What is CMOS?

What is CMOS?

Rating:

CMOS stands for Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. It is a chip installed on the motherboard, which stores hardware configuration of the computer. When the computer is booted, the hardware is checked according to the CMOS configuration. If the hardware is not configured according to the CMOS configuration, BIOS issues a warning.

The following information is stored in CMOS:

• Date and time


• CPU type and memory size


• Floppy disk drive parameters


• Hard disk parameters such as cylinders, heads, and sectors

CMOS setup program can be started by pressing the DEL key or CTRL+ALT+ESC at the time of system startup during Power On Self Test (POST). In CMOS, the computer configuration can be changed using a menu driven application.

If a user forgets the password for CMOS configuration, he will not be able to change the CMOS configuration. To remove the password assigned, he will have to short the CMOS jumper. However, on some new motherboards, the user can remove the password by removing the CMOS backup battery for a few seconds, instead of shorting the CMOS jumper.

Rating: