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BIOS bios (Popular BIOS Manufacturers (Phoenix Technologies, IBM, Dell,…
BIOS
Definition of Bios
BIOS, which stands for Basic Input Output System, is software stored on a small memory chip on the motherboard. You might need to access BIOS to change how the device works or to assist in troubleshooting a problem.
What Is the BIOS Used For?
BIOS instructs the computer on how to perform a number of basic functions such as booting and keyboard control.
BIOS is also used to identify and configure the hardware in a computer such as the hard drive, floppy drive, optical drive, CPU, memory, etc.
How to Access BIOS
The BIOS is accessed and configured through the BIOS Setup Utility. The BIOS Setup Utility is, for all reasonable purposes, the BIOS itself. All available options in BIOS are configurable via the BIOS Setup Utility.
BIOS Availability
All modern computer motherboards contain BIOS software.
BIOS access and configuration on PC systems is independent of any operating system because the BIOS is part of the motherboard hardware.
It doesn't matter if a computer is running Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Linux, Unix, or no operating system at all - BIOS functions outside of the operating system environment and is no way dependent upon it.
Popular BIOS Manufacturers
Phoenix Technologies
IBM
Dell
Gateway
BYOSOFT
American Megatrends (AMI)
Insyde Software
How to Use BIOS
BIOS contains a number of hardware configuration options that can be changed through the setup utility. Saving these changes and restarting the computer applies the changes to the BIOS and alters the way BIOS instructs the hardware to function.
The four main functions of a PC BIOS
POST - Test the computer hardware and make sure no errors exist before loading the operating system. Additional information on the POST can be found on our POST and Beep Codes page.
Bootstrap Loader - Locate the operating system. If a capable operating system is located, the BIOS will pass control to it.
BIOS drivers - Low-level drivers that give the computer basic operational control over your computer's hardware.
BIOS or CMOS Setup - Configuration program that allows you to configure hardware settings including system settings such as computer passwords, time, and date.
