BIOS: Reseting configuration to default

[Swadius 2.0]

What does reseting the configuration to default in the BIOS do? I've come across a problem where the touted solution (a la here: http://www.fixya.com/support/t8935770-error_while_initializing_nic) is to reset the configuration in the BIOS, but upon further investigation I have yet to find any information of what this entails for the computer as it sounds pretty serious. Does this erase some of the data the computer has? Is this as serious as a full re-install? What, if anything, will I need to do again if I do reset the BIOS?
Edit: The closest thing I've found is this comment:

Resetting your BIOS to factory settings... resets your BIOS to the way it came from the factory.

If you never changed it in the first place, it does nothing.

Which is self referential, which doesn't help me very much if I don't know what a BIOS actually does. If that person knew what they did with their BIOS they wouldn't be asking that question would they?

 

[mr.master]

AFAIK, it's not same as a full re-install, nor does it delete any critical information relating to your operating system or files. But basically lets say you have overclocked your cpu so changed it's default clock speed and changed some other stuff in there. It will reset everything in the bios back to it's default state it was orignally in when installed.

 

[Archonsod]

I'm not sure what part of that comment is hard to understand. Resetting the BIOS to the factory defaults means resetting the BIOS back to the way it was when it left the factory. If you don't know what BIOS does in the first place, then I'd reckon it would be a fairly good bet that the BIOS has never been changed from the factory settings, so quite what you expect it to do I don't know.

Oh, and as for what BIOS is, tried wiki?

EDIT - knowing what kind of a NIC you had and when you were getting the error might help. If it's an actual network card, I'd suggest reseating it would be the first thing to try. Unless you've recently been ****ing about with your BIOS settings anyway.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

I think my concern with my BIOS has to do with the issue that I don't really know what most programs and games I install on this computer does to it, and this includes components of the computer I've never heard before. I have looked at the wiki but I don't know what to make of the jargon in there nor which parts are relevant to this problem.

I'll try resetting the BIOS and see if that helps, after that I think I'll try your suggesting of looking into whether it's an actual card and reseating it if it is. And if that doesn't work, I think I'll try shifting around the booting up procedure to see if that helps.

Edit: n't*

 

[G36E]

BIOS is independent of the OS, resetting the BIOS will not affect programs.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

Well I didn't reset it, but shift the hardrive up one slot so that it boots up before the NIC. Nothing happening so far.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

HOLY ****

OS NOT FOUND

I'm ****ed aren't I?

 

[Fierce Headmaster]

Wait what? That's not normal.

Maybe you accidentally set your HD as slave to the NIC and the NIC doesn't work?
You sure it reads your HD?
Tried pressing the button that rechecks all hardware?

Messing with the BIOS doesn't affect what the HD contains. You can, at max, fry it with the electricity controls, but then it wouldn't detect your HD at all.

 

[Theo]

Check your booting device order and put that hard disk up there which has your OS.