BIOS( Comptia Objective 3.5)

Question 1

What are two other names for the BIOS?

Answer 1

• ROM BIOS or System BIOS
• BIOS settings used to be stored on Ready Only Memory( ROM) chips on the motherboard
• Nowadays BIOS firmware is stored in Flash memory which is non volatile.

Question 2

What is a POST

Answer 2

• Power On Self Test
• Checks all your major hardware components on startup and confirms are operational .
• If the system passes the POST the system then looks for a boot loader to load the O/S

Question 3

What allows you to avoid issues with incorrect or corrupted BIOS issues

Answer 3

• Often systems use two different BIOS configurations the main BIOS( mBIOS) and the backup BIOS( BBIOS), so you can switch back and forth between the two different firmwares.

Question 4

How long has Legacy BIOS been around?

Answer 4

• Been around for 25 years

- Older systems used to talk to hardware through the BIOS instead of accessing hardware directly.

Question 5

What are some disadvantages of the Legacy BIOS?

Answer 5

• No drivers for modern network, video and storage devices

- Can also lack USB support

Question 6

What is todays form of BIOS called?

Answer 6

• UEFI BIOS
• Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
• Based on Intels EFI( Extensible Firmware Interface)

Question 7

Other than a text based BIOS settings screen what else is available under UEFI BIOS?

Answer 7

• Graphical menus that can be used in conjunction with a mouse.

Question 8

What are some advantages of the UEFI BIOS?

Answer 8

• Able to boot from very large drives that are >2.2TB in size and use the GUID partition table(GPT) disks
• Also supports FAT and removeable media(USB)
• Also provides a pre-boot environment that acts like a mini O/S but isn’t one. But you can browse the internet, backup a storage drive etc.

Question 9

Where are changes to the BIOS settings stored?

Answer 9

• Stored in Nonvolatile BIOS memory( Flash memory)
• These settings used to be stored on Complementary metal-oxide semi conductors(CMOS) using a battery that constantly refreshed in order to avoid losing data( volatile)

Question 10

Nowadays what is the CMOS battery mostly used for?

Answer 10

• Mostly used to maintain an accurate date and time of the system.
• IF the battery starts to die your date and time may not be accurate and the battery will need to be replaced.

Question 11

On older systems how could you reset the BIOS configuration settings?

Answer 11

• Usually as simple as removing the CMOS battery.

Question 12

How can you reset the BIOS configuration on newer systems that use non volatile memory( Flash) ?

Answer 12

• Newer computers use a jumper to power on the system and the jumper will tell the system to clear out all of the BIOS configuration settings.

Question 13

What are some key strokes used to access the BIOS?

Answer 13

• del
• F1, F2,
• Cntrl-S
• Cntrl-Alt-S

Question 14

IF you want to test out changing BIOS settings but don’t want to do it on your own system what can you do?

Answer 14

• Can look at a BIOS on a virtual machine. On windows 7 you can use Microsoft Virtual PC( support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/958559)
• On Windows 8/10 you can use Microsoft Hyper-V
• If you want to use a Third Party for Virtualized BIOS you could use VMware Workstation Player( www.vmware.com/products/player/)

Question 15

How can you disable fast startup so that you have access to the BIOS settings?

Answer 15

• disable in Control panel/Power Options
• Some systems have another method such as first holding down the F2 key and then pressing the power button to power on the system.

Question 16

Where could you disable a systems ethernet port in the BIOS

Answer 16

• First access the BIOS via the correct key stroke and then go into the Advanced settings and disable the Onboard LAN controller.

Question 17

To avoid making incorrect changes to your systems BIOS and accidently disabling it what can you do?

Answer 17

• Have a backup of your BIOS configuration
• Make notes
• Take a picture of the settings.