Chapter 8
Booting the Computer
The PC boot process starts when a small program within the BIOS chip looks for an active
partition and loads the operating system. There are two methods for booting a computer: cold
and warm booting.
Cold Boot
Cold booting occurs when the computer’s power switch is turned on. The effect of a cold
boot is that it brings the system to the very beginning of the boot process, beginning with the
POST. This may become necessary when the computer stops responding to any commands,
including warm boots.
Warm Boot
A warm boot bypasses the first two system tests and goes directly to the bootstrap loader
(the point where DOS loads). A warm boot is triggered by pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys at
the same time.
CTRL + ALT + DEL
Rebooting the computer should be used only as a last resort. Any information in open
application files could be lost when rebooting takes place.
Creating Boot Disks
Every once in a blue moon your system may refuse to boot. There a re numerous reasons
that could cause this. If you are prepared with an emergency boot disk for such an occasion,
you will save yourself a lot of anxious moments
The steps for preparing a boot disk are as follows:
1. Format a floppy disk using the IS switch. Put a blank diskette into your floppy drive.
2. Type format A: /S
3. Copy the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files to the newly
4. /S-formatted disk.
5. Copy any files and drivers that are essential to the boot process such as IO.SYS,
COMMAND.COM and other files necessary for your particular system. Label the disk
appropriately and write protect it by flipping the black switch on the bottom of the
diskette. Store the disk in a safe and readily accessible spot. By default, every time the
computer is started, it searches in drive A for a boot able floppy disk. In the event that
the hard drive does not boot, you are able to access the system from drive A. This allows
you the opportunity to look for the problem.
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