I want to know what BIOS is?

Question

I was reading about OCing processors and some other stuff and BIOS has came up... what exactly is it, I know its when u boot up but what do you do in it?

-Thanks

Answer 1

You can access your Bios by taping the F1 key during the initial boot. The bios is stored on a chip that is accessed by the CPU during the initial boot. BIOS tells the hardware (CPU, HD, Moniter, and Memory) how to relate to each other. Once the Bios is installed the hard drive can BOOT "download" the operating system as the processor needs it.

Answer 2

It is basically the part of the computer that designates what will happen when you turn the computer on. Will it boot from a CD if there is a bootable CD available. Will it boot from a floppy? A Flash Drive? The Hard Disc Drive? All of these things can be set in the BIOS. You could also set security setting in there. You can set a CMOS password. The CMOS(Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) is a battery that stores your date and time and other BIOS information. This battery can also store a CMOS password that would prompt the user before even being able to boot into the OS or whatever your booting to. Turn your computer off and when it's starting back up again, check for a message on the screen that says something like "Press F2 for setup" or "F10" or something like that. Before the OS boots up press that key and you'll be in there!

Answer 3

in Short, think of the BIOS (Basic Input-Output System)as the central nervous system of a computer. In the BIOS you make core changes to the system over-all, whether it be for hardware changes, firmware updates or even security. Like the registery though, if you don't know what your doing, don't change anything. A good way to learn about your bios is download third party utilities such as Everest Home Edition, it will tell you the manufacturer of your BIOS, where you can then just go to their site and read up on your BIOS. Another way would be just to click on Start>Accessories>System Tools>System Information, it will also tell you there.

Answer 4

As simple as possible if yo have a car is has the body which hold the chair and engine and other stuff . So the bios is the body of the computer its a integrated piece on motherboard controll how your computer deal with each pieces you can get accses it when you turn comuter on by press f2 or DEL or some combination to controll an option of bios read your motherboard manual for more detail.

Answer 5

In computing, the BIOS (pronounced /ˈbaɪoʊs/) is an acronym that stands for the Basic Input/Output System according to the IBM Personal Computer Technical Reference manual[1] [2] or the punctuational variants Basic Input Output System, or Basic Input-Output System.

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BIOS in part refers to the firmware code run by a PC when first powered on, which is a type of boot loader. The primary function of the BIOS is to identify and initialize system component hardware (such as the video display card, hard disk, and floppy). This is to prepare the machine into a known low capability state, so other software programs stored on various media can be loaded, executed, and given control of the PC.[3] This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for bootstrapping. Among other classes of computers, the generic terms boot monitor, boot loader or boot ROM were commonly used. Some Sun and Macintosh PowerPC computers used Open Firmware for this purpose. There are a few alternatives for Legacy BIOS in the x86 world: Extensible Firmware Interface, Open Firmware (used on the OLPC XO-1) and coreboot.



The BIOSes of IBM PC class machines can also be said to be a coded program embedded on a chip that recognizes and controls various devices that make up x86 personal computers, and provides a small library of basic Input/Output functions that can be called to operate and control the peripherals such as the keyboard, primitive (800 x 600) display functions and so forth. Computers designed to run Windows ME or Windows 2000, or later, supersede this basic monitor functionality by taking over direct control of the interrupt table and replacing the monitor routines with faster and more robust low-level modules that, unlike the BIOS function set, are re-entrant. Various BIOS functions in ROM were left in control in earlier Windows versions, and the BIOS only comes into play today in the alternate shell CMD.exe, or if the machine is booted into a legacy DOS version.[citation needed]



The term first appeared in the CP/M operating system, describing the part of CP/M loaded during boot time that interfaced directly with the hardware (CP/M machines usually had a simple boot loader in ROM, and nothing else). Most versions of DOS have a file called "IBMBIO.COM" or "IO.SYS" that is analogous to the CP/M disk BIOS.

Answer 6

It's basically software contained in a chip on the motherboard that controls the most basic elements of the hardware on, or connected to, the motherboard.

Answer 7

Basic Input/Output System



(not copied and pasted from Wikipedia vvv)

Answer 8

you change system settings, like telling it to search drives in this order:



floppy

cd

hard drive



and such things