[ The PC Guide | Systems and Components Reference Guide | Motherboard and System Devices | System BIOS | System BIOS Functions and Operation ]

Other PC BIOSes

Although most people don't realize it, there are in fact several different BIOSes in your PC. When people say "the BIOS" they are of course referring to the main system BIOS. However there are also BIOSes to control peripherals that you put into your machine. Your video card has its own BIOS (in most cases) that contains hardware-driving instructions for displaying video information. Hard disks and other peripherals can contain their own BIOS instructions as well. Many SCSI host adapters for example have their own BIOS.

Next: The BIOS and the Software Layer Model

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