Questions 1 Research the Master Boot Record Write a long par

Questions:

1. Research the Master Boot Record. Write a long paragraph and answer the following:

a). How does this file play into the BIOS and its attempt to load the operating system?

b). Can you think of a situation in which this knowledge would help diagnose a failure to boot?

c).Why is it that the installation of Linux in a dual-boot configuration can cause problems for the Windows OS?

2. The use of solid state memory in lieu of a hard drive is starting to receive some attention.

a). What benefits or drawbacks could crop up for this new type of secondary storage?

b). In what way is solid state memory subject to the same failure as a hard drive?

Solution

A master boot record is a special sector of data at the very start of the device which is marked as bootable. It can reside on a hard disk partition, a CD / DVD, a pen drive or any other form of storage. The MBR is a small piece of executable code (usually micro instructions) that is executed at the startup by the system.

The address of the MBR is fixed and during system startup, this location is accessed and read. If the MBR is found in this location, it is executed by the system, else error is thrown.

The MBR primarily contains 2 things:

Ans 1.

Some BIOS use a different location like Compaq, which uses 0x07C0:0x0000. Although this resolves to the same memory location in read mode, it should be avoided.

The Initial Program Loader (IPL) of the BIOS starts executing the MBR by passing control to this location. Prior to execution, it is setup with the following CPU registers:

Ans 2.