When my first laptop got spoilt, i took it to a Technician to have a look, he told me that the System bios was the issue. I was like, OK I guess we can solder the shit out of it or just power off and on and it should be okay. After alot of explaining(which i didn’t understand by the way) it lead me to research What is Bios? From an End-User Perspective out of curiosity.
BIOS is a short form of Basic Input/Output System and is a ROM chip found on a computer motherboard that lets you have access and set up your computer system at the most basic level. Above are some example of what a BIOS chip may look like on a computer motherboard.
Main Functions of Bios
- Power On Self Test(POST) – this is the first setup that occurs when you power on your machine. its Tests and verifies the computer hardware’s for any errors before it can boot the installed OS(Operating System).
- Bios drivers – the computer needs control over the hardware thus it needs drivers to be able to inter communicate.
- Load Bootstrap – if no errors are found, the next step is to detect the installed OS and hand over control for the boot up process.
- Bios Setting Setup – in-case you need to change basic system setup like Date or Boot up Priority and also Password lock. We Have Discussed on how to boot in to bios in different machine models in this post.
Now to the bigger question…What happens when bios Fails.
Normally you will know your bios have failed if your Caps lock Key on the keyboard keeps Blinking 2 times and the screen remains dark. From here you will need a Technician who can reprogram the Bios Chip for you with the Bios System Files.
