Computer Booting ICT Notes

Compiled By: Exinet Academy Team
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computer Booting

What is Computer booting?

Booting refers to the process of turning (powering) the computer and loading the operating system into memory.

OR

Booting is the process of switching on the computer.

or

Booting is the process of powering on and starting the operating system of the computer.

WAYS OF BOOTING A COMPUTER (TYPES OF BOOTING)

  1. Cold booting
  2. Warm booting

Distinguish between cold booting and a warm booting of a computer.

Cold booting is the switching on the computer for the first time when it has been completely off.

While

Warm booting is the restarting of a computer which has been previously on.

DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF COLD BOOTING A COMPUTER.

  1. The system unit is switched on from the power button
  2. The computer goes through Power On Self Test (POST) with the help of BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) and the operating system is then loaded.
  3. Power on self test (POST) It is the second stage during the booting process where the computer checks all the devices connected to it in order to make sure that they are functioning well to enable the computer to execute the processing of data responsibly.

    NB: Incase there is a fault, a message will be displayed on a screen showing the faulty part; the end of this process is marked by a beep.

  4. BIOS identifies, configures, tests, and connects computer hardware to the OS after a computer is turned on.

WAYS OF PERFOMING A WARM BOOT

  1. By choosing start option.
  2. shut down> restart
  3. By pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL
  4. By pressing the computer’s restart button

State two ways of booting a computer loaded with DOS or Windows OS

  1. Booting from a diskette or disk i.e. flash disk, compact disk, floppy disk.
  2. Booting from the Hard Disk.

What are the reasons you would need to warm boot?

  1. New hardware is installed and requires a reboot.
  2. New  software is installed and requires a reboot.
  3. New  driver is installed and requires a reboot.
  4. New hardware, software, or driver is installed and requires a reboot.
  5. A system setting changed that requires a reboot.
  6. An update was installed and requires a reboot.
  7. The computer has a problem that cannot   be fixed until computer reboots.
  8. Computer or software is frozen.

DANGERS OF SHUTTING DOWN A COMPUTER IMPROPERLY.

  • Loss of data
  • Crashing of hard disk
  • Corruption of files

THE COMPUTER BOOTING PROCESS

Describe the computer booting process

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  • The system unit is switched on from the power button thus allowing the BIOS to start up.
  • The computer then goes through Power On Self Test (POST) to check whether the computer

hardware is connected and working properly.
NB: Incase there is a fault, a message will be displayed on a screen showing the faulty part; the end of this process is marked by a beep

  • The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) looks for boot program contained on either hard disk or compact/flash disk to load the operating system.
  • The boot program is then loaded into memory and executed.
  • BIOS then searches for the system configuration information (Stored on CMOS) for the OS and the rest of OS is Loaded into RAM, and the desktop and Icons display on the screen.

In the process of booting, state the function of each of the following.

  1. RAM

This provides temporal storage of boot program when loaded in it(memory) to enable the computer to boot.

  1. CMOS

This is used to store configuration information about the computer including amounts of memory, type of disk drives, hardware, current date and time. Thus during the booting process this information is retrieved.

Mention instances when booting of a computer may fail

  • In case of hard disk crash
  • When there is no operating system installed on the hard disk
  • When the bootable device is unavailable such as hard disk

WAYS OF KEEPING FILES IN A SYSTEM SECURE

  1. Regularly perform a routine maintenance on files and storage devices.
  2. Install an updated antivirus software on your computer
  3. Remove corrupt files in the system
  4. Perfume regular scanning for suspicious malware in your computer system.
  5. Avoid keeping so many files in the same folder/directory.
  6. Use utilities like scan disk, defragmenters to remove in fragments in directories

In Conclusion, to boot up, to start up or booting a computer is to load an operating system (OS) into the computer’s main memory or RAM.

Categories: A LEVEL ICT NOTES, Computer Booting
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