What really happens when you turn on your computer? This article will explain to you step by step the things that consequently happen when power is allowed to enter the computer system. When power is first applied to the machine as the turning on of the computer, it all starts with the passing of electricity to the motherboard and the Basic Input/output System – the component that controls how devices in the computer communicate with each other. As the power passes through all of the other computer system hardware, The BIOS checks up on each of these parts to verify that each is physically able to relay and receive communication to and from other computer parts properly, among a few other basic tests.

So once the BIOS has verified that everything is in great shape and are working properly with no signal disruption, it will then proceed to check the computer’s boot method. The computer is configured to check if there’s a disk to run in the disk drive by default. If the computer’s BIOS find none, then it will usually go back to starting up from the hard drive. The hard disk drive, among other computer components such as the CPU, starts up and will then start loading the data needed by the computer to boot the operating system normally.

Once the operating system has started normally and without any faults, the operating system’s kernel – the thing that grants programs to communicate with the computer hardware and the user, loads up the hardware drivers. The drivers are software that confirms the functionality of hardware and allows the hardware to be controlled and used both by the computer and the user. Once all of the hardware is analyzed and has assigned drivers, having the kernel loaded up, the software in the kernel starts to load up. The interface of the computer wherein you can have interaction with the computer, the codes that allow for music and everything software and programs that you can find in the desktop will be loaded for your use. The computer is loading Windows and consequently running the applications and programs that are supposed to run when the computer is booted up, called startup items. Startup items are programs that are selected by the computer and the user to run whenever the computer is turned on to properly so the computer can properly function and that the user can easily start to work using the running programs. After that, you may then log in and start using the computer.

Amazingly, this process takes a lot less than five minutes and there are many more steps that are actually involved in a computer’s boot up that were not explained in detail. If a user can change the right BIOS settings, tweak some hardware components and lower down the number of items on the startup item list, the process it takes to start a computer may still be lowered down. Some people can get a computer to boot up and is already running in a fully functional state in about ten seconds!