Chapter-4

BIOS and CMOS

Overview

• In this chapter, you will learn to

– Explain the function of BIOS
– Distinguish among various CMOS setup utility
options
– Describe BIOS and device drives
– Troubleshoot the Power-On Self Test (POST)
The Function of BIOS
Northbridge & Southbridge

• Northbridge • Southbridge
– Chip or chips that – Handles all of the
connect the CPU to inputs and outputs to
memory, the PCI bus, the many devices in
Level 2 cache and AGP the PC
activities
• A chipset is a set of
– Northbridge chips Northbridge and
communicate with the
Southbridge chips
CPU thru the Frontside
Bus that work together
The Bus

• The external data bus joins the various

parts of the PC together
• The address bus also connects to various
parts
Talking to the Keyboard

• The keyboard talks to the external data

bus using the keyboard controller chip
(8042)
BIOS

• A special kind of program is required to

enable the CPU to talk to other devices
• A ROM chip stores these programs
• These programs are collectively known
as the Basic Input/Output Service (BIOS)
BIOS

• Each program is called a service

• Programs stored on ROM chips are known
as firmware
• Programs stored on erasable media are
called software

Keyboard
controller
chip
BIOS

• BIOS and its relation to memory

addressing:
– The wire pattern generated by the address bus is
called the address space
– The BIOS stored on the ROM chip attached to the
motherboard is called the system BIOS
– The ROM chip that stores the system BIOS is
called the system ROM
BIOS
 Core Group of Hardware
• Hardware that is common, necessary and
never changes
– Keyboard, speaker
• Stored on the system BIOS chip
BIOS is a group of programs.
ROM is a hardware chip used to store BIOS.
CMOS Group of Hardware

• Hardware that is common, necessary but

may change
– RAM, hard drives, floppy drives, serial and
parallel ports
– Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
– Programs are stored on the system BIOS chip,
while the changeable data is stored on a
CMOS chip
All other hardware is non-core like mice, sound cards, and
CD-ROMs.
CMOS Setup Utilities
The CMOS Setup Program

• The data on the CMOS chip can be accessed

and updated via the CMOS setup program.
• American Megatrends (AMI), Award
software, and Phoenix Technologies are the
main manufacturers of BIOS.
• The CMOS setup can be accessed when the
system boots, but there are different ways
of doing that
Accessing the CMOS

• AMI and Award • Phoenix

– Press DEL – Press Ctrl-Alt-Esc or F2

Other possible key combinations are:

DEL, Ctrl-Alt-Ins, Ctrl-A, Ctrl-S, Ctrl-F1, F2, F10
CMOS Setup

• The floppy drive, hard drive, and the

date/time settings can be changed using
the standard CMOS setup
• Modern computers provide extra CMOS
settings for memory management,
password and booting options, error
handling, and power management
CMOS Setup
CMOS Setup

• The following CMOS setting options are

available:
– CPU soft menu – Enables you to set the voltage
and multiplier settings on the motherboard for
the CPU.
– Advanced BIOS feature – Used for selecting
boot options.
– Advanced chipset features – Deals with
extremely low-level chipset functions.
CMOS Setup

• The following CMOS setting options are

available (continued):
– Integrated peripherals – Allows you to
configure, enable, or disable onboard ports.
– Power management setup – Used to setup
power management settings for the system.
– PnP/PCI configurations – Used for assigning
IRQs to certain resources.
CMOS Setup

• Other options include:

– Load Fail-Safe Defaults: used when low-level
problems occur
– Load Optimized Defaults: sets the CMOS to the
best possible speed and stability of the system
– Set Password
– Save and Exit Setup
– Exit Without Saving
Soft Menu
Standard CMOS Features
Advanced BIOS Features
Advanced Chipset Features
Integrated Peripherals
Power Management Setup
Plug and Play Configurations
CMOS Password
Phoenix BIOS Setup
Older Award CMOS Setup
CMOS Maintenance

• Common causes of loosing CMOS data are

– Battery run out, dirt, faulty power supply,
electrical surges, and chip creeps
– The CMOS settings can be checked by
memorizing settings, using Optimized
defaults, and backing up a copy of the CMOS

To backup your CMOS to a floppy, use a third-party program

such as cmossave.zip
Battery
• Since the data stored on a CMOS chip can be
saved, power is required when the computer is
turned off
• Power is supplied by a battery on the motherboard
• Batteries are mounted in one of three ways:
– External battery (now obsolete)
– Onboard battery
– Built-in battery (built into the CMOS chip and very
common today)
Clues to a Weak Battery
• Clock in Windows begins
to slow down
• System keeps losing
CMOS data when you
turn it off
• If you have an external
battery, check it with a
voltmeter (3.6 or 6
volts)
• If a built-in battery dies,
replace the motherboard
(seldom happens)
Flash ROM
• Flash ROM is a new type of ROM chip developed by
Intel
– Can be reprogrammed without the chip being removed
– Running a small command line program combined
with an update file can change or update the BIOS
– In reality, CMOS no longer exists because flash ROMs
(and now Non-Volatile RAM or NVRAM) now hold the
system BIOS and CMOS settings – but the term is still
used
– The battery only keeps the clock running nowadays
BIOS and Device Drivers
BYOB
• Because computer makers could not predict all the
new types of hardware that may come out, ways to
bring your own BIOS (BYOB) were invented:
– Option ROM is a BIOS chip embedded on the
adapter card itself – every video card today
comes with its own BIOS
– Most new hardware devices use device drivers to
tell the BIOS how to talk to the CPU
– Most devices with onboard BIOS use it only for
internal needs (internal function) and use a
device driver to talk to the CPU
Device Drivers

• A device driver is a file that contains the

BIOS commands necessary to
communicate with the devices they
support
– Loaded in to the RAM when the system boots
• All devices come with their own device
drivers
Where are the Device Drivers?
• Registry
– Binary file that contains the configuration settings
and device driver information
• Control Panel
– Applets that enable the configuration of a broad
range of system devices
• Device Manager
– Used for changing or removing drivers for any
particular device
• REGEDIT and REGEDIT32
– Enables you to access and update the Registry
directly
CONFIG.SYS
• CONFIG.SYS is a special file through which DOS
loads the device drivers
– Located in the root directory of the C: drive
– The EDIT/SYSEDIT program is used for editing such files
– Used to load extra BIOS for hardware that is not
supported by the system BIOS
SYSTEM.INI

• The SYSTEM.INI file is located in the \

Windows directory
– Broken up into groups and each group is
identified by the name in square brackets that
starts the section
– Standard sections are [boot], [keyboard], [boot
description], [386Enh], and [drives]
– Most drivers that load are located in the [386
Enh] section
SYSTEM.INI
SYSEDIT
Control Panel
Device Manager
Editing the Registry
Power-On Self Test (POST)
Power-On Self Test (POST)

• The Power-On Self Test (POST) is a

special program stored on the ROM chip
– Initiated when the computer is turned on, or
is reset
– Checks out the system every time the
computer boots
Beep Codes

• When the computer is booted it first tests the

most basic parts
– It generates a series of beeps if anything is wrong
• Computers with a bad power supply generate
intermittent beep codes
– Turn the computer on and off several times – if you
get different beep codes, then it’s probably the
power supply
AMI Beep Codes
Phoenix Beep Codes
Common Errors
Error Messages

• If anything other than the most basic

parts does not pass the POST, then a text
message will appear on the screen:
– Numeric error codes
– Text error codes
Text-Based Error Message
POST Cards
• POST cards are devices that monitor POSTs
and report on the hardware that may be
causing problems
– Turn the PC off, plug in the card,
and reboot
– POST error codes do not fix the
computer – they just tell you
where to look
– If all else fails, replace the
motherboard
The Boot Process

• The CPU is the first component that gets

initialized when the computer is turned on
• It reads a special wire called power good
once the power supply provides the
proper voltage to the CPU
• Every CPU has a built-in memory address
with the first line of the POST program on
the system ROM
The Boot Process

• The last BIOS function called by POST is

the bootstrap loader
• The bootstrap loader loads the operating
system either from the floppy or the hard
drive
• The bootstrap loader generates an error if
it cannot find the bootable disk
Non-System Disk Error
The Boot Process

Boot configuration:
– The CMOS setting enables you to change the
order in which the boot loader will search the
devices for the operating system
– The boot order is changed to prevent hackers
from inserting a bootable floppy and
accessing the system
Changing the Boot Order

• Many BIOS programs have CMOS settings

that allow you to change the order in
which the boot loader searches for an
operating system