BIOS - Basic Input Output System

You take any PC out there, and you can be sure that it houses a BIOS chip. BIOS is an acronym which stands for Basic Input Output System. You have various companies like Award, Phoenix and the likes which manufacture BIOS chips and your machine will most probably be using a BIOS chip from one of these companies.This ubiquitous chip is the starting point of the booting process in your computer which eventually loads a fully functional operating system. If there is no BIOS chip, then your machine will not boot - irrespective of the type of OS you are using (this might change in the future when flash memory gets cheaper and its use becomes more prevalent).

Knowing how to set the parameters in a BIOS becomes important when you want to tweak the performance of your CPU or change the boot sequence to boot from the CD ROM rather than the hard disk.

Andreas Winterer has written an in depth article on BIOS named BIOS A to Z which gives a well rounded view of the BIOS chip. The article is divided into 4 broad parts namely :

• The Basics - Which introduces the reader to the different BIOS versions, how to access your BIOS menu, manipulating the BIOS settings, a brief overview of the various menus of a typical BIOS setup program and also how to come out of the BIOS session after you have made the changes to the settings.
• Key Settings - This section deals with how you can change the boot priority order on your computer, start a desktop PC with a key press or a mouse click, activate support for USB 2.0, and handle problems with fans or hardware changes.
• BIOS Tuning - I am sure you have heard stories of how some people over clock their processor.And if you are curious of how they achieved it, then this section throws light on this subject. Here the author explains how to speed the system boot-up to the maximum, accelerate graphics cards, make the fullest use of your CPU power, tune motherboard chipsets and squeeze more performance out of your RAM.
• BIOS Update - From time to time, your BIOS chipset manufacturer will release newer versions of their BIOS programs. These updated programs will optimize existing hardware and may also introduce new functions. This section gives the steps to be followed in successfully updating your BIOS program to the latest version. This is popularly known as flashing your BIOS.
  

Finally the author ends this very complete article by listing 5 golden rules to be followed to help stay out of trouble while playing with the BIOS settings.

This guide is a must read for all people interested in knowing more about the BIOS and how to tweak its settings to achieve better hardware performance.