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
