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Figure 7-33 ROM updating program for an ASUS motherboard

Finally, don’t update your BIOS unless you have some compelling reason to do so. As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Beyond A+

UEFI

In modern systems, the classic roles of BIOS—start the PC, test the hardware, load drivers for essential hardware, and boot the operating system—have diminished considerably. Yes, the BIOS still starts the PC and runs the POST, but drivers? As soon as the operating system loads, most, if not all, of the BIOS drivers are replaced with drivers loaded by the operating system. Plus, the whole boot sequence of a PC has sort of grown organically over the decades of the personal computer. Even with its full unlocked potential, the BIOS is still limited to a 16-bit environment with support for a mere 1 megabyte of RAM. That was fine in the early DOS days, but not so much today. At some point, it’s time to throw the whole thing out and rewrite the startup sequence for the PC from scratch.

Realizing the limits traditional 16-bit BIOS imposes on modern systems, Intel, along with Hewlett-Packard, created a new firmware interface they titled Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). EFI, which is a BIOS replacement, was first seen in 2000 with the launch of the original Itanium systems. It ended the need for the firmware to execute in 16-bit mode, which eliminated the 1 MB pre-boot RAM address barrier. EFI also included a slew of new enhancements. Some of the more notable new features are the addition of a new hard disk addressing scheme called GUID Partition Table (GPT) that facilitates partitions of greater than 2 TB in size, the introduction of a pre-boot shell environment for executing EFI utility programs, the addition of an enhanced device driver model where firmware drivers can be loaded from the system partition, and the inclusion of its own boot manager that can load a variety of operating systems.

In 2005 a consortium of companies, including Microsoft, Intel, American Megatrends Incorporated (AMI), Phoenix Technologies, AMD, Hewlett-Packard, and Apple, came together to form the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Forum. The UEFI Forum created the UEFI standard, which is based off of, and supersedes, Intel’s original EFI specification. UEFI firmware is now being produced by such companies as AMI, Phoenix Technologies, and Insyde Software and is supported by the latest operating systems from both Microsoft and Apple. Most UEFI systems also have the capability to boot operating systems that require traditional BIOS by loading what is known as a Compatibility Support Module (CSM) before loading the legacy OS.

Chapter Review

Questions

1. What does BIOS provide for the computer? (Choose the best answer.)

A. BIOS provides the physical interface for various devices such as USB and FireWire ports.

B. BIOS provides the programming that enables the CPU to communicate with other hardware.

C. BIOS provides memory space for applications to load into from the hard drive.

D. BIOS provides memory space for applications to load into from the main system RAM.

2. What is the correct boot sequence for a PC?

A. CPU, POST, power good, boot loader, operating system

B. POST, power good, CPU, boot loader, operating system

C. Power good, boot loader, CPU, POST, operating system

D. Power good, CPU, POST, boot loader, operating system

3. Jill decided to go retro and added a second floppy disk drive to her computer. She thinks she has it physically installed correctly, but it doesn’t show up in Windows. Which of the following options will most likely lead Jill where she needs to go to resolve the issue?

A. Reboot the computer and press the F key on the keyboard twice. This signals that the computer has two floppy disk drives.

B. Reboot the computer and watch for instructions to enter the CMOS setup utility (for example, a message may say to press the DELETE key). Do what it says to go into CMOS setup.

C. In Windows, press the DELETE key twice