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CMOS Last modified: Friday, March 26, 2004
Short for complementary metal oxide semiconductor. Pronounced see-moss, CMOS is a widely used type of semiconductor. CMOS semiconductors use both NMOS (negative polarity) and PMOS (positive polarity) circuits. Since only one of the circuit types is on at any given time, CMOS chips require less power than chips using just one type of transistor. This makes them particularly attractive for use in battery-powered devices, such as portable computers. Personal computers also contain a small amount of battery-powered CMOS memory to hold the date, time, and system setup parameters.
Troubleshooting the Motherboard and System Devices Focuses on problems related to the motherboard and system devices, including the components of the motherboard, along with system devices such as the cache and I/O buses, the BIOS and CMOS memory, system resources, and features such as Plug and Play. This page is from "The PC Guide." What is BIOS? Mini-FAQ Provides introductory information on BIOS and instructions on changing configurations using CMOS and accessing CMOS setup. Hardware Central Detailed test reports on the latest desktop and laptop computers. Plus news on trend-setting products just coming into the pipeline.	Related Categories Hardware Memory Motherboards Related Terms BIOS dope NMOS semiconductor SOI