INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER HARDWARE

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module, the students are expected to have learnt the following
outcomes:

1. Define the concept of Computer Hardware and relate software function to

the functionalities of hardware
2. Identify and state the functions of Input/Output devices and interfaces
3. Identify and state the functions of components found within the computer
system unit

Definitions

1. Computer: the computer may be defined as an electronic device that

accept input instruction through some input medium known as input devices,
process the input instructions by performing some computation and storage,
and produces an output through another medium known as output devices.
2. Hardware: The computer hardware consist of all the physical and
tangible components of the computer system. These include all the devices
used for Input, Output and Processing (CPU, memory, etc.) operations. These
devices are usually compositions of electronics circuit boards, wires,
plastic/metallic parts. Hardware devices are major components of a computer
system because they are the devices that perform the physical computation and
processing. They provide the actual interface that users can appreciate, for
example, the input hardware devices can be handled by the users for inputting
commands and instructions to the processing elements. Also, the various
output devices produce the desired outputs expected from the computation.
Examples of input hardware are keyboard, mouse, scanner, microphone, light
pen, etc. Some common output devices are printers, monitors, speakers,
 projectors, etc. Figure 1.1 below shows the three layers of input devices to
include input, processing and output.

Figure 1.1: Typical hardware components (Source: Course

Technology/Cengage Learning)
3. Software: This is a set of organized instructions that tells the computer
hardware what to do and how to do them. This means that software is an
instruction set that guides or directs the hardware to accomplish tasks.
Software therefore provides intelligence for the hardware to be able to carry
put their respective functions. Hence it can be concluded as saying that
computation cannot take place without a software working with the hardware
to accomplish the computation
Modern computer hardware devices are digital systems, meaning that they are
capable of responding to the logic states of 1s and 0s. These logic states are
processed using the binary system organized into various standard coding
systems, such as ASCII, UNICODE, BCD, etc. Figure 1.2 shows how this
coding can be used to represent instructions.
 Figure 1.2: Representation of information in binary codes (Source:
Course Technology/Cengage Learning)
As users operate the various hardware devices, these device respond to or
generate a string of binary digits using a recognised coding scheme. Typical
interaction between each hardware piece and another involve a series of
conversions of the coding systems to another as information travels from one
point to another in the computer system. Figure 1.3 clearly illustrates this
concept.

Figure 1.3: Interaction of the various hardware systems (Source: Course

Technology/Cengage Learning)
4. Port: A computer port is an external connection device used to connect
different peripherals to a computer. In daily terms a port is a door that a
 computer use to communicate (input and output) with the rest of the world,
what includes other computers, the Internet, a printer, a keyboard, mouse,
digital camera, external modem, etc. There are various types of ports for
connecting different types of Input/Output (I/O) devices or peripheral devices.

Port Classification

Ports can be classified based on size, shape, speed, pin configuration and design.
Further details are presented below:

1. Size: They also have a determined size that is rather small, running for
example from the size of a penny (for the round ports) to the size of an
electric plug (for a trapezoid shaped one like COM ports)

2. Pin configuration: The number of pins and the arrangement of such

pins can mark a port out

3. Speed: Some ports are faster than the others

4. Design and shape: ports have specific shapes that are the first and best
way of recognizing them. Some are round (DIN/PS2, BNC), some are
trapezoid (D-shell, Centronics) and some are rectangular (USB , Firewire)

5. Symbol: Some computer ports have a special well known symbols that
identify it, like USB, COM, FireWire or SCSI, and for other computer ports
often computer manufacturers provide a symbol that is similar and also
identifies the port, like having a symbol of a printer to identify a LPT port,
or a keyboard or mouse for a PS2 port. However there is not a unique icon
for these other ports. Normally the symbol is present right next to the place
where the port is located, usually in the back of the computer.

6. Gender, which is either come with male or female ends. This means that
one connector end is meant to match and connect to the other. The male
 connector will have pins, and the female connector will have socket holes
that the pins fit into.

Table 1: Ports and their descriptions

(Adapted from A+ Guide to IT Technical Support Ninth Edition)

Port Description
A VGA (Video Graphics array) port, also called a
DB-15 port, DB15 port, HD15 port, or DE15 port,
is a 15-pin, D-shaped, female port that transmits
analog video. (analog means a continuous signal
with infinite variations as compared with digital,
which is a series of binary values—1s and 0s.) All
older monitors use VGA ports. (By the way, the
HD15 [high-definition 15-pin] name for the port
is an older name that distinguishes it from the
early 9-pin VGA ports.)
An S-Video port is a 4-pin or 7-pin round video
port sometimes used to connect to a television.
The 7-pin port is shown on the left. The 4-pin port
is missing the extra pins in the middle and is the
more common type.

A DVI (Digital Video Interface) port transmits

digital or analog video. Three types of DVI ports
exist, which you learn about in the chapter,
“Supporting I/O Devices”.

An HDMI (high-Definition Multimedia Interface)

port transmits digital video and audio (not analog
transmissions) and is often used to connect to
home theatre equipment.
A Displayport transmits digital video and audio
(not analog transmissions) and is slowly replacing
VGA and DVI ports on personal computers.

A thunderbolt port transmits video, data, and

power on the same port and cable and is popular
with apple computers. The port is shaped the same
as the DisplayPort and is compatible with
DisplayPort devices. Up to six peripherals (for
example, monitors and external hard drives daisy-
chained together) can use the same thunderbolt
port.
A network port, also called an Ethernet port, or an
rJ-45 port, is used by a network cable to connect
to the wired network. Fast Ethernet ports run at
100 Mbps (megabits per second), and Gigabit
Ethernet runs at 1000 Mbps or 1 Gbps (gigabits
per second). A megabit is one million bits and a
gigabit is one billion bits. A bit is a binary value
of 1 or 0.

A system usually has three or more round audio

ports, also called sound ports, for a microphone,
audio in, audio out, and stereo Audio out. These
types of audio ports can transmit analog or digital
data. If you have one audio cable to connect to a
speaker or earbuds, plug it into the lime green
sound port in the middle of the three ports. The
microphone uses the pink port.
An S/PDIF (Sony/philips Digital Interface) sound
port connects to an external home theater audio
system, providing digital audio output and the
best signal quality. S/PDIF ports always carry
digital audio and can work with electrical or
optical cable. When connected to a fiber-optic
cable, the port is called an optical connector.

A USB (Universal Serial Bus) port is a

multipurpose I/O port that comes in several sizes
and is used by many different devices, including
printers, mice, keyboards, scanners, external hard
drives, and flash drives. Some USB ports are
faster than others. Hi-Speed USB 2.0 is faster than
regular USB, and Super-Speed USB 3.0 is faster
than USB 2.0.
A FireWire port (also called an IEEE 1394 port,
pronounced “I-triple-e 1394 port”) is used for
high-speed multimedia devices such as digital
camcorders.
An external SATA (eSATA) port is used by an
external hard drive or other device using the
eSATA interface. eSATA is faster than FireWire.

A pS/2 port, also called a mini-DIN port, is a

round 6-pin port used by a keyboard or mouse.
The ports look alike but are not interchangeable.
On a desktop, the purple port is for the keyboard,
and the green port is for the mouse. Many newer
computers use USB ports for the keyboard and
mouse rather than the older pS/2 ports.
 An older serial port, sometimes called a DB9 port,
is a 9-pin male port used on older computers. It
has been mostly replaced by USB ports.
Occasionally, you see a serial port on a router
where the port is used to connect the router to a
device a technician can use to monitor and
manage the router.
A parallel port, also called an Lpt port, is a 25-pin
female port used by older printers. This older port
has been replaced by USB ports.

A modem port, also called an rJ-11 port, is used

to connect dialup phone lines to computers. A
modem port looks like a network port, but is not
as wide. In the photo, the right port is a modem
port and the left port is a network port, shown for
comparison.

Many more ports not captured here also exist. It must be very clear that ports are
either directly connected to the motherboard or are connected to the motherboard
through expansion cards or special cables as shown in figures 1.4 and 1.5 below.

Figure 1.4: Ports on the motherboard

 Figure 1.5: Port on an Expansion card

Input and output devices connect to the ports to be able to communicate with the
motherboard. Connectors are used to connect between the ports and the I/O
devices. Common I/O devices are monitor for display, printer for printing hard
copies, mouse, and keyboard. Figure 1.6 shows the basic I/O devices and their
connectors.

Figure 1.6 (a): Basic I/O devices

 Figure 1.6 (b): Connectors of some I/O devices

Internal Components of the Computer System Unit

Several computing elements exist within the casing of the system unit. Those are
called the internal components of the computer system. In this section, we shall
study some important components in the system unit. Figure 1.7 is a quick
overview of the internal components of the system unit.

Figure 1.7: Internal components of the PC

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

The power supply unit or PSU is one of the most important component without
which the computer cannot function. The primary function of the PSU is to

1. Convert 220 V AC current to DC form

2. Reduce the converted voltage to the PC usable values, such as 5 V, 3.3v,
12v, 5v, -12v.

The PSU is installed in the casing and must be of the sae form factor with the
motherboard and the casing. ATX form factor is common with many PCs today.
Figure 1.8 shows a sample ATX PSU.

Figure 1.8: ATX PSU

Table 1.2 Cables of the ATX PSU

the 20-pin p1 connector The 24-pin p1 connector,

is the main also called the 20+4 pin
motherboard power connector, is the main
connector used in the motherboard power
early atX systems. connector used today.
The 20+4 pin p1 The 4-pin 12-V connector is
connector has four pins an auxiliary motherboard
removed so the connector, which is used for
connector can fit into a extra 12-V power to the
20-pin p1 motherboard processor.
connector.
The 8-pin 12-V The 4-pin Molex connector
connector is an is used for older IDE (PATA
auxiliary motherboard or parallel ATA) drives and
connector, which is some newer SATA drives. It
used for extra 12-V can provide +5 V and +12 V
power to the processor, to the drive.
providing more power
than the older 4-pin
auxiliary connector.
The 15-pin SATA The 4-pin Berg connector is
power connector is used used by older floppy disk
for SATA (Serial ATA) drives (FDD).
drives. It can provide
+3.3V, +5 V, and +12
 V, although +3.3 V is
seldom used.
The PCIe 6-pin The PCIe 8-pin connector
connector provides an
provides an extra +12 V for
extra +12 V for high-
end video cards using high-end video cards using
PCI express, Version 1
PCI express, Version 2.
standard.

The PCIe 6/8-pin connector is used by high-end video

cards using PCIe x16 slots to provide extra voltage to the
card and can accommodate a 6-hole or 8-hole port. To get
the 8-pin connector, combine both the 6-pin and 2-pin
connectors.

Cables inside the PC

1. ATA Ribbon Cable

ATA, which stands for Advanced Technology Attachment, is a thin, flat cables,
with multi-connector functions. This means that many parts of a device can be
connected by one cable, rather than many separate wires. The colors that they
come in are usually gray or tan, but they can come in white, blue and
multicolored. Every ribbon cable has a unique identifying mark on it to facilitate
connecting a device or component inside a computer. The identifying mark is that
only one side has a red stripe or dotted line imprinted on and traversing down the
cable.

The cable needs to be attached to the device according to the pin setup. Number
1 pin on the device needs to connect to the number one pin on the adapter card or
motherboard, and so on. If you connect these in the wrong way, you risk the
chance of burning out the device, components, motherboard, etc. Even if it did
not burn or damage anything, the device would not work. For example floppy
disk drive, if the cable is plugged in backwards, the floppy drive LED (Light
Emitting Diode) light will stay on, and BIOS will recognize an error when the
computer boots up. The floppy disk will not immediately become damaged;
however, it will not function. Note the floppy drive ribbon cable is twisted.

Figure 1.9: Ribbon Cable

2. SATA Cable

Serial ATA is a serial link -- a single cable with a minimum of four wires creates
a point-to-point connection between devices. Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin
at 150MBps. One of the main design advantages of Serial ATA is that the thinner
serial cables facilitate more efficient airflow inside a form factor and also allow
for smaller chassis designs. In contrast, IDE cables used in parallel ATA systems
are bulkier than Serial ATA cables and can only extend to 40cm long, while Serial
ATA cables can extend up to one meter Serial ATA supports all ATA and ATAPI
devices

Figure 1.10: SATA Cable

The Motherboard

Figure 1.12: The motherboard

The motherboard, also called the main board, the system board, is the largest and
most important circuit board in the computer. The motherboard contains a socket
to hold the processor or CPU and the slots for connecting other components. All
other hardwires are directly located or connected on the motherboard because the
motherboard provides the channels through which those devices can
communicate with the CPU.

Buses

Buses are those tiny metallic lines on the motherboard. They are known as
communication channels that are used to transport data to and fro the CPU. Each
component that is connected to the motherboard uses a bus to interface with the
CPU. Two main buses that exist on the motherboard are Front Side Bus (FSB)
and Back Side Bus (BSB).

Figure 1.

Binary data corresponds to voltage on the line. The presence of voltage to certain
level is represented as “1” while the absence of required level of voltage is
interpreted as “0”. The number of binary digit a bus has is used as the bus size.
Most data buses today are designed as 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 bits wide.
Chipsets

A chipset is a set of chips on the motherboard that works closely with the
processor to collectively control the memory, buses on the motherboard, and
some peripherals. The chipset must be compatible with the processor it serves.
The motherboard contains some chipsets that are responsible for the control of
data flow between the CPU and other devices. The chipset contains a form of
secondary CPU that regulates this function. There are two types of chipsets on a
typical motherboard, namely:

1. Northbridge
2. Southbridge

While the Northbridge is responsible for coordinating data flow between the CPU
and fast devices, such as main memory and Video interface, the Southbridge is
used to coordinate the flow of information between the CPU and slow devices.

Figure 1.21: Block Diagram of Bus Architecture

The CPU

The central processing unit (CPU), also called the processor or microprocessor,
does most of the processing of data and instructions for the entire system. The
CPU is the main computing element in the computer system, sometimes referred
to as the brain of the computer in some context.

Figure 1.13: The CPU

Because the CPU generates heat, a fan and heat sink might be installed on top to
keep it cool. A heat sink consists of metal fins that draw heat away from a
component. The fan and heat sink together are called the processor cooler.
 Figure 1.14: CPU Fan and Heat Sink

The basic building block of the processor is shown in figure 1.15 below.

Figure 1.15: Basic building block of CPU

An input/output (I/O) unit manages data and instructions entering and leaving
the processor.

A control unit manages all activities inside the processor itself.

Arithmetic logic units (ALUs) do all logical comparisons and calculations

inside the processor. All desktop and laptop processors sold today contain two
ALUs in each processor core within the processor package.

Registers, which are small holding areas on the processor chip, work much like
RAM does outside the processor to hold counters, data, instructions, and
addresses that the ALU is currently processing.

Internal memory caches (L1, L2, and possibly L3 or L4) hold data and
instructions waiting to be processed by the ALU.
Buses inside the processor connect components within the processor housing.
These buses run at a much higher frequency than the motherboard buses that
connect the processor to the chipset and memory on the motherboard.

System Clock

The system clock is a pulsating electrical signal sent out by this component that
works much like a crystal in a wristwatch (one line, or circuit, on the motherboard
bus is dedicated to carrying this pulse).

Figure 1.

Devices work according to beats (or cycles), which is generated by the system
clock. Clock speed measured in hertz (cycles/second).

 One megahertz (MHz): one million cycles per second

 One gigahertz (GHz): one billion cycles per second
 Common ratings for motherboard buses
 2600 MHz, 2000 MHz, 1600 MHz, 1333 MHz, 1066 MHz, 800 MHz, 533
MHz, or 400 MHz
 Range of CPU speeds: 166 MHz to 4 GHz
 Buses for expansion slots: PCI, AGP, ISA
Storage

The storage unit is another important unit of the computer system. It is used for
storing data during and after (backup) processing. Storage units are of two types,
namely primary memory and secondary memory.

The Primary Memory is also known as the Main memory, which are of two types,
namely Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). RAM
is the most common type of primary memory. The RAM is temporarily memory
that holds data and instructions as the CPU processes them and that the memory
modules used on a motherboard are made of dynamic RAM or DRAM. DRAM
loses its data rapidly, and the memory controller must refresh it several thousand
times a second. RAM is stored on memory modules, which are installed in
memory slots on the motherboard.

Figure 1.16: RAM chips

 Figure 1.17: RAM on DIMM Slot on the motherboard

Secondary Storage

The Secondary storage unit consist of devices that are used for large backup
storage. These include the hard drives, CD ROMs, and other devices. The most
common type of the storage devices is the Hard Drive or HDD. It a permanent
storage unit and can be used to store large amount of information/data. Hard
drive, comes in two sizes for personal computers: the 2.5" size is used for laptop
computers and the 3.5" size is used for desktops. See Figure 1.18. In addition, a
smaller 1.8" size hard drive (about the size of a credit card) is used in some low-
end laptops and other equipment such as MP3 players.
 Figure 1.18: Hard Disk Sizes

Two main types of Hard Disk based on technology are the Magnetic and the Solid
State Hard Drive (SSD).

Solid State Hard Drive (SSD)

A solid-state drive (SSD), also called a solid-state device (SSD), is called solid-
state because it has no moving parts. The drives are built using nonvolatile
memory, which is similar to that used for USB flash drives. Recall that this type
of memory does not lose its data even after the power is turned off.

In an SSD drive, flash memory is stored on EEPROM (Electronically Erasable

Programmable Read-Only Memory) chips inside the drive housing. The chips
contain grids of rows and columns with two transistors at each intersection that
hold a 0 or 1 bit. One of these transistors is called a floating gate and accepts the
0 or 1 state according to a logic test called NAND (stands for “Not AND”).
Therefore, the memory in an SSD is called NAND flash memory. EEPROM
chips are limited as to the number of times transistors can be reprogrammed.
Therefore, the life span of an SSD drive is based on the number of write
operations to the drive. (The number of read operations does not affect the life
span.) For example, one SSD manufacturer guarantees its SSD drives for 20 GB
of write operations per day for three years. For normal use, a drive would not be
used that much and would last much longer.

Because flash memory is expensive, solid-state drives are much more expensive
than magnetic hard drives, but they are faster, more reliable, last longer, and use
less power than magnetic drives.

Magnetic hard drive

A magnetic hard drive has one, two, or more platters, or disks, that stack
together and spin in unison inside a sealed metal housing that contains firmware
to control reading and writing data to the drive and to communicate with the
motherboard. The top and bottom of each disk have a read/writehead that moves
across the disk surface as all the disks rotate on a spindle. All the read/write heads
are controlled by an actuator, which moves the read/write heads across the disk
surfaces in unison. The disk surfaces are covered with a magnetic medium that
can hold data as magnetized spots. The spindle rotates at 5400, 7200, or 10,000
RPM (revolutions per minute). The faster the spindle, the better performing the
drive.

Figure 1.19: Inside of the Hard Drive

Data is organized on a magnetic hard drive in concentric circles called tracks as
shown. Each track is divided into segments called sectors (also called records).
Older hard drives used sectors that contained 512 bytes. Most current hard drives
use 4096-byte sectors.

Figure 1.20: Tracks and Sectors and Hard Dish Surface

Hybrid hard drives.
A third type of hard drive is the Hybrid Hard Drive (H-HDD), which is sometimes
called a solid-state hybrid drive (SSHD), uses both technologies. The flash
component serves as a buffer to improve drive performance. Some hybrid drives
perform just as well as an SSD drive. For a hybrid drive to function, the operating
system must support it.

Before a magnetic drive leaves the factory, sector markings are written to it in a
process called low-level formatting. (This formatting is different from the high-
level formatting that Windows does after a drive is installed in a computer.) The
hard drive firmware, UEFI/BIOS on the motherboard, and the OS use a simple
sequential numbering system called logical block addressing (LBA) to address
all the sectors on the drive. SSD drives are marked into blocks, which are
communicated to the motherboard and OS, which read/write to the drive in blocks
just as with magnetic drives.
The size of each block and the total number of blocks on the drive determine the
drive capacity. Today’s drive capacities are usually measured in GB (gigabytes)
or TB (terabytes, each of which is 1024 gigabytes). Magnetic drives are generally
much larger in capacity than SSD drives.

You need to be aware of one more technology supported by both SSD and
magnetic hard drives called S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and reporting
Technology), which is used to predict when a drive is likely to fail. System
UEFI/BIOS uses S.M.A.R.T. to monitor drive performance, temperature, and
other factors. For magnetic drives, it monitors disk spin-up time, distance
between the head and the disk, and other mechanical activities of the drive. Many
SSD drives report to the UEFI/BIOS the number of write operations, which is the
best measurement of when the drive might fail. If S.M.A.R.T. suspects a drive
failure is about to happen, it displays a warning message. S.M.A.R.T. can be
enabled and disabled in UEFI/BIOS setup.

Cabling and Interface of the Hard Disk

Years ago, hard drives used the Parallel ATA (PATA) standards, also called the
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) standards, to connect to a motherboard. PATA
allowed for one or two IDE connectors on a motherboard, each using a 40-pin
data cable. Two drives could connect to one cable. In addition, a few personal
computer hard drives used the SCSI (pronounced “scuzzy”) interface standard.

Interface standards for drives define data speeds and transfer methods between
the drive controller, the UEFI/BIOS, the chipset on the motherboard, and the OS.
The standards also define the type of cables and connectors used by the drive and
the motherboard or expansion cards.

Assignment 2

Find out other secondary storage devices based on the following criteria:
 1. Technology used for storage of information
2. Cabling/Interface standards
3. Storage capacity

Motherboard

A motherboard is the most complicated component in a computer. When you put

together a computer from parts, generally you start with deciding which processor
and motherboard you will use. Everything else follows these two decisions. Take
a look at the details of Figure 1.21, which shows a microATX motherboard by
Intel that can hold an Intel Core i7, Core i5, or Core i3 processor in the LGA1155
processor socket.

Figure 1.21: The Intel desktop motherboard DH67GD uses the microATX form factor

When selecting a motherboard, generally you’d need to pay attention to

1. The form factor,

2. Processor socket,
3. Chipset,
4. Buses and number of bus slots, and
 5. Other connectors, slots, and ports.

The form factor is the most important factor to consider when determining the
size of the PC. Table 2 below is a summary of the various form factors.

Form Motherboard size Description

Factor
ATX, full Up to 12" × 9.6" (305mm × A popular form factor that has
size 244mm) had many revisions and ariations.
Up to 9.6" × 9.6" (244mm ×
MicroATX A smaller version of ATX.
244mm)
a small form factor (SFF) board
used in low-end computers and
home theatre systems. The
Mini-ITX Up to 6.7" × 6.7" (170mm × boards are often used with an
(aka ITX) 170mm) Intel atom processor and are
sometimes purchased as a
motherboard-processor combo
unit.
A low profile form factor used in
Up to 9" × 13.6" (229mm ×
NLX low-end systems with a riser
345mm)
card.

Figure 1.22: Sizes and holes positions for the ATX, microATX, and Mini-ITX
motherboards
Components of the Motherboard

The motherboard provides all connecting interfaces for other devices, such as
CPU socket, Memory slots, IDE, slots, SATA plug, Expansion slots, and other
connecting points for all other cables.

Basic Input/Output System

BIOS stands for basic input/output system, which consists of low-level software
that controls the system hardware and acts as an interface between the operating
system (OS) and the hardware. Most people know the term BIOS by another
name—device drivers, or just drivers. In other words, the BIOS is drivers,
meaning all of them. It’s essentially the link between hardware and software in a
system.

The BIOS consists of software that interfaces the hardware to the OS. The BIOS
is unique compared to normal software in that some of it is preloaded into read-
only memory (or ROM), and some is loaded into RAM from disk.

The BIOS in a running PC is loaded during the system startup from three possible
sources:

■ Motherboard ROM

■ Adapter card ROMs (such as that found on a video card)

■ Loaded into RAM from disk (device drivers)

When the PC was introduced, the BIOS software containing all the device drivers
for the entire system was collectively burned into one or more nonvolatile read-
only memory (ROM) chips (nonvolatile means they retain their data even when
the power is turned off) and placed on the motherboard. In essence, the drivers
were self-contained, preloaded into memory, and accessible any time the PC was
powered on.
This ROM chip also contained a power-on self test (POST) program and a
bootstrap loader. The bootstrap program was designed to initiate the loading of
an OS by checking for and loading the boot sector from a floppy disk or, if one
was not present, a hard disk. After the OS was loaded, it could call on the low-
level routines (device drivers) in the BIOS to interact with the system hardware.

In the early days, all the necessary device drivers were in the BIOS stored in the
motherboard ROM. This included drivers for the keyboard, MDA/CGA video
adapters, serial/parallel ports, floppy controller, hard disk controller, joystick, and
clock.

ROM vs CMOS

Some people confuse BIOS with the CMOS RAM in a system. This confusion is
aided by the fact that the Setup program in the BIOS is used to set and store the
configuration settings in the CMOS RAM. They are, in fact, two separate
components.

The BIOS on the motherboard is stored in a fixed ROM chip. Also on the
motherboard is a chip called the RTC/NVRAM chip, which stands for real-time
clock/nonvolatile memory. This is where the settings in the BIOS Setup are
stored, and it is actually a clock chip with a few extra bytes of memory thrown
in. It is usually called the CMOS chip because it happens to be made using CMOS
(complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) technology.

The first example of this ever used in a PC was the Motorola MC146818 chip,
which had 64 bytes of storage, of which 14 bytes were dedicated to the clock
function, leaving 50 bytes to store BIOS Setup settings. Although it is called
nonvolatile, the chip is actually volatile, meaning that without power, the
time/date settings and the data in the RAM portion will in fact be erased. Many
consider this chip nonvolatile because it is designed using CMOS technology,
which results in a chip that requires little power compared to other chips. A small
battery can provide that power when the system is unplugged. This battery-
powered clock/memory chip is commonly referred to as “the” CMOS RAM chip;
although that is somewhat misleading (almost all modern chips use a form of
CMOS technology), the term has stuck. Most RTC/NVRAM chips run on as little
as 1 micro amp (millionth of an amp), so they use little battery power to run. Most
lithium coin cell batteries can provide power to one of these chips for five years
or more before they die and the information stored (including the date and time)
is lost.

When you enter the BIOS Setup, configure settings, and save them, the settings
are written to the storage area in the RTC/NVRAM chip (otherwise called the
CMOS RAM chip). Every time your system boots up, software in the BIOS reads
the parameters stored in the CMOS RAM chip to determine how to configure the
system. A relationship exists between the BIOS and CMOS RAM, but they are
two distinct parts of the system.

Some systems used special versions of these chips made by Dallas

Semiconductor, Benchmarq, or Odin (such as the DS12885 and DS12887) that
include both the RTC/NVRAM chip and the battery in a single component.
However, those are uncommon in modern systems today. Although the so-called
CMOS RAM chip started out as a discrete chip on the motherboard, in modern
systems it is no longer a separate chip, but instead included as one of the functions
in the South Bridge, I/O Controller Hub, or Platform Controller Hub component
of the motherboard chipset.

Motherboard ROM

All motherboards have a special chip containing software called the ROM BIOS.
This ROM chip contains the startup programs and drivers that get the system
running and act as the interface to the basic hardware in the system. When you
turn on a system, the POST in the BIOS also tests the major components in the
system. Additionally, you can run a setup program to store system configuration
data in the CMOS memory, which is powered by a battery on the motherboard.
This CMOS RAM is often called NVRAM (nonvolatile RAM) because it runs on
about 1 millionth of an amp of electrical current and can store data for years when
powered by a tiny lithium battery.

The motherboard ROM contains a collection of programs embedded in one or

more chips, depending on the design of your computer. That collection of
programs is the first thing loaded when you start your computer, even before the
OS. Simply put, the BIOS in most PCs has four main functions:

 POST—The POST tests your computer’s processor, memory, chipset,

video adapter, disk controllers, disk drives, keyboard, and other crucial
components.
 Setup—The system configuration and setup program is usually a menu-
driven program activated by pressing a special key during the POST. It
enables you to configure the motherboard and chipset settings along with
the date and time, passwords, disk drives, and other basic system settings.
You also can control the power-management settings and boot-drive
sequence from the BIOS Setup, and on some systems, you can also
configure CPU timing and clockmultiplier settings. Some older 286 and
386 systems did not have the Setup program in ROM and required that you
boot from a special setup disk. Also, some newer systems use a
Windowsbased application to access BIOS Setup settings.
 Bootstrap loader—A routine that reads the first physical sector of various
disk drives looking for a valid master boot record (MBR). If one meeting
certain minimum criteria (ending in the signature bytes 55AAh) is found,
the code within is executed. The MBR program code then continues the
boot process by reading the first physical sector of the bootable volume,
which is the start of the volume boot record (VBR). The VBR then loads
 the first OS startup file, which is usually IO.SYS (Windows 9x/Me), ntldr
(Windows XP/2000/NT), or bootmgr (Windows 7/Vista). The OS is then
in control and continues the boot process.
 BIOS—This refers to the collection of actual drivers that act as a basic
interface between the OS and your hardware when the system is booted
and running. When running DOS or Windows in Safe mode, you are
running almost solely on ROM-based BIOS drivers because none are
loaded from disk.
 REFERENCES

1. Jean Andrew, Joy Dark, Jill West, “A+ Guide to IT Technical Support:
Ninth Edition”, Cengage Learning, 2017.
2. Scott Mueller, “Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 20th Edition”, QUE, 800
East Street Indianapolis, 46240, 2012.