Basic Input Output System BIOS

BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is a very important tool that helps in initializing the computer. Whatever the form factor, every computer should have a BIOS for it to work. Initially BIOS was considered as a very simple basic code with very few settings to manipulate. Currently the sheer number of peripherals that are attached to a computer is mind boggling. BIOS has undergone lots of changes in order to make these peripherals work. Author has managed to simplify the various settings which are available under the hood of BIOS. All the various settings are discussed in detail with the help of screen shots. Two common BIOS manufacturer’s settings (Gigabyte and Acer) are discussed. Other manufacturer’s BIOS settings are more or less the same with minor modifications. Reading this book will help the reader to configure any BIOS settings out there. This book has been authored by a Non computer science professional who spent lots of his time tinkering and tweaking various BIOS settings. The result of the experience is this book. Entering the BIOS setup utility allows the user to change the boot process order as well as a wide variety of hardware settings. One caution is that it is not recommended for an inexperienced user to change settings in the BIOS. BIOS limitations which were inherent led to the creation of a new firmware interface called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. This interface can boot from disks over 2-TB in size, has a graphical user interface with network capability, and is also backward and forward compatible. Currently UEFI is slowly replacing conventional BIOS. This book extensively discusses UEFI BIOS settings. Updating BIOS has become simple and safe with the inherent update tool. Users can now safely update their BIOS without the fear of damaging CMOS chips. Exact steps of the BIOS update process could vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but they have been simplified and made fail safe. This book has been tailored for intermediate users with basic knowledge of computers who are capable of installing operating systems. Initially BIOS was purely text based with no GUI. Users needed to use the keyboard extensively to manipulate the settings. Current BIOS chips have GUI interfaces with mouse enabled. This made life of the user simple as settings can be manipulated by the click of a mouse button.