Before you upgrade to Windows 98, there’s another, lower level of your computer’s foundation to think about: the BIOS, or Basic Input Output System.
Although it’s never absolutely necessary, an upgrade might solve nagging problems you’ve had, or make your computer easier to manage.
The BIOS is software–a program, or set of instructions for the computer to follow. It is the first software to run when you turn your computer on. It’s stored on ROM (Read Only Memory) chips, the kind that keep their information even when computer power is turned off.
When you switch the computer’s power on, the microprocessor immediately asks the BIOS what to do. Obeying BIOS instructions, the microprocessor first performs the POST (Power On Self Test) to learn what disk drives are available, how much random-access memory (RAM) there is, and the type of video card.
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On most PCs, you can watch this happen. You’ll see the name of the company that made your PC’s BIOS during the POST, typically at the top left of the display, followed by the version number, something called the “part number,” and release date. If it flashes by too quickly for you to catch, try pressing and holding the Pause key when you see the POST message counting the amount of memory in the PC. That should cause the display of BIOS information to remain on the screen until you release the Pause key.
After the POST, the BIOS starts loading your operating system, or “OS,” from a disk drive, usually the hard disk. The BIOS lets the OS run things from then on, but the BIOS stays on hand as a sort of servant to the OS. It helps move information to and from keyboard, disk, display, printer and other devices. It shows error messages if there’s a serious breakdown in your hardware.
International Business Machines Corp. made the first BIOS for its own PCs. One of the great technological breakthroughs that created a competitive PC market was when other companies created their own BIOS chips compatible with IBM. The big guns in this work now include American Megatrends (AMI), Award and Phoenix.
A newer version of your BIOS may have eliminated bugs discovered in the earlier version. And a new version of the BIOS may support new kinds of devices connected to the computer, such as DVD drives, USB (Universal Serial Bus), large hard drives, Zip drives, LS-120 super-floppy drives, 64-bit or even 128-bit graphics, or the new AGP graphics bus. A new BIOS may let you boot your computer from any drive. It may offer better power management for using less electricity, or extending the life of a laptop battery. It might have built-in anti-virus abilities. And it will certainly avoid the Year 2000 bug, which some older BIOS won’t.
There are ways, short of buying a new computer, to get a new BIOS. You can buy a motherboard, the main electronics board inside the computer. A cheaper alternative is to buy a BIOS upgrade card that plugs into one of the computer’s internal slots.
Finally, sometimes you can download the latest version from the BIOS manufacturer’s Web site and “flash” it into your BIOS chip. This can only be done if you have a flash ROM BIOS, a special kind of ROM chip that can be erased and rewritten. Unicore Software (www.unicore.com) has a free catalog of BIOS upgrades that includes the $60 Millennium Pro upgrade card with Year 2000 and other features. Award (www.award.com) also sells diagnostic tools that can help with BIOS work.