BIOSpodjärjestelmä

BIOSpodjärjestelmä, commonly referred to as BIOS, is a foundational firmware program that resides on a small memory chip on the motherboard of a computer. Its primary function is to initialize and test system hardware components during the power-on process, a procedure known as POST (Power-On Self-Test). Once POST is successfully completed, BIOS is responsible for loading the operating system from a storage device into the computer's main memory.

The BIOS also provides a basic interface for configuring hardware settings, such as the system clock, boot order, and primary memory addresses. These settings are typically accessed by pressing a specific key combination during startup, such as F2, Delete, or F10, depending on the motherboard manufacturer. The BIOS setup utility allows users to make adjustments to how the hardware operates.

Historically, BIOS was the standard firmware interface. However, it has largely been superseded by UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) in modern computers. UEFI offers a more advanced and flexible interface with features like graphical boot menus, support for larger hard drives, and enhanced security capabilities. While BIOS is still present in some older systems, UEFI is now the predominant firmware standard.