Chapter 5: Firmware

Question 1

What does a computer need in order for a keyboard for example to communicate with the CPU

Answer 1

A controller chip

Question 2

What does a controller chip require in order to communicate with the CPU

Answer 2

A data bus

Question 3

How did early computers deal with the problem of having too many controller chips?

Answer 3

A culmination of all the chips into a north bridge and a south bridge

Question 4

How do modern day computers deal with the problem of too many controller chips

Answer 4

uses controllers built into the cpu itself and external to the cpu is the (Intel “Platform Controller Hub”) Chipset

Question 5

What does the Chipset do

Answer 5

Extends the data hub to every device on the pc

Question 6

How does the keyboard send a keystroke to the chipset

Answer 6

There is a scanner located on the keyboard that looks for keystrokes and each key has a specific scan code that it send to the keyboard chipset

Question 7

What is the scan code specifically in relation to the cpu

Answer 7

and instruction set that tells the cpu what to do

Question 8

how does the keyboard chipset send the scan code to the CPU

Answer 8

puts it onto the EDB

Question 9

What is the BIOS

Answer 9

The BIOS or basic input output system teaches the CPU what devices are held onboard the computer and facilitates communication between

Question 10

What memory is the BIOS

Answer 10

ROM

Question 11

What is ROM important

Answer 11

Non volatile memory to facilitate anytime use of the bios and services such as the keyboard controller to communicate between devices

Question 12

What is ROM typically called

Answer 12

Flash ROM

Question 13

Why does every computer have a flash rom chip called system rom

Answer 13

Contains code that allows your cpu to talk to basic hardware (BIOS)

Question 14

What are the hundreds of services (programs) loaded onto the System ROM chip called?

Answer 14

System BIOS or System Firmware

Question 15

What are modern day systems firmware programming called

Answer 15

UEFI

Question 16

What does UEFI Support the BIOS doesnt

Answer 16

• UEFI supports booting to partitions larger than 2.2 TB.
• UEFI firmware is native 32- or 64-bit; this lets the manufacturers
include lots of features for setup and diagnoses.
• UEFI handles all boot-loading duties; no more jumping from boot
sector to boot sector.
• UEFI is portable to other chip types, not just 16-bit x86.

Question 17

How does the BIOS deal with changing hardware types if ROM is read only?

Answer 17

Stores this information on the CMOS chip

Question 18

What is apples version of UEFI

Answer 18

EFI

Question 19

What is it called when the computer knows when someone has opened the case?

Answer 19

Chassis intrusion detection system

Question 20

What is it called when a pc can be located after it has been stolen

Answer 20

LoJack

Question 21

What is TPM

Answer 21

Trusted Platform Module used for encryption processes

Question 22

What is Bring your own BIOS (BYOB)

Answer 22

If you need to add onto your system and your system doesn’t support that device than the device will hold its own bios

Question 23

What is a device driver?

Answer 23

A file located on the computers HDD that contains all the commands needed for the CPU to talk to the device

Question 24

How does the computer start the POST program from no power to power on

Answer 24

Power on –> PSU sends power down the power good wire –> this wakes the cpu up and then the cpu recalls memory that directs it to the ROM POST program

Question 25

What happens after the computer successfully posts

Answer 25

Loads the bootstrap loader which finds the OS

Question 26

What happens when the bootstrap loader is loaded into memory

Answer 26

It identifies the boot order to check for boot sectors on each device –> once it finds an OS it hands the power over to the OS and unloads from memory with the OS taking its place

Question 27

what is flashings the rom

Answer 27

Updating the Flash rom either through the internet or a local drive