Can a motherboard be turned on with a CPU but without RAM?
Technically some people can run without BIOS RAM!
The BIOS saves all its settings to the CMOS battery ... Remove it for 15 seconds and your BIOS will load the default options.
All BIOSs run a POST test .. Power on Self Test ... and if it fails the BIOS will not start.
So basically BIOS is the operating system of the motherboard and it will tell you which one to build ... All BIOS are different, so addressing beep schemes is not as good as addressing them in different Mobo. If POST fails, not all Mobos will start now.
Although OS Windows / DOS can be any operating system from Unix to Linux, RAM is required to load the operating system into the CPU, but not into the BIOS.
On many AM4 Ryzen boards the computer will not start without a GPU, and will not even load the BIOS, even if RAM and CPU are installed. Of course, this is mainly for Mobos without any internal video! However, even if you don't see what's happening, many POSTs don't pay attention if you don't have a GPU installed. Unplugged keyboard and mouse may also fail some POST so that there is no boot. But POST should tell you which keyboard and mouse… which can be overridden in the BIOS. You can't control the BIOS even if you have a touch screen, because the BIOS driver doesn't load!

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