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Nonvolatile BIOS memory
Small, battery-backed memory component for storing a computer's BIOS settings / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nonvolatile BIOS memory refers to a small memory on PC motherboards that is used to store BIOS settings. It is traditionally called CMOS RAM because it uses a volatile, low-power complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) SRAM (such as the Motorola MC146818 or similar) powered by a small "CMOS" battery when system and standby power is off.[1] It is referred to as non-volatile memory or NVRAM because, after the system loses power, it does retain state by virtue of the CMOS battery.
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The CMOS RAM and the real-time clock have been integrated as a part of the southbridge chipset and it may not be a standalone chip on modern motherboards.[2][3] In turn, the southbridge have been integrated into a single Platform Controller Hub.
The chipset built-in NVRAM capacity is typically 256 bytes.[2] For this reason, later BIOS implementations may use a small portion of BIOS flash ROM as NVRAM, to store setup data.[4]
Today's UEFI motherboards use NVRAM to store configuration data (NVRAM is a portion of the UEFI flash ROM), but by many OEMs' design, the UEFI settings are still lost if the CMOS battery fails.[5][6]