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BIOS Full Form
Difficulty Level : Medium ● Last Updated : 16 Dec, 2021
BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System. BIOS is the first program to run when the computer star ts.
It is a ROM chip (EEPROM chip) found on motherboards and is used for hardware initialization during
the booting process. It is pre-installed in the computer system. When BIOS boots up the computer
system, it checks if all of the components are in place and working and then it loads the operating
system into the computer ’s R AM from the hard disk of the system.
Nowadays BIOS is written on flash memor y, to ease the process of rewriting the BIOS chip, whenever
needed.
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Histor y of BIOS
BIOS was first introduced in 1975, in CP/M Operating System. Control Program for Microcomputers,
was developed for Intel 8080/85-based microcomputers by Gar y Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. The
system had a simple boot loader in its ROM.
IBM classified the system-bios in two categories when PS/2 machines were introduced:
CBIOS: CBIOS stands for Compatibility BIOS. The real-mode por tion provided back ward
compatibility with current operating systems thus was named CBIOS.
ABIOS: ABIOS stands for Advanced BIOS. It provided new inter faces especially the one suited for
multitasking OS.
Functions of BIOS
POST: Power on Self Test is the process per formed by BIOS immediately after the computer system
star ts to check any hardware related issues. if any error is found in this process, the system aler ts
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through flashing LEDs, audible beeps, or error messages on the monitor, all of which are technically
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referred to as POST codes, beep codes, and on-screen POST error messages, respectively.
Bootstrap Loader: The bootstrap program stored in ROM is loaded in hard drive, as soon as the
computer star ts. The bootstrap loader locates the operating system and passes the control to it.
Next, Bootstrap Driver configures basic hardware so that system can run. They are low-level drivers
and gives basic information about computer hardware.
CMOS Setup: Complementar y Metal-Oxide Semiconductor(CMOS) chip, saves some system’s
information, such as the time, date, and other essential system settings. CMOS chip is powered by
the batter y located in the motherboard. It also stores some information about hardware. The chip’s
content is copied to R AM(main memor y) of the system to increase the speed, since CMOS chip is
quite slow.
It is because the BIOS and CMOS, setup configure the system’s crucial information like the password,
date, and time.
Bootdevice selection: One of the CMOS’s most impor tant role is, it can alter the device boot process.
This is impor tant for system restoration because the CMOS may need to change boot priority from
the hard drive to the optical drive or flash drive to launch the operating system installer or adjust
which hard drive to load the operating system from.
Flowchar t of BIOS
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Features of BIOS
Ever y BIOS implementation is specifically designed for a par ticular type of motherboard model or
par ticular computer.
Originally, BIOS firmware was stored in the ROM memor y but nowadays it is stored in Flash memor y
so that it can be rewritten without removing the chip from the motherboard.
The other reason for doing this is that it allows easy updates of BIOS firmware, so new features can
be added and bugs can be fixed.
The latest advancement of BIOS is UEFI(Unified Extensible Firmware Inter face).
Advantages
The computer system will gain better compatibility.
The booting time of the system decreases.
The overall per formance of the system improves
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Disadvantage
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The disadvantage is that it is a time consuming process. BIOS often boots in 16-bit real mode (not
32-bit nor 64-bit protected mode), and because of the type of chip used, it is not always the fastest.
If something goes wrong during the process, the motherboard might get affected. Solving this will
not be an easy process.
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