clearly explains this. Hope the above helps. Regards SuatCINI

on the ones I have seen, if the SMART setting in the bios is activated, when you switch computer on SMART will check the hard disc and if a probkem is found it tells you this on the POST screen before windows appears. If the SMART in bios is disabled then it simply does not check the disc. If SMART is available it would make sense to have it activated I would think

PS, I think some PCS have SMART permanently enabled and it cant be turned off

SMART is built into the hard disk, not the motherboard. It is part of the ATA specification. All the BIOS setting does is turn it on or off and read some of the parameters. To read all the parameters you need another piece of software. The Hard Disk dis agnostics provided by nearly all hard disk manufactures and is usually the best one to use as different manufactures implement different SMART parameters. Stuart