Monday, January 9, 2012

What is the difference between BIOS and CMOS?

Often the BIOS and CMOS can be confused because instructions may either indicate to enter the BIOS Setup or the CMOS Setup. Although the setup for BIOS and CMOS is the same, the BIOS and CMOS on the motherboard are not.
AMIBIOS BIOSIf you have already read the above BIOS and CMOS definition links you should now know that the BIOS and CMOS are two different components on the motherboard. The BIOS on the motherboard contains the instructions on how the computer boots and is only modified or updated with BIOS updates, the CMOS is powered by a CMOS battery and contains your system settings and is modified and changed by entering the CMOS Setup.
Although the setup is often referred to as the BIOS and CMOS setup, we suggest you only refer to the setup as "CMOS Setup" as it is more appropriate. Computer Hope often refers to the setup as BIOS and CMOS Setup to help users who are looking for one instead of the other.