| 摘要 |
<p>The process depicted in Figure 2A begins at block (100), in response to power on or power-on-reset of a computer system. The process then proceeds with (104), the CPU begins execution of BIOS sofware. As depicted at block (106), the BIOS software determines whether a request to enter the BIOS configuration routine has been received. A user may request to enter the BIOS configuration routine, for example, by depressing a designated function key (e.g. F1) of keyboard. If no request to enter the BIOS configuration routine is receiced, the process passes to block (120). However, if a BIOS configuration request is received, the BIOS software prompts the user to enter a configuration password (108). Entry to the BIOS configuration routine is preferably password protected to prevent unauthorized changed to the order (priority) in which boot devices are checked for a bootable operating system at system startup. The BIOS software then scans through the list of boot devices in sequence from the highest priority device to the lowest priority device to located the highest priority device from which computer system can boot an operating system, Thus, at block 8122), the BIOS software selects the highest priority boot device that has not been checked for an operating system from the list of possible boot devices. Next, block (124) illustrates the BIOS software determining whether or not the selected boot device is capable of booting an operating system. If not, the process returns to block (122). If, however, a determination is made at block (124) that the selected boot device is capable of booting the computer syste, the process passes to block (126), which depicts the BIOS software determining whether or not a correct entry of a password is required to boot from the selected boot device. Process (128), then determines at block (130) whether or not the correct password was entered. If a determination is made at block (130) that the correct password was obtained from the boot device, the process passes to block (132), which illustrates the BIOS software booting an operating system utilizing the selected boot device. Thereafter, processing continues under the control of the opeating system at block (134).</p> |
