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What BIOS is: Every time you start your computer, you briefly see the BIOS of your PC. This software is used to set the boot order of your drives, among other things.
What is BIOS – what can the firmware do
What many people don’t know is that the BIOS can also make various performance settings. For example, you can optimise the RAM speed via the firmware.
- BIOS is the abbreviation for “basic input/output system”. It is the firmware of every PC, stored on a small chip on the motherboard of almost all computers since 1970.
- The basic settings of the BIOS are stored in the “CMOS static RAM”, which is supplied with power from the mainboard battery. Therefore all information remains stored – even if you disconnect the PC from the power supply.
- The basic functions of the BIOS are a self-test of the most important hardware components (POST) and an initialisation of the hardware. This allows your operating system to communicate with all components first. In the event of errors, warning tones are emitted, the meaning of which you can look up in the manual.
- The most common BIOS systems are from ATI, IBM, AMI, Award/Phoenix. They usually contain their own BIOS menu, the so-called setup. There you can perform special tasks and adjust the performance of the PC. However, there are differences between the actual BIOS and UEFI.
- When you replace certain hardware such as the processor, sometimes an update is necessary. Performing a BIOS update may seem overwhelming, but it is quickly done with a bootable USB stick.
- In the BIOS you can, for example, switch on the USB keyboard, change the boot order or activate Turbo Boost. The OnBoard Sound and the network can also be activated here. To help you find your way around quickly, you can change the BIOS language
- You can protect the BIOS from unauthorised access with your own password. This protection is difficult to circumvent.
