Question

Which statement is not true about the BIOS?

a. Deals directly with the signals that control each hardware component

b. Most primitive level of software

c. Performs functions that are critical to maintaining the operating system

d. Most of its work is done when the system first boots up

Answer 1

Option A is not true - Deals directly with the signals that control each hardware component.

BIOS loads the interrupt handlers and device drivers. Interrupt handlers are small pieces of software that act as translators between the hardware components and the operating system. For example, when you press a key on your keyboard, the signal is sent to the keyboard interrupt handler, which tells the CPU what it is and passes it on to the operating system. The device drivers are other pieces of software that identify the base hardware components such as keyboard, mouse, hard drive and floppy drive. So it does not deal directly with each hardware component. Instead it uses Interrupt handlers and device drivers.