How many of us swear at our PC’s when they don’t work correctly, do we think they have a mind of there own and do we some times compare them to human beings?
Apparently some people do compare the humble pc to human beings, unfortunately, the PC is nothing like us its more like the Frankenstein Monster. The PC is in a dead like state until we energize the unit or apply power to it. This is similar to the lightening bolt that produced life into the monster.
When a computer is energized on the power button it goes through a thing called the power on self test or POST. Power is delivered to the processor or the brain of the computer and a chip called the BIOS starts to begin the autonomic processes of the computer. The bios chip is could be compared very roughly with the brain stem in Frankenstein’s monster as it controls breathing and regulars heart, blood flow and temperature.
The BIOS starts seeking out the items connected the CPU, it starts with memory and checks its integrity, it then seeks out other items on the mainboard. Pretty much like how the autonomic systems of the monsters body started after the lighten bolt was delivered, a heart beat first starts in the monster and it started breath. The next step in the PC POST is that the BIOS starts looking for peripherals connected to it, checks for hard drives, cd rom drives, sound and other input and output devices. This can be roughly compared to the monster starting to move or twitch its limbs as the brain of the monsters brain becomes aware that it has limbs the limbs can be seen as input and output devices.
Once the BIOS is satisfied it has found all peripheral devices and items it then locates the operating system and the computer starts loading its operating system. This allows the computer to use its peripherals and operate its higher functions. This again can be roughly to the monster starting its ascent to sentience as the higher brain functions come into action and the monster becomes conscious and then awakes.
# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 2:06 AM
