Motherboards contain some non-volatile memory to initialize the system and load an operating system from some external peripheral device. Microcomputers such as the Apple II and IBM PC used ROM chips, mounted in sockets on the motherboard. At power-up, the central processor would load its program counter with the address of the boot ROM and start executing ROM instructions, displaying system information on the screen and running memory checks, which would in turn start loading memory from an external or peripheral device (disk drive). If none is available, then the computer can perform tasks from other memory stores or display an error message, depending on the model and design of the computer and version of the BIOS.
Most modern motherboard designs use a BIOS, stored in an EEPROM chip soldered to the motherboard, to bootstrap the motherboard. (Socketed BIOS chips are widely used, also.) By booting the motherboard, the memory, circuitry, and peripherals are tested and configured. This process is known as a computer Power-On Self Test (POST) and may include testing some of the following devices:
- floppy drive
- network controller
- CD-ROM drive
- DVD-ROM drive
- SCSI hard drive
- IDE, EIDE, or SATA hard disk
- External USB memory storage device
Any of the above devices can be stored with machine code instructions to load an operating system or program.
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