Introduction

Inside every PC out there is BIOS, which stands for Basic Input Output System. In a
nutshell, BIOS is software that interacts between a computers hardware and the operating
system and software applications. There are several types of BIOS's, ranging from the
motherboard ROM BIOS to adapter BIOS's such as video BIOS, drive controller BIOS,
network adapter BIOS, SCSI adapter BIOS, etc... These BIOS's are the lowest level of
software in a computer providing a set of small programs or software routines that allow
the hardware of a computer to interact with the operating system by a set of standard
calls.

I hope to provide a through understanding of how the BIOS works and leave you with a
better understanding of it's interworkings. At the same time, I hope to show how complex
a BIOS is in relation to it's relationship with the operating system and the software
applications you use everyday. Enjoy.

The Boot Process

To get to the operating system, a computer must first boot from the BIOS. The BIOS
performs a number of tasks when a computer is started. From initializing the
microprocessor to initializing and testing hardware to starting the operating system.
Starting a computer is not a simple task. It's a methodical process that is performed every
time power is applied to computer. Here is a detailed description of the boot process. This
process will vary with different computers and different BIOS', but the overall goal is the
same. When you first turn on a computer the very first operation performed by the CPU
is to read the address space at FFFF:0000h. This address space it reads from is only 16
bytes, which is not nearly enough space to house the BIOS found on a motherboard.
Instead, this location contains a special instruction called a jump command (JMP) that
tells the processor where to go to find and read the actual BIOS into memory. The
process of the processor reading the jump instruction and redirection to the actual BIOS
is called the bootstrap or boot. So, when you apply power, it's not the operating system
that's working. It's the BIOS.

First, I want to get something straight. The CMOS and the BIOS are two different things.
The BIOS refers to the firmware instructions that are located on the BIOS ROM. CMOS
refers to the low-power RAM that holds the system's setup parameters. The BIOS reads
the CMOS RAM into memory at boot up and provides the setup routine that allows you
to change the contents of CMOS, but the CMOS RAM/RTC device is a totally different
IC. The CMOS holds the information provided by the BIOS. This is why you "lose" the
settings of a system when the battery dies or you clear the CMOS through a jumper on
the motherboard.

With today's high performance 32 bit operating systems, the BIOS becomes less used, but
it is still there, always interacting with the operating system. Disk access, for example, is
done through the operating system with 32-bit routines, whereas the BIOS is using 16-bit
routines. Although the BIOS provides VGA support, Windows and other 32-bit operating
systems use software device drivers to work with the hardware. Early OS's, like DOS,
worked with the BIOS. DOS relied on the BIOS to perform most functions, like
displaying characters on the screen or sending output to the printer, reading input from
the keyboard and other essential tasks. These drivers, which operate in protected
mode(since they aren't written for real mode, they are able to use memory above the 1MB
barrier that real mode provides), allow for several enhancements. They can access more
memory, can be written in 32-bit code for optimized execution and are not limited to the
amount of space available to their code. However, regardless of OS, whether it's
Windows 2000, Linux or DOS, the BIOS and the operating system still interact with each
other.

Here is a basic rundown of what is happening:

• Power is applied to the computer.

When power is applied to the system and all output voltages from the power
supply are good, the power supply will generate a power good signal which is
received by the motherboard timer. When the timer receives this signal, it stops
forcing a reset signal to the CPU and the CPU begins processing instructions.

• Actual boot

The very first instruction performed by a CPU is to read the contents of a specific
memory address that is preprogrammed into the CPU. In the case of x86 based
processors, this address is FFFF:0000h. This is the last 16 bytes of memory at the
end of the first megabyte of memory. The code that the processor reads is actually
a jump command (JMP) telling the processor where to go in memory to read the
BIOS ROM. This process is traditionally referred to as the bootstrap, but now
commonly referred to as boot and has been broadened to include the entire
initialization process from applying power to the final stages of loading the
operating system.

• POST

POST stands for Power On Self Test. It's a series of individual functions or
routines that perform various initialization and tests of the computers hardware.
BIOS starts with a series of tests of the motherboard hardware. The CPU, math
coprocessor, timer IC's, DMA controllers, and IRQ controllers. The order in
which these tests are performed varies from motherboard to motherboard. Next,
the BIOS will look for the presence of video ROM between memory locations
C000:000h and C780:000h. If a video BIOS is found, It's contents will be tested
with a checksum test. If this test is successful, the BIOS will initialize the video
 adapter. It will pass controller to the video BIOS, which will in turn initialize
itself and then assume controller once it's complete. At this point, you should see
things like a manufacturers logo from the video card manufacturer video card
description or the video card BIOS information. Next, the BIOS will scan
memory from C800:000h to DF800:000h in 2KB increments. It's searching for
any other ROM's that might be installed in the computer, such as network adapter
cards or SCSI adapter cards. If a adapter ROM is found, it's contents are tested
with a checksum test. If the tests pass, the card is initialized. Controller will be
passed to each ROM for initialization then the system BIOS will resume
controller after each BIOS found is done initializing. If these tests fail, you should
see a error message displayed telling you "XXXX ROM Error". The XXXX
indicates the segment address where the faulty ROM was detected. Next, BIOS
will begin checking memory at 0000:0472h. This address contains a flag which
will tell the BIOS if the system is booting from a cold boot or warm boot. A value
of 1234h at this address tells the BIOS that the system was started from a warm
boot. This signature value appears in Intel little endian format , that is, the least
significant byte comes first, they appear in memory as the sequence 3412. In the
event of a warm boot, the BIOS will will skip the POST routines remaining. If a
cold start is indicated, the remaining POST routines will be run. During the POST
test, a single hexadecimal code will be written to port 80h. Some other PC's send
these codes to other ports however. Compaq sends them to port 84h, IBM PS/2
model 25 and 30 send them to port 90h, model 20-286 send them to port 190h.
Some EISA machines with an Award BIOS send them to port 300h and system
with the MCA architecture send them to port 680h. Some early AT&T, Olivetti,
NCR and other AT Clones send them to the printer port at 3BC, 278h or 378h.
This code will signify what is being tested at any given moment. Typically, when
the BIOS fails at some point, this code will tell you what is failing.

• Looking for the Operating System

Once POST is complete and no errors found, the BIOS will begin searching for an
operating system. Typically, the BIOS will look for a DOS Volume Boot Sector
on the floppy drive. If no operating system is found, it will search the next
location, the hard drive C. If the floppy drive (A), has a bootable floppy in it, the
BIOS will load sector 1, head 0, cylinder 0 from the disk into memory starting at
location 0000:7C00h. The first program to load will be IO.SYS, then
MSDOS.SYS. If the floppy does not contain a DOS volume boot sector, then
BIOS will next search the computers hard drive for a master partition boot sector
and load it into memory at 0000:7C00h. There are some occasions in which you
will encounter problems with the proper loading of the Volume Boot Sector.
Below are some of those:
A. If the first byte of the Volume Boot Sector is less than 6h, then you will
receive a message similar to "Diskette boot record error".
B. If the IO.SYS or MSDOS.SYS are not the first two files in the Volume Boot
 Sector, then you will see a message similar to "Non-system disk or disk error".
C. If the Volume Boot Sector is corrupt or missing, you will get a message similar
to "Disk boot failure"

Once the BIOS has searched for a bootable floppy device, it should turn it's attention to
the next boot device it's programmed to look for. The next device is typically the hard
drive, or C. Like a floppy drive, the BIOS will attempt to load the Volume Boot Sector
from sector 1, head 0, cylinder 0 from the Master Boot Sector, or MBS, into memory
starting at 0000:7C00h. The BIOS will check the last two bytes of the MBS. They should
be 55h and AAh respectively. If they are not, then you will receive an error message
similar to "No boot device available" and "System initialization will halt". If they are
correct, then the BIOS will continue the loading process. At this point, the BIOS will
scan the MBR in search of any extended partitions. If any extended partitions are
identified, the original boot sector will search for a boot indicator byte which indicates a
active and bootable partition. If it cannot find one, you will receive a message similar to
"Invalid partition table".

At this, once a active partition is found, the BIOS will search for a Volume Boot Sector
on the bootable partition and load the VBS into memory and test it. If the VBS is not
readable or corrupt, you will see a message similar to "Error loading operating system".
At the point, the BIOS will read the last two bytes of the VBS. These bytes should be 55h
and AAh respectively. If they are not, then you will see a message similar to "Missing
operating system" It is at this point that the BIOS will begin loading of the operating
system.