BIOS and its functions.

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  • The software that a computer's microprocessor uses to boot up a machine after powering on is called BIOS, or basic input/output system. 
  • Additionally, it controls the data flow between the operating system (OS) of the computer and any connected hardware, including the hard drive, display adapter, keyboard, mouse, and printer.
  • In 1975, American computer scientist Gary Kildall first used the word BIOS. 
  • It was included to IBM's first personal computer in 1981, and over time, it became more and more common in other PCs, eventually becoming a necessary component of computers. 
  • Nevertheless, Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), a more recent technology, has gained traction at the expense of BIOS (फिर भी, यूनिफ़ाइड एक्स्टेंसिबल फ़र्मवेयर इंटरफ़ेस (UEFI), एक नवीनतम तकनीक, ने BIOS की कीमत पर लोकप्रियता हासिल की है). 
  • By 2020, Intel plans to replace outdated BIOS systems with UEFI, retiring support for them. This was stated in 2017.
How does BIOS works?

  • Computers are provided with BIOS installed as firmware on a motherboard chip. An operating system, on the other hand, such as Windows or iOS, can be installed manually by the user or pre-loaded by the vendor or manufacturer. 
  • Erasable programmable read-only memory, or EPROM, is a chip that the CPU uses to access programs, including BIOS. 
  • Upon turning on a computer, the BIOS program—which is permanently stored in the same location on EPROM—takes control from the microprocessor.
  • First thing the BIOS does when a computer boots up is check to see if all the required attachments are inserted and working. A boot device is any piece of hardware that holds the files required for the computer to boot up. 
  • The BIOS loads the operating system (OS) or important portions of it into the computer's random access memory (RAM) from a hard drive or diskette drive (the boot device) after verifying and validating that the boot devices are operational.
The BIOS performs the four main functions:- identifying, configuring, testing, and connecting computer hardware to the operating system. The boot process is the name given to this sequence of events.
The four primary functions of BIOS each perform these tasks:

Power on Self-test (POST):- 
  • When a user turns on the computer, a set of diagnostic tests known as POST begin immediately. 
  • The real test may vary based on the BIOS settings. But the standard test also checks the disk drives, RAM, and keyboard. 
  • In the event that these tests are successful, the computer will boot up and load the operating system; if not, it will alert the user to the issues with a sequence of beeps before displaying an error message on the monitor.
Bootstrap loader:-
  • It finds the OS this way.
Programs and drivers:- 
  • This finds the drivers and applications that, once the OS is operational, interface with it.
Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS):- 
  • This software allows users to modify system and hardware configurations. The non-volatile memory of the BIOS is called CMOS.

Accessing BIOS:-

  • Users can use the BIOS Setup Utility to access and configure the BIOS. Depending on the computer being used, there are differences in how to access the BIOS Setup Utility. Nonetheless, users can typically access and configure BIOS using Setup Utility by following these steps:
  1. Turn off the computer or reset it.
  2. Look for a notification that reads "entering setup" or something similar when the computer restarts. The user must press the key that corresponds with that message in order to access system configuration. Here's an illustration of a message a user could see: "Press [key] to enter BIOS setup." The function keys (F1–F12) and Del, Tab, Esc, and other keys are frequently used as prompts.
  3. As soon as you see the prompt, tap the designated key.
Among other setup options, users can adjust the BIOS password, boot order, RAM settings, hardware settings, and boot device once they are in the BIOS Setup Utility.

  • Every PC user, whether aware of it or not, sees the BIOS screen every time they switch on their machine. The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is the name given by the manufacturer of the computer to the screen display. There are two primary types of BIOS, which are as follows:
UEFI: 
  • An acronym for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, which supports disks up to 2.2 TB in size. 
  • Using the Master Boot Record, a more advanced GUID Partition Table technology than GPT, it manages disks. Moreover, the BIOS has never been utilized on an Apple Mac computer.
Legacy BIOS: 
  • Older motherboards employed the Legacy BIOS to power on computers. The inability of legacy BIOSes to manage or identify drives larger than 2.1 TB is one of its limitations. 
  • Nonetheless, it manages the communication between the CPU and the other parts.

BIOS vs UEFI

  • In most modern systems, UEFI will most likely be present instead of BIOS. That being said, what distinguishes UEFI from BIOS? Given how nearly identical their functions are, it can be challenging to distinguish between the two. Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, or UEFI for short, is the same as BIOS and serves as a software bridge between the operating system and the hardware.
  • When it comes to features and customization options, UEFI surpasses BIOS. The operating system can be loaded without the requirement for a separate bootloader program. Since it has native support for GPT, which BIOS cannot provide, it can handle hard disks that are larger than two Terabytes.
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