BIOS

By Tracen vail Assignment 2 PC Networking

What is it
One of the most common uses of flash memory is for the basic input output system of your computer know as the BIOS on virtually every computer available the bios makes sure all the other chips hard drives ports and CPU function together.

BIOS

How it works
Bios or Basic Input/Output System is the software code that first runs when the pc is starting up. It contains all the information necessary to initialize nearly all the hardware components of the pc. Normally, when you switch on the PC, the BIOS performs a Power on Self Test, or POST as it is called. This is a series of diagnostic tests on the RAM and other Hardware. It also initializes all the hardware devices such as the hard disk, memory, video and other hardware, identifies and reserves memory addresses for all the IRQs and ports available on the motherboard, and calls a small operating system program known as the boot loader. The boot loader, using the BIOS information amongst other things, starts calling the programs that will load the OS. And finally, the OS uses the bios information to take control over the hard ware devices

Bios fun facts

Most modern BIOS have the ability to schedule an auto start. For Lenovo PCs, you get to the BIOS by pressing F1 when the computer starts. Each computer company has it on why of getting to get to the bios

How to work a bios

To access an option in the BIOS use the cursor keys to highlight your choice, as shown in Screenshot A the enter key will either invoke a submenu or open a selection window to alter the value associated you'll have to use the plus +or minus - keys

How to work a bios

Opening sub-menus: Many option values may be altered with the plus + and minus - keys, while others require navigating inside selection menus or pick lists, In the "Main" or "Standard CMOS Setup" menus, you can set the date and time, and also define the attributes of your hard drive In the "BIOS Features Setup" menu, you'll work with general settings of all kinds. The "Integrated peropherals menu is where you can manage interfaces

Ending A BIOS Session

To end a BIOS program you strike the F10 key or select the main menu entry that reads "Save & Exit Setup. Sometimes this involves first selecting an Exit option, then choosing the Exit & Save Changes subentry You will then be presented with a choice between Y and N where the Y key saves your changes, and the N key discards them. Select one or the other and you'll exit the BIOS Setup program.

Identify your bios

During boot, enter the BIOS setup by pressing F2. Check the Main menu. The 4 digit number after the 86A or 86I is the current BIOS version Press Escape to exit BIOS Setup.

Manufacturers
American Megatrends (AMI) Award Software International Inc. Microid Reseach Inc. (MR.BIOS) Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Motherboard Manufacturers BIOS Upgrade Websites

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/s b/CS-022312.htm http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bios-a-z,12003.html http://ezinearticles.com/?BIOS-and-BIOSUpdating&id=1215156 http://motherboards.mbarron.net/bios.html http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bios4.htm

Some history of bios the only thing that I could find

The 2.1 GB limit (April 1996) Some older BIOSes only allocate 12 bits for the field in CMOS RAM that gives the number of cylinders. Consequently, this number can be at most 4095, and only 4095 *16*63*512=2113413120 bytes are accessible. The effect of having a larger disk would be a hang at boot time. This made disks with geometry 4092/16/63 rather popular. And still today many large disk drives come with a jumper to make them appear 4092/16/63. See also over2gb.htm. Other bios would not hang but just detect a much smaller disk, like 429 MB instead of 2.5 GB. The 4.2 GB limit (Feb 1997) Simple BIOS translation, sometimes called `Large disk support' or just `Large' works by repeatedly doubling the number of heads and halving the number of cylinders shown to DOS, until the number of cylinders is at most 1024. The 33.8 GB limit (August 1999) The next hurdle comes with a size over 33.8 GB. The problem is that with the default 16 heads and 63 sectors/track this corresponds to a number of cylinders of more than 65535, which does not fit into a short. Many BIOSes couldn't handle such disks. The 137 GB limit (Sept 2001) As mentioned above, the old ATA protocol uses 16+4+8 = 28 bits to specify the sector number, and hence cannot address more than 2^28 sectors. ATA-6 describes an extension that allows the addressing of 2^48 sectors, a million times as much.

Power supply
Cpu

Ram
Key board

Irq
If your machine hangs at regular intervals, slows down to a crawl for no apparent reason, and generally behaves as if possessed of a mind of its own, the cause could be a hardware interrupt conflict. When two hardware devices are assigned to the same IRQ, one or both of the devices may decide not to function properly or not function at all.

There are different versions of the bios made.