• Question: From what location are the 1st computer instructions available on boot up?

    Asked by BiometricBot73 to Andres, Andy, Emma, Shahil, Sheryl, Zoe on 9 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Andres Rivero

      Andres Rivero answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      Hi BiometricBot73,

      Even though I don’t consider myself a computer expert, I think computers start booting from something called the ROM BIOS, which is located outside the operation system and stores the first instructions to start the OS. Another function of the ROM BIOS is to run a series of checks to make sure the computer hardware is working before the OS is loaded.

      Andres

    • Photo: Sheryl Williams

      Sheryl Williams answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      Hi BiometricBot73,

      Great questions… unfortunately I do not know the answer. Andres answer seems reasonable though.

      Sheryl

    • Photo: Andy Woods

      Andy Woods answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      In PCs it is the BIOS. At my work our computers use FLASHCARDS to load into the bios so we can change these as our software changes. As we create embedded systems they are very different to a PC!

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