BIOS stands for "Basic Input/Output System", and

its purpose is to provide communication between

the microprocessor (CPU) and the operating system
files residing on the hard drive. It is actually the first
program that runs when you first turn your PC on.
Without it, your operating system would never load.
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.

PROCESS OF BOOTING
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.

PROCESS OF BOOTING
Actual boot
The very first instruction performed by a CPU is
to read the contents of a specific memory
address that is pre-programmed into the CPU.
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.

PROCESS OF BOOTING
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.

PROCESS OF BOOTING
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.