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| Net World Directory-Computers- hardware-bios | ||
| Net World Directory: Computer hardware-Bios |
The word BIOS, is derived from basic input/output system. What is the primary function of BIOS? BIOS is to prepares the computer and makes a platform for other software programs can load. BIOS is the first software code run by a computer when you switch on the power of your computer.
When the computer is powered on The BIOS runs off the onboard flash memory and initializes the chipset and the memory subsystem. Commonly the BIOS code in your computer may also contains information for diagnostic purposes so that the machine can recognize the major hardware components, like keyboard, disk drive etc. Subsequently, BIOS moves from flash memory into the system main memory and starts its process there. It is important to know that all BIOS implementations can optionally execute a setup program interfacing the nonvolatile BIOS memory (CMOS). This memory holds various information contents such as user-customizable configuration data accessed by BIOS code.
In the later models of computers one can select what boots first: CD, hard disk, floppy disk, flash keydrive and so on. This feature is very useful especially for installing operating systems or booting to LiveCDs, and for selecting the order of testing for the presence of bootable media.
Another name for BIOS is firmware. It called so because it is an integral part of the system hardware. In the older models BIOSs were held on ROM chips that could not be altered. As technology grew and the need for complexity increased BIOS firmware was stored on EEPROM or flash memory devices that can be easily upgraded by the user. But be careful, an improperly executed or aborted BIOS update can render the computer or device unusable.
In order to solve the problem of messing up your BIOS, some new motherboards have a backup BIOS ("Dual BIOS" boards). Also, your computer may have a "boot block" which is a portion of the ROM that runs first and is not updateable. This code is very efficient and is used to verify that the rest of the BIOS is intact before using it.