{"id":3119,"date":"2011-06-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/basic-input-output-system\/"},"modified":"2020-04-24T17:38:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T17:38:36","slug":"basic-input-output-system","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios","title":{"rendered":"Basic Input\/Output System"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_basic_inputoutput_system_mean\">What Does Basic Input\/Output System Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A basic input\/output system (BIOS) is a preinstalled program used during startup on Windows-based computers. The CPU initially accesses the BIOS, after which the operating system is loaded.<\/p>\n<p>A basic input\/output system is also known as system BIOS or ROM BIOS.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_basic_inputoutput_system\">Techopedia Explains Basic Input\/Output System<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The BIOS is built-in software that contains generic code required to control the keyboard, display screens, disk drives and other functions. The primary purpose of the BIOS is to set up hardware and further load and start an operating system. BIOS is placed in a nonvolatile ROM chip inside the computer, ensuring the availability of BIOS at all times and preventing accidental disk failure. The BIOS checks every hardware connection and locates the devices, after which the operating system is loaded into computer memory.<\/p>\n<p>BIOS software is designed to work with the various devices that make up a complimentary system chipset. The BIOS library has certain functions used to operate and control system peripherals, which can be initiated by an external software.<\/p>\n<p>Users using the BIOS user interface can perform functions such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Setting the system clock<\/li>\n<li>Enabling and disabling certain system components<\/li>\n<li>Hardware configuration<\/li>\n<li>Selecting boot drives<\/li>\n<li>Set password prompts for secured access to BIOS user interface function<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Modern PCs have BIOS stored in rewritable memory, permitting contents to be rewritten or replaced. Such content rewriting is called flashing and is executed through a special program provided by system manufacturers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Basic Input\/Output System Mean? A basic input\/output system (BIOS) is a preinstalled program used during startup on Windows-based computers. The CPU initially accesses the BIOS, after which the operating system is loaded. A basic input\/output system is also known as system BIOS or ROM BIOS. Techopedia Explains Basic Input\/Output System The BIOS is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[230],"class_list":["post-3119","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-privacy-and-compliance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is a Basic Input\/Output System (BIOS)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Basic Input\/Output System and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Basic Input\/Output System\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Basic Input\/Output System and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-24T17:38:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Basic Input\/Output System\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-16T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-24T17:38:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios\"},\"wordCount\":251,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/3320\/basic-input-output-system-bios\",\"name\":\"What is a Basic Input\/Output System (BIOS)? 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