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01 Introducing BIOS

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01 Introducing BIOS
3/9/2015

Topic Transcript

Introducing BIOS
Learning Objective

After completing this topic, you should be able to distinguish between the functions of the BIOS chip and the CMOS chip

1. BIOS and CMOS chips
All hardware requires software to run. This software communicates the characteristics of the hardware, such as its unique features, memory location, and input/output settings, to enable communication between the motherboard and CPU, hard disk drives, optical drives, keyboards, and other peripherals.
Usually this communication is performed by device drivers, which are responsible for translating information between software and hardware. During the start­up process, however, information about hardware is provided by a microchip on the motherboard called the basic input/output system, or BIOS.
A BIOS is known as firmware – software that's hard­coded into hardware but that can be modified. In most cases, you can upgrade the BIOS on a motherboard with new BIOS software, which you can download from the motherboard vendor.
When you start a computer, the BIOS initializes the main hardware components and tests the system before selecting a hard disk to boot from and loading the operating system. This process is known as the power­on self­ test, or POST.
Several steps occur during a POST:

Graphic
The POST screen contains the following text:
Phoenix ­ AwardBOIS v6.00PC, An Energy Srat Ally
Copyright(C) 1984­2005, Phoenix Technologies, LTD
ASUS ABN­SLI Premium BIOS Revision 1011­001
Main Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 4000
Memory Testing: 2097152K OK(Installed Memory: 2097152K
Memory Information: DDR 400 Dual Channel, 128­bit
Award Plug and Play BIOS Extension v1.0
Copyright(C) 1994, Award Software, Inc.
Detecting IDE Primary Master ... WDC­20
Detecting IDE Primary Slaver ... None
Detecting IDE Secondary Master ... Generic CD­ROM

1. the BIOS is initialized and checked
2. the CPU registers are verified

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