BIOS

Sunday, March 18, 2018 8:13 PM

Configure and Apply BIOS settings

BIOS - Basic Input Output System

Allows you to turn on the computer and select an OS
The BIOs is a small chip and has firmware that directly controls the motherboard. The BIOS can also tell important
information such as the version it is and the type of hardware that is installed/detected.
+RAM Stats
+Hard Drives
+Optical Drives
+CPU

Bios limitations include:

- 16 bit Processor mode only
- 1MB of memory
- BIOS is limited on drive support. Master boot record (MBR) could only handle partitions less than 2 terabytes.
- Limited hardware support, no drivers for modern network, video and storage devices

CMOS- Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor

Is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. It's typically referred to as the small amount of memory on a
computer's motherboard that stores the BIOS settings.
Flash memory used these days for BIOS instead of CMOS.
CMOS battery- is typically a coin battery that powers the CMOS even when the computer is powered down. The CMOS is
where the computer internally keeps time as well. If the computer is having trouble keeping time, it's usually the battery
going dead and the computer will require a BIOS configurations on every boot. If Flash memory is being used for the
BIOS, then the CMOS may only be keeping date/time but will not require the BIOS configuration every boot.

To update the BIOS, you have to know the version of the BIOs. Sometimes this is found right when you boot up the
computer, you can also F2, or however you enter the BIOs at start to find its version.
Another way to find it is to start the RUN program from your start and type in msinfo32 or DXDIAG.
Once you find the version, look for the update and download the current and new BIOS from the manufacture website.
Store the BIOS on something like a USB flash drive.

BE SURE TO SECURE THE POWER in the case of a brown out

You should have a backup battery such as a UPS unit.
UPS - uninterruptable power source aka battery/flywheel backup
This is and electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input/main power source fails.
A UPS differs from an auxiliary or emergency power system or standby generator in that it will provide near
instantaneous protection from input power interruptions by supplying energy stored in batteries, super capacitors
or flywheels. The on-battery runtime of most uninterruptable power sources is relatively short (only a few
minutes) but sufficient to start a stanby power source or properly shut down the protected equipment.

After the power is secure, you can install the BIOS or what the industry calls "Flashing the BIOS"
Please follow the manufacturers recommended way of updating it.

Configuring
Boot configurations, we can control what order the drives start up. This is useful for hard drives that have multiple OS'
installed. USB Flash drives can have OS' installed.

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PXE - Preboot eXecution Environment, sometimes pronounced 'pixie'.
PXE is a specification that describes a standard client-server environment that boots a software assembly,
retrieved from a network on a PXE-enabled clients. On the client side it requires only a PXE-capable network
interface controller (NIC) and uses a small set of industry standard network protocols such as DHCP and TFTP.
useful to install image files (network boot)
I/O Devices - input/output devices
Any hardware used by a human operator or other systems to communicate with a computer.
WOL - Wake-on-LAN is an Ethernet or token ring computer networking standard that allows a computer to be turned on
or awakened by a network message. This is a feature that has to be enabled in the BIOS.
CPU clock speed - is the rate at which a CPU can complete a processing cycle. It is typically measured in megahertz (MHz)
or Gigahertz (GHz) where one MGz is equal to a million cycles per second, while one GHz is 1 billion cycles per
second.
Virtualization - Virtual PCs cannot run if this is turned off in the BIOS.

Diagnostics
POST - Power-On-Self-Test
Is a process performed by firmware(BIOS) or software routines immediately after a computer or other digital
electronic device is powered on. The computer will not run if any checks fail.

The responsibilities of the main BIOS during POST are:

1. Verify CPU registers
2. Verify the integrity of the BIOS code itself
3. Verify some basic components like DMA (Direct memory access), timer, interrupt controller
4. Find, size and verify system main memory
5. Initialize BIOS
6. Pass control to other specialized extension BIOSes (if installed)
7. Identify, organize and select which devices are available for booting.
8. Discover, initialize and catalog all system buses and devices
9. Provide a user interface for system's configuration
10. Construct whatever system environment is required by the target operating system (Boot Loader)

BIOS has built in diagnostic tools that are hardware focused.

Extensions (Option ROMS)

Peripheral cards such as some hard disk drive controllers and some video display adapters have their own BIOS
extension option ROMs which provide additional functionality to BIOS. Code in these extensions runs before the
BIOS boots the system from mass storage. These ROMS typically test and initialize hardware, add new BIOS
services, and augment or replace existing BIOS services with their own version of those services.
For example, a SCSI controller usually has a BIOS extension ROM that adds support for hard drives connected
through that controller. Some video cards have extension ROMs as well. BIOS extension ROMs gain total control of
the machine, so they can in fact do anything and they may never return control to the BIOS that invoked them. An
extension ROM could in principle contain an entire OS or and application program, or it could implement and
entirely different boot process such as booting from a network. Operation of an IBM-compatible computer system
can be completely changed by removing or inserting and adapter card (or a ROM chip) that contains a BIOS
extension ROM.

ROM- Read-only memory

Is a non-volatile memory used in computer and other electronics. Data stored in a ROM can only be modified
slowly, with difficulty or not at all. Mainly used to store firmware or application software in plug-in cartridges.

The beeps from the motherboard can give information on what's wrong if the POST does not finish. Error codes may also
appear but for the most part, the system can't process these if the POST doesn't come through.

POST card is a diagnostic PCI that can be plugged into the motherboard when the PC is off. The code can tell us where

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POST card is a diagnostic PCI that can be plugged into the motherboard when the PC is off. The code can tell us where
the POST is at and generate an error code. This is not a tool to permanently install in your computer, only use as a
diagnose tool.

4 bit POST card for PCI extension port.

BIOS POST Card for ISA bus. Two seven segment displays show the POST-code. Four LEDs display presence of +/-5V and
+/-12V.

The BIOS also allows for you to run tests before the POST runs which is useful depending on the situation such as a
memory leak test on RAM.

Security
You can lock down the BIOS with a S-Password (Supervisor) and a U-Password (user).
More specifically if the U-Password is enabled and the password is not satisfied, then the System will not start.
The Supervisor password prevents any changes to the BIOS itself.
LoJack (originally called CompuTrace) is a propriety laptop theft recovery software (laptop tracking software) with
features including the ability to remotely lock, delete files from and locate the stolen laptop on a map. The
persistent security features are built into the firmware of devices themselves. Additionally, LoJack for Laptops
provides additional services of and investigations and recovery team who partners with law enforcement agencies
around the world to return protected laptops to their owners. LoJack name was popular with retrieving cars, the
name was licensed to use for laptops as well.
If the computer is wiped and a new OS is installed, BIOS will install a new version of LoJack, and still "phone

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 ○ If the computer is wiped and a new OS is installed, BIOS will install a new version of LoJack, and still "phone
home"
Windows BitLocker disk encryption
BIOS integrates with TPM.
TPM- Trusted platform module aka ISO/IEC 11889
Is an international standard for a secure crypto processor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure
hardware through integrated cryptographic keys.
- Can be added to many motherboards (like a card slot)
- Built-in to some systems
- Adds advanced cryptographic functions

Secure Boot- designed to keep rootkits from infecting your boot loader. Can also keep non-genuine
Window OS' from working.
Fast boot - Cut down boot up by skipping error checking. May keep you from booting properly if there is
a problem.

XMP (Intel Extreme Memory profile) can get your RAM up to their advertised speed. This profile is a
performance setting which let the user se their speeds without having to enter them all into the BIOS
manually.

Before BIOS, you had to move jumpers in order to change settings on a motherboard.

UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

It is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform
firmware. Can deal with insanely large partitions of Data that BIOS couldn't handle and also has a
graphical interface, complete with animations and mouse support. It is also faster than BIOS to boot up.
It's meant to simplify and secure pre-boot environment, preventing injection of dangerous code from
rootkits. Anti-Virus programs cannot detect rootkits. This is effectively a replacement for BIOS.
Important to know this isn't an operating system.

Supports-
- 32 or 64-bit Processors
- Can access all system memory

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- Can access all system memory
- Uses GPT (GUID partition table) as a partitioning scheme that can handle 8 Zettabytes
- Changing to UEFI is destructive and requires reformatting the drives and reinstalling the OS.
- More Secure.
○ Security boot
▪ Digitally sign known-good software that is Cryptographically secure and the software
won't run without it.
○ Device Guard
○ Credential Guard
○ Biometric Authentication
○ Faster Start-up, shut-down, sleep and resuming time
○ Has its own shell, drivers and applications
○ Can browse the internet, backup a storage drive
○ Remote diagnostics, even without an OS

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