Hardware Articles
1: Exabyte VXA X Tape Media
The Exabyte VXA X (11100221) can hold 80 GB native data and compressed data up to 160GB. Exabyte VXA X tape format reads and writes information in the form of “packets”. Large data blocks are read and written along the helical or linear tracks in the other tracking backup tape systems.
2: Firmware on Adapter Cards
A computer system can be comprised of a number of BIOS firmware chips. The motherboard BIOS typically is comprised of the code to get the accessibility of fundamental hardware elements such as the keyboard, floppy drives, ATA (IDE) hard disk controllers, USB human interface devices, and storage devices. Furthermore, plug-in adapter cards such as SCSI, RAID, Network interface cards, and video boards often cover their own BIOS, superseding the system BIOS code for the given part.
3: Boot Loader
Most computer systems only conduit code traced in the memory (ROM or RAM). Upgraded operating mechanisms are loaded on hard disks, or sometimes on LiveCDs, USB flash drives, or other non-volatile storage components. When one first switches on the computer, there is no trace of the operating system in memory. The computer’s hardware alone is unable to do intricate actions such as storing a program from the disk. There is also the requirement of the usage of a special tiny program called a bootstrap loader, bootstrap or boo loader. The only function of the program is to store other software for the operating system to make a start.
4: Resetting BIOS Password
The most convenient way to reset a BIOS password is reliant on what BIOS the computer is equipped with. It is the fact that common BIOS covers AMI, Award, IBM and Phoenix. There is a wide range of BIOS systems being available in the market but there are the most common in use. There are a number of ways to get a password. Some BIOS systems let one to collect a password for its entry prior to the booting of the system. Some BIOS systems permit one to need a password for the entry before the BIOS setup may be made accessible.
5: Resetting the BIOS Password using Software
It is the fact that every operating system must load the BIOS password information. If BIOS password is booted successfully one can have the glimpse of the BIOS password. One should know the memory address where the BIOS password is loaded and at the same time one should know the format in which the BIOS password is loaded. The system must store a program that is very acquaited with these things. In this connection it can be said that one can jot down one’s program to go through the BIOS password from the CMOS memory on a PC by jotting down the address of the byte of the CMOS memory that one can be eager to go through in port 0x370 and then going through the matter of the port 0x371. As a part of the next step, BIOS is accountable to regain the BIOS password for the most common BIOS versions, with the inclusion of IBM, American Megatrends Inc, Award and Phoenix. For the sake of the following BIOS versions Cmospwd will regain the BIOS password.
6: BIOS Password Hacking
There is no denying the fact that every computer must have the BIOS password option. Without BIOS password none will run the computer. It is known fact that those configuration and power-on passwords that often restrain one from managing or often using the computers to have the work completed. The BIOS password only gives necessary safeguard to the computer and not the hard disk. If the hard disk is somehow taken off, it is not protected. The BIOS password is loaded by the computer's internal battery. If the battery is taken off the computer for 10 seconds or more, the password function is stopped.
7: Removing a Bios - CMOS Password
It is a bad luck that the access to computers can often be obstructed for all of the wrong reasons. Occasionally, this occurs owing to hardware related problems such as electrical problems or by way of mistake unconsciously, such as someone has set and then forgot the password. It can take place as the result of accidental usage of a Bios password by a new user. This also often happens in case an employee who has been sacked or suspended sets the BIOS password as an indication and exposure of the personal vengeance against the boss who is responsible to have taken drastic measures against the employer. This can do a lot of damage to the motherboard. Simultaneously getting back to right track will be time consuming and difficult which relies on the motherboard manufacturer and type of the motherboard.
8: Using the Jumpers
The most convenient way to flash the BIOS through hardware is to plug, unplug or switch a jumper on the motherboard for switching jumper that connects the central pin and a side pin of a set of three pins, the one should unplug the jumper and then plug it to the central pin and to the pin on the reverse side. So if the jumper is generally on position 1-2 one has to put it on the position 2-3 or vice versa. This jumper is not always situated near the BIOS but could be anywhere on the motherboard.
9: Evolution of Role of BIOS
Older PC operating systems, which were developed for 16-bit CPUs, such as MS-DOS, relied on the BIOS to carry out most input/output tasks within the PC. A variety of technical reasons eventually made it inefficient for more recent operating systems written for 32-bit CPUs such as Linux and Microsoft Windows to invoke the BIOS directly. Larger, more powerful, servers and workstations using PowerPC or SPARC CPUs by several manufacturers developed a platform-independent Open Firmware (IEEE-1275), based on the Forth programming language. It is included with Sun's SPARC computers, IBM's RS/6000 line, and other PowerPC CHRP motherboards. Later x86-based personal computer operating systems, like Windows NT, use their own, better-performing, native drivers and also made it much easier to extend support to new hardware, while BIOS still relies on a legacy 16-bit runtime interface. As such, the BIOS was relegated to bootstrapping, at which point the operating system's own drivers could take control of the hardware.
10: Resetting BIOS Password Using Hardware
One should be well acquainted how to reset the BIOS password through the usage of hardware. In the case the machine is not accessed if switch on of the system, it remain a matter of possibility to get past the BIOS password. It is seen that BIOS password is kept in CMOS memory that is taken care of while the personal computer is switched off by a tiny battery which gets inserted into the motherboard.
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