Several questions about cmos, nvram and bios?

[jaffa]

I often read in threads that the thread starter should reset cmos, for example by removing the battery or a jumper on the mobo. In other threads the nvram should be set to default etc.

Fine with that but what happens inside the computer (between the components) when cmos is set to default?

Is nvram and cmos the same thing (despite different names)?

What happens inside the machine (between the components) when nvram is set to default?

How is nvram normally reset (battery removal or other method)?

How does the bios fit into this picture and what is its relation to nvram and cmos?

 

[Peter]

"CMOS" is just a silly name for the Non-Volatile (battery backed) RAM where the BIOS stores its settings.

Moving the jumper to erase it just disconnects the battery, which in turn makes BIOS revert to its default settings next time you start the machine.

BIOS is the resident piece of software that fires the machine up, reading its settings from the CMOS NVRAM whenever it gets to an activity with user-configured behavior.