Changing settings in the BIOS of a japanese computer can be dangerous if you don’t have any knowledge of the japanese language or don’t what you’re doing. I don’t have that much knowledge of the language either and tried to translate the BIOS.

This is how I did it: I connected my PC-9821Xe/U7W with a sync combiner to the Framemeister and grabbed a video of the selection of each and every BIOS menu item. Then I converted the frames of the video to image files. The images were then cropped and converted into grayscale negatives to be processed by an OCR engine. Most of the output was gibberish and every single line of text needed manual processing. The japanese text was then fed into the Bing and Google translators and some common sense added to the output.

Hold down the HELP key when switching on the computer to enter the BIOS.

System Setup Menu – Main Menu
1. Operating Environment Settings

Information:
16MB Memory Hole
ROM BASIC
Speaker Volume

Hint: Configure the operating environment displayed in the information.

Keys: Up/Down: Select | Return: Decide | HOME CLR: Factory Settings | ESC: Menu End

16MB Memory Hole – Disabled | Enabled

Hints:
When using Windows 3.1 please set it to “enabled”.
1. The system does not use memory hole at 15M-16M.
2. The system uses the memory hole at 15M-16M.

Keys: Up/Down: Select | Left/Right: Set | HOME CLR: Factory Settings | ESC: Back to Main Menu

ROM BASIC – Disabled | Enabled

Hints:
1. Do not start ROM BASIC.
2. Start ROM BASIC.

Speaker Volume – High | Medium | Low | Off

Hint: Set the volume of the internal buzzer.

End

Hint: Exit the operation environment settings.

2. DIP Switch 1 Settings

Information:
Plasma Display
Floppy Disk Sequence
RS-232C Transmission Mode
Hard Disk Sector Size
Graphics Mode

DIP Switch Image

Plasma Display – Enabled | Disabled

Hint: Usually “disabled”.

Floppy Disk Sequence – Internal #3, #4, external #1, #2 | Internal #1, #2, external #3, #4

Hints:
1. Prioritize external Floppy Disk Drives.
2. Prioritize internal Floppy Disk Drives.

RS-232C Transmission Mode – BCI Sync | ST2 Sync | Sync Clock | Asynchronous

Hints:
1. Use internal clock for transmission, use modem clock for reception.
2. Use modem clock for transmission and reception.
3. Use clock signal created from received data for reception, use internal clock for transmission.
4. Use internal clock for transmission and reception.

Hard Disk Sector Size – 512 bytes | 256 bytes

Hints:
1. Set the sector size of the internal hard disk to 512 bytes.
2. Set the sector size of the internal hard disk to 256 bytes.

Graphics Mode – Enhanced | Standard

Hints:
1. Enhanced graphics mode, 16 out of 4096 colors.
2. Standard graphics mode, 8 out of 8 colors.

End

Hint: Exit the DIP Switch 1 settings.

3. DIP Switch 2 Settings

Information:
Terminal Mode Specification
Lines of Text per Screen
Memory Switch
Internal Hard Disk
GDC Clock

Terminal Mode Specification – Terminal Mode | BASIC Mode
Hints:

1. Start BASIC in terminal mode.
2. Start BASIC in BASIC mode.

Lines of Text per Screen – 25 lines/screen | 20 lines/screen

Hints:
1. Display 25 lines of text per screen.
2. Display 20 lines of text per screen.

Memory Switch – Keep | Initialize

Hints:
1. Keep the contents of the memory switch at startup.
2. Initialize the contents of the memory switch at startup.

Internal Hard Disk – Disabled | Enabled

Hints:
1. Disable internal hard disk
2. Enable internal hard disk.

GDC Clock – 5MHz | 2.5MHz

Hints:
1. Operate GDC with 5MHz clock.
2. Operate GDC with 2.5MHz clock.

End

Hint: Exit the DIP Switch 2 settings.

4. DIP Switch 3 Settings

Information:
Floppy Disk Mode
Floppy Motor Control
DMA Clock
Internal RAM Hole
CPU Mode

Floppy Disk Mode – 640K | 1M | Automatic (640K) | Automatic (1M)

Hints:
1. Use internal floppy disk drive with 640Kbyte fixed.
2. Use internal floppy disk drive with 1Mbyte fixed.
3. Automatic recognition of 640Kbyte/1Mbyte. Use 640Kbyte when starting with another device.
4. Automatic recognition of 640Kbyte/1Mbyte. Use 1Mbyte when starting with another device.

Floppy Motor Control – Disable | Enable

Hints:
1. Do not control floppy disk motor.
2. Stop floppy disk motor if no access for 15 seconds.

DMA Clock – High-Speed | Compatible

Hints:
1. Operate DMA with high-speed clock.
2. Operate DMA with compatible clock.

Internal RAM Hole – Disabled | Enabled

Hints:
1. Disable memory hole at 512K-640Kbytes.
2. Enable memory hole at 512K-640Kbytes.

CPU Mode – High | Low

Hints:
1. Start in High mode.
2. Start in Low mode.

End

Hint: Exit the DIP Switch 3 settings.

5. Power Saving Settings

Information:
Internal Hard Disk Control

Hint: Configure the power saving settings displayed in the information.

Internal Hard Disk Control – Enable (15 Minutes) | Disable

Hints:
1. Stop the hard disk motor when there is no access within the set time.
The time can be set from minimum 15 minutes up to 60 minutes.
Set the time with the [ROLL UP] and [ROLL DOWN] keys.
2. Do not control the motor of the internal hard disk.

End

Hint: Exit the power saving settings.

6. I/O Device Settings

Information:
Window Accelerator Configuration
Disk Interface Unit

Hint: Configure the input/output devices displayed in the information.

Window Accelerator Configuration – F00 | F20 | F40 | F60

Hints:
This setting is available only for machines with installed Window Accelerator.
1. The standard memory for Window Accelerator is allocated to addresses F00000H-F0FFFFH and F80000H-F80FFFH.
2. The standard memory for Window Accelerator is allocated to addresses F20000H-F2FFFFH and F88000H-F88FFFH.
3. The standard memory for Window Accelerator is allocated to addresses F40000H-F4FFFFH and F90000H-F90FFFH.
4. The standard memory for Window Accelerator is allocated to addresses F60000H-F6FFFFH and F98000H-F98FFFH.

Disk Interface Unit – Disabled | Enabled

Hints:
1. PC-9801RA-35/34, PC-9801DA-35 not connected.
2. PC-9801RA-35/34, PC-9801DA-35 connected.

End

Hint: Exit the I/O device settings.

7. End

Hint: Exit the System Setup Menu.