# Does a motherboard store any data?



## Drastik

Such as data of the user, rather than its own specs


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## nnmkl

There may be uncertainty


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## linkin

Well, it stores the BIOS


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## StrangleHold

The CMOS is where the BIOS is stored. The BIOS is just firmware that stores your time,date and configuartion/hardware and runs a error check on startup. It basically runs a error check and reports your hardware setup to the OS on boot.


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## tyttebøvs

We can agree that cmos and bios is not the same thing, right? cmos is a data storage place, and the bios chip is where the firmware is stored.


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## StrangleHold

tyttebøvs said:


> We can agree that cmos and bios is not the same thing, right? cmos is a data storage place, and the bios chip is where the firmware is stored.


 
Good explanation

The BIOS and CMOS are two different components on the motherboard. The BIOS on the motherboard contains the instructions on how the computer boots and is only modified or updated with BIOS updates, the CMOS is powered by a CMOS battery and contains your system settings and is modified and changed by entering the CMOS Setup.


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## El DJ

[strike]IIRC, there is an OS that can be booted from the CMOS on the right mobo.[/strike]
Couldn't find anything about it...


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## tyttebøvs

ICH10 gives you whopping 256 bytes of cmos storage to play with.

You cannot boot anything from cmos. It is not addressable (it uses IO in/out) plus the CPU starts its execution in bios.


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## El DJ

tyttebøvs said:


> ICH10 gives you whopping 256 bytes of cmos storage to play with.
> 
> You cannot boot anything from cmos. It is not addressable (it uses IO in/out) plus the CPU starts its execution in bios.



Yeah I heard something about something like that somewhere, but I remember thinking it was kind of a strange concept then...


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## Keollyn

CMOS is configuration information, BIOS is hardware initialization.

Least that's how I like to think of it.


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## smellsorange

I suppose this depends on how conspiracy you wanna get


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## jasonn20

In a TV set the capacitors store a charge and keep memory to the IC's for an xx amount of time.  For instance if you unplug your tv and then plug it back in it more than likely will keep time and your channels presets.  

In computers there is no personal data that is stored in the motherboard. It can store data as far as presets for an extended amount of time since it has a battery to keep the capaciotrs charged.  Your hardrive is were YOUR information is stored.  The memory pulls the information from the harddrive then sends it to the cpu via the motherboard.


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