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BIOS interrupt calls perform hardware control or I/O functions requested by a program, return system information to the program, or do both. A key element of the purpose of BIOS calls is abstraction - the BIOS calls perform generally defined functions, and the specific details of how those functions are executed on the particular hardware of the system are encapsulated in the BIOS and hidden ...
On system with BIOS firmware, the BIOS invokes MBR boot code from a hard disk drive at startup. The MBR boot code and the VBR boot code are OS-specific. In Microsoft Windows, the MBR boot code tries to find an active partition (the MBR is only 512 bytes), then executes the VBR boot code of an active partition.
Windows Me does not allow a computer to boot into a DOS Kernel by shutting down Windows Me; thus TSRs became useless on Windows Me. The Windows NT series (including Windows 2000 , Windows XP , and later) replaced DOS completely and run in protected mode or long mode (later 64-bit versions only) all the time, disabling the ability to switch to ...
CONFIG.SYS is the primary configuration file for the DOS and OS/2 operating systems.It is a special ASCII text file that contains user-accessible setup or configuration directives evaluated by the operating system's DOS BIOS (typically residing in IBMBIO.COM or IO.SYS) during boot.
Operating systems that use SLP 1.0 check for a particular text-string in a computer's BIOS upon booting. If the text string does not match the information stored in the particular installation's OEM BIOS files, the system prompts the user to activate their copy as normal. SLP 2.0 to SLP 2.5 work in a similar manner.
A boot menu such as the textual menu of Windows, which allows users to choose an operating system to boot, to boot into the safe mode, or to use the last known good configuration, is displayed through BIOS and receives keyboard input through BIOS.
With boot times more of a concern now than in the 1980s, the 30- to 60-second memory test adds undesirable delay for a benefit of confidence that is not perceived to be worth that cost by most users. Most clone PC BIOSes allowed the user to skip the POST RAM check by pressing a key, and more modern machines often performed no RAM test at all ...
Furthermore, booting legacy BIOS-based systems from GPT disks is also possible, and such a boot scheme is commonly called BIOS-GPT. The Compatibility Support Module allows legacy operating systems and some legacy option ROMs that do not support UEFI to still be used. [ 61 ]