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> OK! What is the relationship between the cmos and the bios?
OK, BIOS = Basic Input/Output System, it's the Firmware (combination of
Software and Hardware) which allows your CPU and Peripheral devices to
communicate etc.
CMOS = Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, which is just a fancy
name for the type of memory pathways on the chip.
The physical BIOS Chip on the motherboard can be seen as being made of
two distinct types of curcuit, a FLASH EEPROM (The Firmware), and MVRAM
(Non-Volatile RAM), which is constructed from CMOS curcuitry. By it's
very nature, CMOS holds data stored in it for a long time - that is
partly what it is designed to do.
Removing the battery from the board will usually only accomplish one
thing - you'll lose the date and time settings - the battery powers the
Real Time Clock, not the CMOS (usually anyway, there are exceptions).
When you 'clear the CMOS', you (again, usually) actually short two pins
together on the BIOS chip, which resets everything, but the RTC keeps
going (though from you'r computers particular 'zero' date).
It is not usually necessary to clear CMOS settings before flashing a new
BIOS - In 10 years of working with PC's, I've never had to clear CMOS
when flashing yet, but I have heard of some (older) boards where the
system would behave erratically until the CMOS was cleared /after/
Flashing - regardless of whether you cleared /before/flashing or not.
Generally, I'd say that if the instructions don't say "Before/After
Flashing, Clear your CMOS settings", then you shouldn't have to...
--
Regards, Mike Insch, CCA, DipHE | www.vofka.co.uk
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