BIOS and CMOS questions

[mikehende]

There are 2 chips on the Mobo, one is the the System or Flash ROM chip and the other is the CMOS chip, the ROM chip stores the BIOS programs and also the CMOS setup program, the CMOS chip stores the BIOS settings but there is just 1 screen which will show the settings for BOTH Bios and Cmos and is where you can change the settings for both and this one screen can be called BIOS, CMOS, SETUP and other names, is this all corrrect?

[tonyd]

The terms BIOS and CMOS are interchangeable when it comes to PCs. The BIOS chip, which holds some start up configuration items, is made from a special type of transistor called Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon (or something like that). The BIOS chip is always powered by the little internal battery in the computer. CMOS is used because it uses very little power so the user doesn't have to replace the internal battery often.
-td