eli5: Why is it bad to unplug a computer when it’s updating it’s BIOS?
In: Technology
BIOS stand for Basic Input/output system. It’s essentially the software that allows your computer to power on, and load your operating system (knowing where to look/which drive, how much memory is installed, and so forth). It has to be working in order for the computer to work.
Updating a BIOS is a little bit risky. Sure the BIOS is running while the computer is on, but if the power blips, and the update software isn’t done copying the new BIOS into the controller, then there won’t be a BIOS on the controller to load from the next time the power comes on. In the olden days, if you screwed up updating your bios, you were left with a very expensive brick, as there wasn’t anything that you could really do. Nowadays, they’ve built all sorts of protection into the BIOS that will minimize the risk of making the controller unusable.
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