Introduction; Efi Applications And Tools; Applications Accessible During Startup - HP 2730p - EliteBook - Core 2 Duo 1.86 GHz Manuallines

Introduction

As computer technology has advanced, the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) has expanded to
handle new components, larger and more complex chipsets, add-in cards, and so on. This forced
expansion of the BIOS has made it increasingly intricate.
The computer industry's answer to BIOS limitations is the development of the Extensible Firmware
Interface. EFI is a set of modular interfaces that replaces the set of traditional BIOS interfaces between
the operating system and platform firmware.
EFI is based on the high-level C language and is driver-based, scalable, and easy to debug and
upgrade. EFI uses a modular, platform-independent architecture that can perform boot and other BIOS
functions.
Tapping into this technology, HP has implemented an EFI partition on all of its commercial notebook
computers. 1 Along with replacing the traditional BIOS interface, the HP version of the EFI partition
adds tools to the preboot system environment. The HP EFI partition is viewable on the hard drive and
is labeled as HP_TOOLS. On 2008 commercial notebook platforms with the EFI BIOS, HP created the
EFI partition as a FAT32 primary partition, due to EFI limitations with accessing other partition
formats. Total EFI partition size is 1 GB.
For more information about EFI, go to http://www.hp.com/go/techcenter.

EFI applications and tools

The EFI partition and HP EFI applications and tools are not required for the basic operation of HP
notebook computers. However, if the EFI partition or applications are missing, the EFI features
described in this paper will not be available.

Applications accessible during startup

The HP EFI partition includes the following applications, which are accessible during computer
startup:
HP QuickLook 2 or later versions (select models)
HP System Diagnostics
HP QuickLook 2 or later versions
QuickLook is a personal information manager (PIM) viewer for Microsoft® Outlook 2003 and 2007.
QuickLook captures Microsoft Outlook email, calendar, task, and contact information, and then
displays it without starting the operating system and without launching Microsoft Outlook. QuickLook
can access cached Outlook information at the press of a single button, whether the computer is off or
in Hibernation.
HP System Diagnostics
HP System Diagnostics allows you to perform diagnostic tests on the following components:
Primary hard drive
System memory modules
You can also use this tool to obtain information about the computer, such as model number, processor
type, total memory, serial number, and so on.
Except for the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC.
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