What is BIOS in Computers?

Description of What is BIOS in Computers

BIOS (Basic Input-Output System) is an integral part of computers. What is BIOS Hence, all Desktop and Laptop computers ship with a BIOS Chip embedded on the motherboard?

What is BIOS in Computers?

BIOS (Basic Input-Output System) can be defined as firmware designed to instruct the computer to perform a series of start-up checks before loading the operating system.

The BIOS CHIP gets activated as soon as you switch ON the computer and instructs the computer to run startup checks to confirm the integrity of all hardware components and attached devices.

Once the startup tests are completed, BIOS loads the required or relevant portions of the operating system into the computer’s RAM (Random Access Memory).

All details of the computer’s Hardware components are stored and managed by BIOS, which frees up the operating system from the task of understanding hardware and connected devices.

When you install a new device or device details change, only the BIOS program needs to be updated. No need for the software to change or adapt to revised devices.

BIOS Start-Up Process

As mentioned above, the bootup or start-up process on a computer is initiated and managed by BIOS, which comprises the following steps.

1. Power-on self-test (POST): Checks all computer hardware components.
2. Bootstrap loader: Locates and identifies the Operating System as available on the computer.
3. Software/drivers Check: Locates and identifies the software and device drivers available on the computer.
4. CMOS Setup: Loads up a configuration program that can be used to change hardware and system settings on a computer.

Brief History of BIOS

The term BIOS was first introduced by Gary Kildall in 1975 to describe the machine-specific part of the CP/M (Control Program/Monitor) operating system.

However, Gary Kildall’s CP/M operating system could not make it into IBM’s first personal computer, which was released to the public in 1981 (August 12, 1981).

BIOS was part of IBM’s first personal computer (IBM 5150), which was based on Intel’s 8088 (4.77 MHz) Processor and used MS-DOS (Microsoft’s Disk Operating System) as its operating system.

BIOS is Getting Replaced By UEFI

Initially, BIOS was stored in a ROM chip on the PC motherboard, which required the chip to be removed to update the firmware.

Later on, modern computer systems started using flash memory to store BIOS, which made it easy to push updates and fix bugs in the firmware without removing the BIOS chip from the motherboard.

However, this made BIOS vulnerable to rootkit attacks by viruses. Hence, BIOS in newer computers is being replaced by UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), which has Secure Boot.

What is BIOS in Computers? Secure Boot restricts the applications that can be used to boot up the computer, making it faster than BIOS.