[OT] But important to me. Appropiate Mailing Lists ??

[William Case]

Thanks James;

> *Powering up* and *starting* are two separate things.
> 
> BIOSes used to be on ROMs -- read only *memory*. These days they're on
> erasable programmable ROMs, but that's a minor detail.
> 
> There's a bit of handwaving going on -- BIOS is used to refer to the
> chip itself, and to the logical data and programs that are stored on the
> chip. The chip does nothing by itself -- it just makes the data
> available to the processor.
> 
> When a processor turns on, it is set to read a certain memory address
> and run the instructions stored there -- and the motherboard is designed
> so that that memory address is part of the BIOS. From there, the BIOS
> sets itself up, and eventually gets around to reading the other system
> BIOSes.

Thanks James.  That fixes things.  Everything that I had read about BIOS
including the Intel Data Sheets left me with the impression that the
BIOS (Firmware Hub) was like a minor CPU that fired up everything else.

I went back to my manuals and re-read them with the idea that the main
processor is empowered first (as it were) and is the guy that does all
the work.  BIOS is just and only a separate memoray location for
specific startup instructions in a guaranteed location that the main CPU
can use to get the computer started.  All the manuals make sense on that
basis.

Thanks for your time James.

Regards Bill