What is a (Flash) BIOS ?
Pronounced “bye-ose,” an acronym for basic input/output system. The BIOS is built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. On PCs, the BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communications, and a number of miscellaneous functions. The BIOS is typically placed on a ROM chip that comes with the computer (it is often called a ROM BIOS). This ensures that the BIOS will always be available and will not be damaged by disk failures. It also makes it possible for a computer to boot itself. Because RAM is faster than ROM, though, many computer manufacturers design systems so that the BIOS is copied from ROM to RAM each time the computer is booted. This is known as shadowing. Most modern PCs have a flash BIOS, which means that the BIOS has been recorded on a flash memory chip, which can be updated if necessary.
Pronounced “bye-ose,” BIOS is an acronym for basic input/output system. The BIOS is built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. On PCs, the BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communications, and a number of miscellaneous functions. The BIOS is typically placed on a ROM chip that comes with the computer (it is often called a ROM BIOS). This ensures that the BIOS will always be available and will not be damaged by disk failures. It also makes it possible for a computer to boot itself.
Originally the BIOS was stored on a ROM (read only memory). Recently, technology has improved to the point where a specific type of EEPROMS (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read-Only Memory) called “Flash” ROMs are typically used to hold the BIOS. These chips are larger, cheaper and take less time to program than other types of ROMs. The term “Flash BIOS” will only apply if the designer of the motherboard included the code to re-program the Flash ROM on the motherboard. If the motherboard requires removing the BIOS ROM in order to re-program or replace the BIOS, it is not a Flash BIOS, even if there is a Flash ROM on the motherboard.
