Answer:
The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is the low-level, behind-the-scenes workhorse of any computer and is the traffic controller for all of the PC’s hardware. It makes sure the CPU can talk to the motherboard and the hard drives can talk to the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) bus. It’s responsible for booting the PC, keeping track of the time, and reading the keys you type on the keyboard. The BIOS is like the queen bee, coordinating and constantly keeping track of the worker bees, which include the memory, CPU, peripherals, and everything else within the PC.
The BIOS coordinates communication between the OS and the hardware. The OS doesn’t control the computer’s hardware directly. Instead, it asks the BIOS to do it. The BIOS controls the hard drive, optical drive, keyboard, monitor, mouse, serial ports, PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) cards, as well as other hardware, and passes the information on to the OS. When you press a key on the keyboard or insert a floppy diskette into its drive, the BIOS sends a message to the OS. It doesn’t matter which OS you use—Windows, Linux, or something else—the OS talks to the BIOS, and the BIOS talks to the hardware.
The BIOS, part of the motherboard, is actually a computer program stored on a chip. Like any software on your PC, you can upgrade the BIOS firmware (software stored on a chip) to fix bugs or add features (that is, if it’s a flash BIOS, which most newer PCs have).
You can access the BIOS setup utility by pressing and holding down a key (often the DELETE, ESC, F1, or F2 key) when the computer begins booting (or repeatedly pressing the key). (The BIOS information that appears on-screen when you turn on the PC will indicate which key your system requires you to push.) In a moment, you’ll see the main menu of the BIOS setup utility. You’ll probably have to use the keyboard to navigate its options, although a few setup utilities include mouse support. However, you can’t count on a USB (Universal Serial Bus) keyboard or mouse at this point because the PC hasn’t loaded USB drivers yet, so you’ll need a PS/2 mouse and a keyboard plugged into the keyboard port.
Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the cursor, the ENTER key to select items, and the ESC key to undo a change or move to a previous screen. Function keys have special purposes, which typically appear in a list at the bottom of the screen. For instance, some BIOS setup utilities designate F10 as the key you should push to save your changes to the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) and reboot the computer.
If you look at the BIOS setup utilities of several PCs, you’ll probably notice that they’re different. There are two major BIOS manufacturers: Phoenix and AMI (Ameri-can Megatrends Inc.). A third company, Award, merged with Phoenix in 1998. With only two major BIOS manufacturers, you’d think BIOS setup utilities would rarely have differences, but that isn’t the case. As hardware manufacturers introduce new types of computer devices, BIOSes must change, too. Also, PC manufacturers sometimes add their own specifications to BIOSes. So even if you have two PCs with, for instance, Phoenix BIOSes, the setup utilities may look different.
Please refer to the article in the "See Also:" section below, to view some of the key functions you can control and information you can view within the BIOS setup utility. Change these settings only if you know exactly what you’re doing because random modifications can make your system less reliable and may even harm the hardware.
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