WHAT IS BIOS?

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If you are a deep connoisseur of the universe of notebooks or work with information technology, you have certainly heard the term BIOS. However, many users are unaware of this definition and do not exactly know what it is. In this text, you will find out what BIOS is, what it is for and much more. Follow ! 

WHAT IS BIOS AND WHAT IT IS FOR

The BIOS is a firmware, which is present on motherboards and has a format similar to a chip. It is mainly responsible for booting the computer and recognizing the components connected to it, among other functions. The name “BIOS” comes from the acronym Basic Input/Output System.

As soon as the user presses the device’s “on” button, the BIOS begins to perform its functions within the notebook system. The chip basically acts as an interface between the hardware and the operating system. Initially, scanning all components connected to the motherboard — video card, processor, memory and storage devices, for example — in a process called POST (Power On Self Test), which verifies hardware errors. After this first step, all information is stored in the CMOS, which is a small cluster of memory designed to save data from the portable computer.

It is also the task of the BIOS to initialize analogous elements of components connected to the notebook. As examples, we can mention video cards, hard disks, SSDs and others. After the evaluation procedure, the BIOS searches for the operating system in the internal storage destined for BOOT and in the sequence of devices saved in the CMOS. If found, the chip directs this data to the RAM memory, so that it is possible to load the files. Therefore, we can treat the BIOS as a fundamental element for the full operation of a notebook.

WHAT IS SETUP

You know that graphical interface in which the user changes startup options and checks basic machine parameters? And which is usually accessed by pressing some of the F1-F12 or DELETE keys? It’s called SETUP, and it’s responsible for checking and writing settings to the CMOS, thus constituting an important part of the BIOS. For this reason, it is constantly used as a synonym.

Changes in processor frequency (overclocking and underclocking), adjustments in RAM memory, BOOT sequence and other minute details of the computer are done in SETUP.

THE UEFI BIOS

In the most modern notebooks, the BIOS we know has been replaced by a more versatile update, the so-called UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). This superior version has the advantage of a larger size than previous updates, enabling support for drives with more than 2.1 TB of internal space, in addition to providing more speed in opening elements, guaranteeing secure boot components, among other benefits available . We can define the UEFI BIOS as a small operating system located inside the motherboard.

CAN THE BIOS BE UPDATED?

To answer the question objectively, the answer is yes. It is possible to update the BIOS of the notebook system, since the chip that contains the BIOS, when not built in ROM (Read Only Memory), can be placed in Flash-ROM components, capable of undergoing modifications. Notebooks that have more modern motherboards tend to be built with just this type of memory, as it allows the low-level system to receive important updates.

However, it is very important to emphasize that updating the BIOS poses a risk to the user and to the notebook itself. This is because, once the process has started, it is no longer possible to interrupt it. This way, in case of a power outage during the update, for example, the data will be lost and the motherboard will be severely damaged. Therefore, it is important to think carefully before taking this measure.

HOW TO UPDATE THE BIOS

Even aware of the risks, if you want to update your BIOS, it is possible, and the procedure is not usually very complex. For this, the first thing to do is find out what model your motherboard is. follow the steps:

  1. In the Windows 10 search field, type “ cmd ” and press Enter;
  2. Type the command “ wmic baseboard get product,Manufacturer,version,serialnumber ” (without quotes), and then press Enter again;
  3. In the “ Manufacturer ” column , the name of the manufacturer will be displayed, and in “ Product ”, the model of your device’s motherboard.
  4. After this process, search Google for your board model, and then go to the manufacturer’s website;
  5. Download the BIOS drivers, and install it as per the specific instructions.

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