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Basic Input Output System
What is the BIOS?
Software (Firmware) used to start your computer
What does the BIOS do?
Initializes the CPU and memory
What does the POST do?
Does a basic check of the hardware
What happens if something fails the POST?
A message will pop up on the screen telling you that there is a problem with your CPU or memory
What happens after the POST?
Goes to your storage device and looks for a boot loader so that the BIOS can point to the OS to take over
Where is the BIOS stored?
On a nonvolatile chip
How did the older Operating systems talk to the hardware?
Through the BIOS
Why is the legacy bios limited?
It is limited because there are no drivers for modern network, video, and storage devices
What is the legacy bios?
The original / traditional bios
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
What is the UEFI based on?
What format does UEFI support?
FAT and removable media
How big of a GPT can you boot from in the UEFI?
What 3 advantage does the UEFI include that the legacy BIOS does not?
- 1. It has Secure Boot
- 2. can support larger HDDs
- 3. 128 partitions
Which 7 Operating Systems have the secure boot option?
- 1. Windows 8
- 2. Windows 8.1
- 3. Windows server 2012
- 4. Windows server 2012 R2
- 5. Linux Fedora
- 7. Ubuntu built
Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
What do we use now to store the BIOS?
What is the CMOS battery?
Used to give constant power to the BIOS memory
What is the CMOS battery used for now?
To maintain the time/date
What happens the CMOS battery goes bad?
You will need to configure the BIOS on every boot
How could you reset the BIOS configuration on older systems?
By removing the CMOS battery and putting it back on
What 5 keys can you press to access the BIOS as soon as you turn your PC on?
- 1. Del
- 2. F1
- 3. F2
- 4. CTRL-S
- 5. CTRL-ALT-S
What 4 hardware can you view and configure in the BIOS?
- 1. RAM
- 2. Hard Drive/SSD
- 3. Optical Drive
- 4. CPU
Can you enable/disable Hardware in the BIOS?
What are the 2 passwords you can set in the BIOS and what do they do?
- 1. Supervisor passwords grants you access to the BIOS settings
- 2. User password will let you boot up the PC
How can you check if your hardware is performing well?
Using the hardware diagnostics in the BIOS
What should you do before making changes to the bios?
Create a backup of your original BIOS configuration
What is a popular way of protecting ALL of your data including the OS?
Full Disk Encryption
In order to use full disk encryption, what hardware do you need and where does it go?
You need a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and it goes directly onto the BIOS chip
What kind of software do you need to function with TPM?
What does the TPM do?
Protects the data using cryptographic functions
What is LoJack for laptops?
Tracking software that can help you track down a missing laptop
Where is LoJack located?
It is built into the BIOS and installed into the OS
Trusted Platform Module
What happens when LoJack is uninstalled?
It reinstalls itself
What are the 2 security features that LoJack comes with?
- 1. The phone home feature which provides location information
- 2. A theft mode which can lock the laptop, delete files, or force a startup password
What is Secure Boot?
It is part of the UEFI. It is a security standard that makes sure your PC boots using only software/drivers that are trusted by the PC manufacturer
What is firmware?
Permanent software programmed into hardware
What are the steps to updating your firmware/ BIOS?
- 1. Check to see which version you are running (System info/ msinfo32)
- 2. Read the documentation before installing the new firmware from the internet
- 3. Make sure you're plugged into a reliable power source so your installation won't be interrupted
- 4. Run the program update / Flash the BIOS
What happens when your installation of the new BIOS update is interrupted?
The computer may become unusable
What are the 6 things you can monitor in the BIOS?
- 1. Voltage
- 2. Fan/CPU fan speeds
- 3. Tempurature
- 4. Intrusion detection
- 5. Bus speed
- 6. Clock Speed