Watch Dog Timer Select

Common Options : Disabled, 10 Sec, 20 Sec, 30 Sec, 40 Sec, 1 Min, 2 Min, 4 Min

Quick Review

This BIOS feature determines when the chipset's Watchdog Timer is activated. Note that it does not control the time-out delay for the Watchdog Timer.

When set to Disabled, the BIOS will disable the Watchdog Timer. It will not monitor the time taken for each task performed by the operating system.

When set to any time period from 10 Sec to 4 Min, the Watchdog Timer will not be enabled immediately on boot-up. Rather, it will only be activated after this time period has passed. Once activated, it will monitor the time taken for each task performed by the operating system. Any timeout will cause it to initiate corrective actions like generate a non-maskable interrupt or reboot the computer.

It is recommended that you enable the Watchdog Timer to automatically detect hardware and software errors that lock up the computer. While it may do nothing more than automatically reboot or shut down the computer when an irresolvable error occurs, there is a chance it may allow the problem to be corrected.

Normally, it's advantageous to activate the Watchdog Timer as soon as the system boots up. However, some tasks (i.e. memory test or ROM shadowing) during system initialization may actually exceed the time-out period and cause the Watchdog Timer to reboot the system. In such cases, you need to increase the delay to resolve the issue.

Therefore, it is recommended that you set this BIOS feature to 10 Sec and increase it if your computer repeatedly reboots during system initalization.

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