what is booting process

Booting means loading operating system in the memory by the PC itself. Basically, a PC does three things when it boots.

♦ First, the hardware must work.

♦ Second, the processor starts up and runs a program in the BIOS called the ‘Power on Self Test.’

♦ Third, BIOS loads the operating system on the active partition.

Then, assuming that the basic hardware can function, you'll recall that each PC has a set of software built into a ROM, called the Basic Input Output System, or BIOS. That BIOS is a collection of important programs, programs to control the video board, the disk controller, the keyboard, and the system clock, just to name a few, but perhaps the most important of those programs that starts up the PC.

That program determines what hardware is in the system, does a basic checkout of that hardware, and senses the presence of BIOS-like programs associated with expansion boards in the PC. If those programs exist on the expansion boards, the BIOS will yield control to them so that they can do the initialization.

Once the BIOS startup and checks work out all right, the BIOS then attempts to load the system software from the floppy or hard disk. Once the operating system gets loaded from disk into the computer's RAM, the BIOS passes control to the operating system, and the computer is ready to use.

Different Types of Boot

Depending on the boot starting time there are two types of boot:

Cold Boot

Cold boot is the computer startup process that begins when you turn on power to the computer. A cold boot might be needed if a program or the operating system crashes in such a way that you could not continue. If operations are interrupted in a minor way, a warm boot may suffice.

Warm Boot

A reboot performed after the operating system starts running. Warm boot is performed for minor problems such as application execution error. For warm boot memory checking and several other booting operations are not necessary.

what is booting process