BIOS/CMOS CONFIGURATION

IMPORTANCE OF CONFIGURING BIOS

CONFIGURE BIOS SYSTEM
WHAT IS BIOS?
• The BIOS an acronym for Basic Input/Output System and
also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS or PC BIOS) is
a type of firmware used during the booting process
(power-on startup) on IBM PC compatible computers.The
BIOS firmware is built into personal computers (PCs), and it
is the first software they run when powered on.
• The fundamental purposes of the BIOS are to initialize
and test the system hardware components, and to load a
boot loader or an operating system from a mass memory
device.
THE ROM BIOS
• The BIOS is typically placed in a ROM chip that comes with the
computer (it is often called a ROM BIOS). This ensures that the
BIOS will always be available and will not be damaged by disk
failures. It also makes it possible for a computer to boot itself.
Because RAM is faster than ROM, though, many computer
manufacturers design systems so that the BIOS is copied from ROM
to RAM each time the computer is booted. This is known as
shadowing.
• Many modern PCs have a flash BIOS, which means that
the BIOS has been recorded on a flash memory chip,
which can be updated if necessary.
PC BIOS STANDARDIZATION
• The PC BIOS is fairly standardized, so all PCs are similar
at this level (although there are different BIOS versions).
• PC BIOSes that can handle Plug-and-Play (PnP) devices
are known as PnP BIOSes, or PnP-aware BIOSes. These
BIOSes are always implemented with flash memory rather
than ROM.
• Computers manufactured in the last few years allow you to
enter the BIOS setup using one of the five keys shown
below during the boot process.
• F1, F2, F10, DEL, ESC
• * If pressing F2 opens a diagnostics tool, your setup key is
likely F10
• ** F10 is also used for the boot menu. If F10 opens a boot
menu, your setup key is likely F2.
• Setup keys are to be pressed as the computer is booting
up. Most users will see a message similar to the example
below upon startup.
• Some older
• computers may also display a flashing block to indicate
when to press the F1 or F2 keys.
• If your computer is new and you are unsure of what key to
press when the computer is booting, try pressing and
holding one or more keys on the keyboard to cause a
stuck key error. Once you get this error, you should have
the option to continue or enter setup.
“DIFFERENT BOOTABLE DEVICE”
IDENTIFY DIFFERENT BOOTABLE DEVICE
WHAT IS BOOTABLE DEVICE ?

• A boot device is any device or drive that has the required

boot files that allows the computer to start. For example, a
Zip Drive, Floppy disk drive, Optical Disk drive, Internal /
External Hard Disk drive USB Flash Solid State drive drive
are all considered bootable devices.